Verdict: An aging design that went up in smoke

Antec PSUs generally have a very good reputation for stability and reliability, but this month's Labs test has put a black mark on the company's unblemished record. While the Smart Power 2.0 made a real stink during testing, the True Control 550 proved to be even worse.

The True Control easily passed the 50 and 75 per cent load tests but, after just a few seconds with the 3.3V and 5V rails stressed at 100 per cent load, the primary MOSFET blew up. This is very worrying, and meant we couldn't test the 12V rail to its claimed 30A.

As this is quite an old PSU, it doesn't support 24-pin motherboards and doesn't have any PCI-E connectors. The 'Control' part of the name comes from the drive bay mounted front panel, which allows you to change the output of the three primary rails and adjust the speed of the 80mm and 92mm cooling fans. Antec reckons that this is a useful feature, as it allows you to 'get all the power you need ... and adjust it to your system's needs'. However, we reckon that Intel set the voltage limitations of the ATX spec for a damn good reason - to prevent components from being damaged by either a lack or an excess of power.

Considering its explosive performance, and the availability of more advanced PSUs with multiple 12V rails and PCI-E support, we'd recommend avoiding the True Control.

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