MODTHEBOX.COM - Canada's Premier Case Modding Source - Reviews - Vantec VAN-400B Ion 400 Watt Power Supply Review

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The unit comes with a dual 80mm fan setup. While the rear mounted fan is a standard 80mm x 80mm x 25mm fan, the top mounted fan is an 80mm x 80mm x 15mm unit. Unlike other units which continually power one fan and spin up a second fan under load conditions, the Ion powers both fans at all times during operation. Normally, you would think this would be a disadvantage, given that two fans would be constantly producing noise, instead of one more silent fan running most of the time, and a second fan adding to the decibel level only when needed. However, this power supply is almost completely inaudible at the low speed setting; quieter than any other power supply I have tested. Even on the noisiest speed setting I could get the unit to run at, it was still quieter fan anything else running in the test system.

One slight problem that the Ion has, which is also present on Vantec’s other power supplies, has to do with the top mounted fan guard. Users of the popular Enermax series of power supplies with be instantly familiar with this problem; since the fan guard does not sit flush against the edge of the power supply, mounting the power supply by sliding it into the back of the chassis is impossible, as the fan guard prevents the installation. Enermax re-designed their supplies to have the fan guard recessed slightly, as seen in the picture above. Ironically, the rear fan on the Ion, which doesn’t need to be recessed, is. Hopefully, future models of the Ion will allow Lian-Li (and other similarly designed cases) owners to avoid having to install the power supply from within the chassis.

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The Ion sports all of the features you’d expect to see in a decent power supply. It supports over voltage, over current, and short circuit protection and has all of the required American and Canadian standards certifications. The unit includes the standard ATX12V, Aux and P412V connectors, along with three "strings" of Molex connectors. Two of the strings have 3 Molex connectors and a floppy connector, while the third has an additional 3 Molex connectors, for a total of 9 Molex plugs and 2 floppy connectors. While the unit is listed as a 400W supply, it will handle a peak load of 500W. The difference is that the sustained load is only 400W, which is still ample for most users. Here’s a breakdown of the current and wattage on each of the rails:

AC Input		100~120 Vac / 200~240Vac 10/6A 60/50Hz						Peak Load (60 sec. ± 6%)
DC Output		+3.3V	+5V	+12V	-12V	-5V	+5VSB	500W
VAN-400B	Max Output Current	26A	40A	16A	1.0A	0.8A	2.5A
400W	Max Combined Wattage	220W		192W	12W	4W	12.5W
		380W			28W

Although the unit is budget priced, I still expected to handle a moderately populated system. As such, the unit was installed on the same test bed as the Raidmax 500W unit MTB reviewed here. Here is a breakdown of the major components in the test bed:

ABIT IT7MAX2 rev. 2

Intel P4 2.53 GHz @ 2.85 GHz

256MB OCZ PC3500EL DDR RAM

Asus V8240 series GF4 Ti4200 graphics card

2 x Maxtor DiamondMax 9 60 GB HDD

Fujitsu 40 GB HDD

PCMODS rev. 1 Rheobus

Lite-On LTR 40125s CDRW

Pioneer DVDROM

PCMODS Blue Cold Cathode Florescent Lamp

The unit was run under overclocked conditions for 48 hours. Additionally, all supplemental case cooling was disabled in order to determine if the dual fan configuration provided adequate ventilation. Here are the results.

Vantec VAN-400B Ion voltage results

As was stated before, the sheer silence of the power supply was really a noticeable feature. Especially given the fact that it was still able to maintain respectable case temperatures under the circumstances (with 4 80mm intakes and a 120mm exhaust, the test system typically runs at 38 degrees with a case temperature of about 30 degrees [ambient 25]). As well, there were only very minor fluctuations in the 5 and 12 volt rails, with deviations well within tolerance levels.

Conclusion:

The Vantec VAN-400B Ion 400 Watt Power Supply is certainly a product that deserves merit. While it is very competitively priced, it provides features and options seen on higher priced units. The unit is exceptionally quiet for a dual-fan configuration, and the fan control switch gives users the ability to manually adjust fan speeds to their given needs. The addition of an AC outlet allows users with additional AC devices to avoid having to purchase solid state relays and/or avoid messy cabling. Finally, the unit comes prepared for future expansion by providing two SATA power adapters for users with the unique power connectors on the newer drives. I would have liked to have seen RPM monitoring on the two fans, and while I could attribute this to the overall cost of the unit, it’s not available on Vantec’s higher priced units either. The top-mounted fan guard prevents the much simpler external installation of the power supply, forcing users to mount it internally (in my case including removing a 120mm blowhole fan). Finally, while the fan control switch is an interesting feature, it would have been nice to have some decent documentation explaining the more intricate details of each setting. Overall, I’m rating this product a 9 out of 10, and would recommend it to users looking for a quiet, "best bang for your buck" power supply. If you have any questions regarding this review be sure to visit the Vantec website for more information or discuss them in our forums.

Pros:

Price
Ultra Quiet Operation
Manual Fan Control
AC Outlet
SATA Adapters included
Cons:

Fan guard prevents external power supply installation
No RPM monitoring
Inadequate documentation on fan control switch