INTRODUCTION

    The recent announcement of the GeForce RTX 5xxx series of graphics cards by NVIDIA and the release of the top-end 5090 variant has already incentivized many people all over the world to upgrade their systems with more powerful power supply units following the latest ATX 3.1 & PCIe 5.1 industry standards. Thankfully the power supply unit market is not what it was even just a decade ago and so there are plenty of such high-wattage models for people to choose from, most of which will do a great job. Still, just like with everything else in this world not all power supply units are created equal and so I'm very curious to see just how the latest High Current Gamer PRO Platinum 1200W ATX 3.1 model by Antec performs.

    Antec, Inc. is the global leader in high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself markets. Founded in 1986, Antec is recognized as a pioneer in the industry and has maintained its position as a worldwide market leader and international provider of quiet, efficient and innovative products. Antec has also achieved great success in the distribution channel, meeting the demands of quality-conscious system builders, VARs and integrators. Antec is headquartered in Fremont, California, with additional offices in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, as well as in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, China and Taiwan. The company’s products are sold in more than 40 countries throughout the world.

    The High Current Gamer PRO Platinum 1200W ATX 3.1 (also available in 850/1000W outputs) is the latest addition in a long line of power supply units released by Antec (last time I had an HGC model in the office was 2019) which as its name states follows the latest ATX 3.1 and PCIe v5.1 standards and is 80 PLUS Platinum certified (92% electrical efficiency at 50% load). It also comes ready with a single 12VHPWR (12V-2x6) GPU power connector (600W) and three 8-pin (6+2) GPU power connectors, single powerful +12V rail (100A) capable of delivering 100% of the units’ total power output (1200W) , peak power output of no less than 1343.6W (peak should now be up to 2.69KW for up to 100ms - once again however this is not something I can test),  full bridge LLC design with DC to DC topology (Phasewave design), active PFC, 135mm fluid dynamic bearing fan with zero RPM manager, high-quality Japanese capacitors certified for use up to 105 degrees Celsius, individually sleeved cables and their circuitshield array of electrical protections including over-current (OCP), over-voltage (OVP), under-voltage (UVP), short-circuit (SCP), over-temperature (OTP), over-power (OPP), Surge & Inrush (SIP) and No-load Operation (NLO). Finally Antec covers their HCG PRO Platinum 1200W power supply unit with a 10-year limited warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The front of the black box is taken by a large product picture, the company logo and the main product features.

Both the available modular power cables and the electrical table are placed on the right side.

At the rear Antec has placed all of the product features.

The unit is placed inside two pieces of foam while the modular cables are placed inside a storage pouch.

Along with the HCG PRO Platinum 1200W, its power cord and modular cables inside the box you'll also find 12 cable ties, 3 cable straps, 4 mounting screws, warranty information paper and a product overview paper.

THE HCG PRO PLATINUM 1200W EXTERIOR

The HCG PRO Platinum 1200W features individually sleeves cables and that also includes the 600W 12VHPWR (12V-2x6) GPU power cable.

Measuring 160mm in length, 150mm in width and 86mm in height the HCG PRO Platinum 1200W is a compact model (for its output).

Antec has placed their logo just over the 135mm fluid dynamic bearing fan.

Stickers with the model name, output and company logo are located on both sides.

As expected, the electrical table is placed at the base of the enclosure.

At the front Antec has placed a total of 13 power connectors all of which are tagged.

Turning the unit around we find the power on/off switch, hybrid mode on/off button and the power port.

THE HCG PRO PLATINUM 1200W INTERIOR

Ong Hua (Honghua Electronic Technology) is the manufacturer behind the high-speed (2300rpm) 135mm FDB fan.

Seasonic seems to be behind the HCG PRO Platinum 1200W (many similarities with their VERTEX PX line).

The two primary capacitors are manufactured by Nippon Chemi-Con and are certified for use up to 105 degrees Celsius.

Secondary capacitors are manufactured by nichicon and Nippon Chemi-Con and are also certified for use up to 105 degrees Celsius.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

     Using a dedicated measurement instrument such as a Chroma or a SunMoon to test power supply units is without doubt the most ideal and accurate way (not to mention the fastest) to do that currently. However, it's certainly not the only way there is and so pretty much anyone can test a power supply unit just by using a test rig. Certainly, limitations do apply and so you can't really push a 1000W power supply to its limits if your system only uses 500W at peak loads and that's why over the years we saved certain hardware components for the purpose of building a dedicated PSU test rig. True it may not be as accurate as the above mentioned solutions but it comes really close and is in fact much closer to real world usage. So as always, we ran several games with maximum graphic options enabled at a resolution of 2560x1600 in order to stress every hardware component and increase the overall power demands of the system. The Passmark BurnIn Test was also used to overstress the components in an effort to provide the most accurate results possible. As a final test we also used the latest OCCT 4.4 software and its dedicated PSU testing suite since it can really bring a power supply to its knees after inside a few minutes.

   Rail stability was checked/measured with the CPUID Hardware monitor and a Metex multimeter which also recorded the system load in idle and in load. As always try to remember that the power consumption numbers listed in the graph are the highest (Peak) ones recorded during the entire duration of the tests and not the average ones. Noise levels coming from the fan were recorded using the high precision HD600 ExTech Sound dBA Meter from the rear of the unit and at a range of no more than 5-10cm. Readings under load are recorded the exact moment we manually switch the fans of all graphics cards from full speed to almost zero, that way the fan of the power supply does not have enough time to slow its RPM and so by doing this we get very accurate noise level readings. Needless to say, in order to get 100% accurate readings, you need to have a noise isolated room for that exact purpose, something which is quite impossible unless you are working inside a real lab (some people use very small noise insulated boxes but due to their size both heat and noise exceed normal levels and so the results can't really be considered to be 100% accurate, nor realistic for that matter). Also do take into account that since all noise measurements take place from just 5-10cm away the final noise levels to reach your ears will be considerably less.

* After well over 10 years of testing PSUs the Intel Core i7-920 CPU of this rig failed and so we replaced it with a Xeon X5660 (we also swapped the GA-X58A-UD7 for the G1. Assassin).

TEST RESULTS

CONCLUSION

    The Antec High Current Gamer line of power supply units has always performed well (perhaps not as well as their signature series but that’s from a time long ago) and so I had high hopes about the HCG PRO Platinum 1200W model. Well, I wasn’t disappointed since the HCG PRO Platinum 1200W produced rock solid rail stability, one of the best I’ve encountered to date. On top of that it’s based on the VERTEX PX line of power supplies by Seasonic so as expected build quality is pretty much excellent. The HCG PRO Platinum 1200W also has the most complete range of electrical protections, yes, even more compared to some of the leading models out there. If I had to nitpick, I’d point out noise levels, yes, up to around 1000W the unit is not particularly noisy but at over 1100W I do expect levels to surpass 45dBA (always at 5-10cm distance). This of course is not a serious issue since at that point your graphics card will be far noisier but it’s something I do need to point out.

    As I type these lines the HCG PRO Platinum 1200W ATX 3.1 power supply unit by Antec retails for around 290Euros inside the EU, a price tag which is normal for what you’re getting (just a tad higher than what I was expecting to be completely honest). Unfortunately, availability inside the USA seems to be next to none so I couldn’t find it anywhere on that side. At the end of the day Antec has released yet another impressive power supply unit with top notch build quality, excellent performance and some of the best features and specifications available today so the Platinum Award is in order.

PROS

- Excellent Build Quality
- ATX 3.1 & PCIe 5.1 Compliant
- Near Excellent Rail Stability
- 80 PLUS Platinum Certified
- Electrical Protections (OCP/OVP/SSP/OPP/UVP/OTP/SIP/NLO)
- Hybrid Fan Mode
- Powerful Single Rail (100A)
- 10 Year Limited Warranty

CONS

- Current Availability (USA)