Product Reviews

If you're irritated by the mass of unused power cables in your case, you need a modular power supply. We've got two on test: Antec's Neo HE500 and Enermax's Liberty ELT500AWT.

Both supplies are rated at 500W and support SLI systems, so they're meaty supplies for systems with lots of components. They're both silent in operation, too. Enermax uses a large 120mm fan, which means it can move a large volume of air at

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slow speeds, reducing noise. Antec uses a standard 60mm fan, which you'd expect to be louder. However, its power supply is very efficient and creates less heat, so it needs less cooling.

Both supplies are modular, so you connect only the power cables you need. They are shipped with a range of cables: Antec supplies six Molex, two PCI-E and four SATA cables, which connect to five modular ports. If you want a mixture of SATA and Molex, though, you must use more than one cable.

Enermax is more flexible, with six modular ports for six Molex and six SATA ports. It also has two dedicated PCI-E ports. Enermax mixes Molex and SATA connectors on one cable, so you might even be able to get away with plugging in a single cable.

There's little to tell the two products apart, and either will power your PC silently. But Enermax's ELT500AWT, while a little more expensive, has a wider range of connectors and a more flexible configuration and comes with a neat bag to keep your spare cables organised.