Most companies claim that their computing parts are 'quiet', 'ultra-quiet' or even 'virtually silent.' And they may well be. But the simple truth is, Antec's Phantom 350 power supply is undeniably silent. Its aluminium casing acts as a giant heatsink, which completely eliminates the need for any moving parts, and it boasts an impressive array of features - such as dedicated voltage outputs, voltage-feedback circuitry, and dual +12V outputs. It comes with a cool blue LED too, which illuminates when powered. Power users may bulk as the 350-Watt power restriction, but silent computing enthusiasts should find the Phantom 350's impressive build quality and silent operation ideal for their general computing needs.

Pros: Solid build; silent; low power consumption; looks great
Cons: Only 350-Watts; relatively pricey


It seems that every single device on the planet these days requires power in some shape or form, and computers are no exception to the rule! Most modern PCs are full of power-hungry devices, graphics cards, processors, hard disks and DVD drives, all vying for that little bit more from your power supply. The problem is that the more devices you have the more power they require, and the heat generated from a power supply unit (PSU) typically requires noisy cooling fans.

Let's face it, most of our computers generate an unsociable amount of noise, and that's before they even get clogged up with dust and dirt. Then there's the noise from your hard drives, case fans and DVD drives adding to the pollution. By doing away with one of the noisiest components in your PC, the PSU unit, you can help to reduce the volume levels to a more tolerable level, which is a boon to movie and audio fans.

The Phantom 350 (140x150x86mm, 3.4kg) is a fully silent, ATX12V V2.0-certified power supply. Antec has got around the noise issue by removing all of the PSU's fans and directly attaching the internal heatsinks to the extruded aluminium casing. The black casing acts as a giant heatsink, which completely eliminates the need for any moving parts. The Phantom 350 also includes most of the features you need from a power supply, although it's let down by only offering a relatively low power rating of 350-Watts.

Having said that, the unit comes complete with an ultra-high efficiency design and at 82 per cent at full load draws less power than most other PSUs, which will also help to reduce your electricity bill. Other features include an ATX logic on-off switch, additional rocker power switch, transient response of +5V, and the +12V/3.3V outputs return to within 5 per cent in less than 1ms for 20 per cent load change. The Phantom 350 operates from 10 to 50 degrees, and a 3-year guarantee and 80,000 hours MTBF reinforce Antec's confidence in the product's quality.

There are plenty of power cables to plug your devices into, too. In total there are two SATA cables, a single PCI Express cable, Pentium 4 motherboard connector, six regular power connectors (for hard disks, DVD drives and the like), 24/20-pin motherboard connector converter and a floppy disk drive connector.

We also liked the way the main 24-pin motherboard connector comes protected with a mesh cover to help prevent the wires spreading loose over the motherboard, thus saving space and preventing it from getting caught in case or CPU fans.

The Phantom 350 had no problems whatsoever powering our test machine, which was based on a power-intensive Pentium 4 Prescott CPU, Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card, DVD-ROM drive, NIC, soundcard, hard disk drive, five case fans and a floppy disk drive.

We also ran a basic test which measured the temperature of our test PC after running applications and games for a few hours. The results were impressive and even at full load the PSU was only warm to the touch and not red hot as expected. And to hear anything you literally have to place your ear onto the PSU, and then there is only a faint buzz.

BIOS, Apr 20, 05 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Tuning