Antec EarthWatts EA 380D Green 380W
by Martin Kaffei on October 2, 2010 7:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- PSUs
- Green
- Antec
- Earth Watts
- 380W
Package Contents
The EA-380D (and the rest of the EarthWatts Green line) ships without a power cord. The supposed reasoning is that most households already have extra power cords, as they accumulate from older PCs and upgrades, but if you're new to the computing game you may have to order one (or ask a friend). While that may benefit the environment, it's also worth noting that Antec saves a bit on costs; the customer will have to decide whether the included matierials are sufficient.
Antec neglected to mention the absense of polystyrene in their packaging; the PSU is protected by two pieces of recycled cardboard. Also included are mounting screws and a product overview sheet. Besides the “green philosophy”, the removal of the power cord (~1$) is a useful way of reducing BOM costs, whereas the manual and screws are rather inexpensive by comparison. We would say that screws could be left out as well, since they could be reused from older PCs, but they cost (and weigh) less, so the there was apparently less incentive to remove them.
Going with the green image, a dark green coating was selected for this series; it's an unusual alternative to the grey predecessors and other (mainly black) retail PSUs. It won't matter one way or the other for windowless cases, but some customers might enjoy the change in style. The varnish resists scratches very well and fingerprints are not visible. With an 80mm fan at the rear of the chassis, there are no bulging fan grilles on the top or bottom. The ventilation holes are square-shaped and give the PSU an angular and rustic appearance. Otherwise the styling is straightforward and unobtrusive. With a depth of just 14cm, it is the smallest possible ATX-size PSU.
The +12V rails are rated at 15A and 17A respectively and deliver a combined 336W. +5V and +3.3V are specified with 20A and 115W combined. The peak power on the stronger rails is 450W.
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Vesperan - Monday, October 4, 2010 - link
*raises hand*Low end PC, with a HD5750 for graphics. Build a couple of months ago, only needs a small power supply.
That said, if the power supply hadn't have come with the NSK3480 case, I likely would have gotten a bigger power supply.
enterco - Monday, October 4, 2010 - link
Yes, I consider this kind of PSU since the first green series. It has been used in Antec NSK4480 case. I consider this a VERY good choice for corporate PCs.PS: Not every PSU goes under the reader's desktop.
cknobman - Monday, October 4, 2010 - link
Umm I used an Antec 380 Earthwatts in my home server build.Dont knock Anandtech because of your short-sightedness you just make yourself look like a fool!
Great review Anand this power supply is freaking awesome and definitely the best buy you can get for a unit under 400 watts.
I got mine on the egg after rebates for $29.99 too!!!
jjcrandall - Monday, October 4, 2010 - link
I'll raise my hand to this review. I was looking at purchasing this exact model a couple weeks ago for an HTPC.digdugsmug - Wednesday, October 13, 2010 - link
I used one of these for an esx server. Yeah yeah its not exactly a server PSU but its fine in a home environment. I wanted good efficiency since its always on and low cost, this thing delivers both!pattakosn - Saturday, January 29, 2011 - link
use a watt-o-meter on your rig and get back to us with your setup and wattage please...Maybe you will then like to reconsider reading this review...
Wineohe - Saturday, October 2, 2010 - link
Although this might seem small, it is still too big in my opinion to be considered green. If you are claiming to be green, how about something in the 250W range, or smaller! A gamer is probably not going to bother looking at this article anyway because they think they need 1000W, even though they could probably do with much smaller. Come on it's like buying 94 Octane when most of us drive Corollas.khimera2000 - Saturday, October 2, 2010 - link
I think its becaus there trying to target the mid range market as well ;) they mention something about it in the second to last paragraph in the conclusion... then again you can always check the first page of the review to they have a mention of it there to.JGabriel - Monday, October 4, 2010 - link
"A gamer is probably not going to bother looking at this article anyway because they think they need 1000W ..."Most readers and gamers here are computer and physics literate people - not withstanding the ignorance of the second top-level commenter above - who know they only need 400 -700 watts for a high-end SLI/Crossfire gaming machine, and 200 - 300 watts for anything less. Many of us also build HTPCs for the home, and the occasional machine for friends and/or family, or advise them in their own purchases.
You really should readjust your expectations and cliches in accordance with that.
.
strikeback03 - Tuesday, October 5, 2010 - link
Well the series does include smaller models, and this is probably what Antec sent them.