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Vantec Stealth VAN-520A 520W Power Supply Review
Vantec Stealth VAN-520A 520W Power Supply Review - PCSTATS
With 520 watts of power, an armful of connectors, and some low-noise features, the unit has an impressive rap sheet.
Filed under: Power Supply Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Vantec Apr 26 2004   C. Sun  
Home > Reviews > Power Supply > Vantec VAN-520A

Vantec Stealth 520W Power Supply Review

It's pretty rare these days to look at a powersupply and be impressed with its appearance. Now granted, what's on the inside of a powersupply is ten times as important as how the equipment looks, but with case modding and highly detailed systems it's a shame to install just another well-made, gray steel powersupply.

Vantec must have heard the call, because they have recently released the all black VAN-520A powersupply. With 520 watts of power, an armful of connectors, and some low-noise features, the unit has an impressive rap sheet. Add to that its three fans with wire grills and a mesh-wrapped set of 24-pin ATX power cables and you have something pretty interesting for your computer.

The Vantec VAN-520A comes with a 24-pin to 20-pin ATX power adaptor so it can easily plug into standard desktop boards, as well as more power-hungry WTX systems. The list of connectors goes like this: (1) 24-pin ATX, (1) 8-pin, (1) 4-pin, (1) 6-pin Auxiliary, (9) Molex, (2) FDD connectors and a 24-to-20 pin ATX converter cable. The cables all use gold-plated crimped connectors.

Vantec Stealth 520W PSU
Includes:
powercord, instructions, 20-to-24 pin adaptor

In addition to the rather large and useful set of connectors (when was the last time you used a powersupply with an 8-pin connector?) there were a few things on the rear of the aluminum case which drew our attention. Alongside the standard computer power plug we find a standard switched AC power socket. We call the socket "switched" because if you hit the power switch on the rear of the Power Supply Unit (PSU), power to the socket is turned off.

If the computer is shut down, the socket will also get turned off. Vantec suggests hooking up a power bar to it, so when the computer is shut down, all the peripherals connected to the power bar will also get turned off. This makes sense for things like printers, routers and scanners, and is a useful way to save a bit of electricity with devices that don't have a natural 'standby' mode.

The power cables are nice and long which is great for those tall tower cases. The temperature controlled fans (when set to automatic) will run at between 900-2200RPM until the internal temperature sensor reaches 50 degrees Celsius. At temperatures above that speed, the fans will max out at approximately 2500RPM, according to the Vantec documentation.

With the powersupply running in silent mode, we measured its noise levels at approximately 47.5 dBA. With the VAN-520A running at full levels that noise signature rose to approximately 53.7 dBA.

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Contents of Article: Vantec VAN-520A
 Pg 1.  — Vantec Stealth VAN-520A 520W Power Supply Review
 Pg 2.  More details with the Vantec Stealth
 Pg 3.  Power and Load Tests

 
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