Antec VPF Series 650W PSU Review

Antec's VPF650 is a budget PSU made by Delta Electronics to achieve high-performance-per-dollar. In the US, the VPF units are sold under the EarthWatts Green series.

By Aris Mpitziopoulos
published

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Ripple Measurements

To learn how we measure ripple, please click here.

The following table includes the ripple levels we measured on the rails of the VPF650 unit. The limits, according to the ATX specification, are 120mV (+12V) and 50mV (5V, 3.3V and 5VSB).

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Test12V5V3.3V5VSBPass/Fail
10% Load11.4mV13.2mV14.7mV9.6mVPass
20% Load16.8mV14.2mV16.6mV10. mVPass
30% Load18.6mV14.9mV17.0mV11.0mVPass
40% Load21.3mV15.6mV17.2mV11.7mVPass
50% Load23.4mV15.9mV19.2mV12.7mVPass
60% Load26.4mV16.2mV21.7mV15.4mVPass
70% Load27.5mV17.6mV22.2mV16.2mVPass
80% Load29.2mV18.9mV26.2mV16.5mVPass
90% Load29.6mV19.8mV27.1mV17.3mVPass
100% Load30.5mV22.5mV29.7mV17.8mVPass
110% Load33.0mV24.6mV31.4mV20.7mVPass
Cross-Load 120.8mV16.6mV18.4mV9.8mVPass
Cross-Load 232.7mV23.3mV28.9mV16.3mVPass
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Delta's designs suppress ripple efficiently and the VPF650 clearly isn't an exception to this. Although we have seen Delta PSUs with one-digit ripple readings on most rails, we should point out that these were high-end platforms costing way more. For the budget category, the ripple suppression that the VPF650 achieves is about as good as you'll get.

Ripple Oscilloscope Screenshots

The following oscilloscope screenshots illustrate the AC ripple and noise registered on the main rails (+12V, 5V, 3.3V and 5VSB). The bigger the fluctuations on the screen, the bigger the ripple/noise. We set 0.01V/Div (each vertical division/box equals 0.01V) as the standard for all measurements.

Ripple At Full Load

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Ripple At 110-Percent Load

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Ripple At Cross-Load 1

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Ripple At Cross-Load 2

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Aris Mpitziopoulos
Aris Mpitziopoulos
Contributing Editor

Aris Mpitziopoulos is a Contributing Editor at Tom's Hardware US, covering PSUs.

6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • iam2thecrowe
    I do like Antec PSU's, their range is very solid. Good write up. Good value PSU.
    Reply
  • CTurbo
    I hope Delta is not going to get out of the consumer psu business completely. They've been one of my go-to oems for years. Top notch reliability.
    Reply
  • Onus
    Antec has been one of my go-to standards for years as well. Though it has been surpassed in efficiency, I may need to put my SG-650 in my will because of its anticipated durability.
    Reply
  • 2Be_or_Not2Be
    When the author says "... Delta no longer has an interest in this market..." - what market is he talking about? I seem to recall that quite a few of my Dell servers had Delta OEM PSUs, and I think a number of Dell desktops had custom Delta PSUs as well. So is it only the consumer market that they don't want to supply anymore?
    Reply
  • iam2thecrowe
    16537381 said:
    When the author says "... Delta no longer has an interest in this market..." - what market is he talking about? I seem to recall that quite a few of my Dell servers had Delta OEM PSUs, and I think a number of Dell desktops had custom Delta PSUs as well. So is it only the consumer market that they don't want to supply anymore?

    probably. There is now too much competition in the consumer psu market for it to be really profitable for some companies. It would make sense if a company only wanted to do anything other than generic PC ATX psu's, because they can charge a lot more for it.
    Reply
  • Aris_Mp
    Yeap Delta is away from consumer market. They mostly make OEM PSUs now. As far as I know only Antec has a contract with them for desktop PSUs.
    Reply