Antec HCG 750W: Built for Gamers?
by Martin Kaffei on April 12, 2011 8:20 PM ESTMeet the Antec HCG-750
We've tested many Antec PSUs over the years, so this certainly isn't a case of "long time no see". However, most of the Antec products we've reviewed have been higher-end designs with unique features or abilities—for instance, there was the "sandwich" PCB in the HCP-1200 and the environmentally friendly design of the EarthWatts Green 380W. There's nothing out of the ordinary in the HCG data sheets other than the powerful +12V rails. The HCG series seems to represent most PSUs: it's ordinary and "boring". So what makes this PSU into an Antec product?
For starters, plenty of manufacturers have attractive power supplies, but the robust case and red highlights are at least unusual. We've seen designs like this in the higher cost/wattage PSUs like the 850W Enermax Revolution85+ and HuntKeys' X7 1200W. Now Antec brings this aesthetic to lower wattages and prices.
That's all well and good, but Antec cares about quality. They have chosen very expensive capacitors from Rubycon. In addition, as our Antec contact Christoph (Business Unit Manager at Antec) likes to say, "more is better", meaning that two main caps are better than one. The ball bearing fans also last longer than cheap sleeve bearing models, which is another minor upgrade. While these simple elements aren't unusual for PSUs in this price range, they do set our expectations and we're expecting a good showing from the HCG-750.
On the following pages we will see if the caps can reduce ripple and noise and if the fan runs quietly. Moreover, good results can help compensate for the non-modular cables, as they are a disadvantage for most customers. Let's begin with a closer look to its characteristics and delivery contents.
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sean.crees - Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - link
I'm sorry, but if it's not 80+ Gold certified now a days, then it's not even an option. Maybe 5 years ago this would have been good, but now it's just meh. If your going to drop money on a quality PSU, you might as well get the gold standard.LeTiger - Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - link
Agreed. If it's not Gold Cert, it's not going in my case.vol7ron - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
I guess we have different standards. I'm only buying 80+ Platinumiamezza - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
I'm only buy 100+ Unobtanium PSU'sThey are specified at over 100% efficiency - they actually put power back in to the grid.
Yuniverse - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
lol... love it ! :)Souka - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
If it's not at least %101 effecient then i'm not buying it...bigboxes - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
If the power company is not paying ME I'm not going to buy it.JMC2000 - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
Hopefully, there is a 1200W 100+ Unobtanium PSU, with around 120%-150% efficiency. That way, I can get max power, while only using ~7A @ 115V, and get paid by the electric co everytime I boot my Über 1337 PC :)PrinceGaz - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
110% efficiency PSU would not put any power back anywhere, rather the output power would be 110% of the input power from the mains. So if you drew 550W from a 110% "Unobtainium" PSU, it would still take 500W from the grid.As counter-intuitive as it seems, a PSU would actually need to have a negative efficiency figure in order to return power to the grid when drawing power from it (a -80% efficiency would mean that if you drew 500W from it, it would return 625W to the grid).
DarkKnight_Y2K - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
LOL. That was a good one!