INTRODUCTION

   The recent appearance of 80 Plus Titanium certified power supply units (although not really that many in number) has finally forced manufacturers to perform price cuts on their Platinum and Gold certified models so it's not really a surprise that lately some of you have asked us to also focus our reviews on the best Platinum models currently in the market (we would had done so either way eventually). A few months back we had the latest HCP-1300 (High Current Pro Platinum 1300W) power supply unit by Antec on our test bench and as some of you may recall it was without doubt one of the best units to ever pass from our lab (not to mention one of the most highest output ones to date). Since the HCP-1300 isn't however the only model in the High Current Pro Platinum line by Antec we decided to also test its two smaller brothers and so today we will start with the lowest output model the HCP-850 850W PSU.

   Antec, Inc., is the leading global brand of high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) markets. Founded in 1986, Antec is recognized as a pioneer in these industries and has maintained its position as a worldwide market leader and international provider of efficient, quiet, and reliable products. Antec has also achieved great success in the distribution channel, meeting the demands of quality-conscious system builders, VARs and integrators. Antec’s offering of enclosures includes a large range of cases, such as its technically advanced Performance One Series, cost-effective New Solution Series and server grade cases designed for the needs of all workstation and server markets. Antec’s products also include front line power supplies such as its TruePower Quattro Series and EarthWatts, the most environmentally friendly power supplies available. PC gamers are an increasingly significant consumer of performance components, and many Antec products are geared toward the gaming demographic, like the Nine Hundred, the premier gamer enclosure. Antec also offers a computing accessories line comprised of many original products, including its patented LED Fans and Notebook Cooling solutions. Antec is headquartered in Fremont, California, with additional offices in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, as well as in Germany, China and Taiwan. The company’s products are sold in more than 40 countries throughout the world. Please visit www.antec.com for more information.

   The HCP-850 is a 80 Plus Platinum certified fully modular power supply unit (future-proof thanks to the 20+8pin MBU socket) capable of providing 850W of continuous and clean power thanks to its high quality components (such as Japanese capacitors) and full suite of industrial grade protections which include the over current protection (OCP), over voltage protection (OVP), under voltage protection (UVP), short circuit protection (SCP), over power protection (OPP), over temperature protection (OTP), surge & inrush Protection (SIP), no load operation (NLO) & brown-out protection (BOP). The HCP-850 also features 4 +12V rails which can output the full 850W of power and up to 40A on each rail (along with the other rails the HCP-850 actually has an peak output capacity of almost 1KW). Of course Antec covers the HCP-850 with their excellent seven year warranty which along with its future-proof design should prove to be very useful.