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.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Just like the HCP-1300 the box of the HCP-850 has most of the front painted in a silver/platinum color (a bit ruined in our case).

The electrical table is placed on the right side along with company contact information.

Antec explains the savings one can have with an 80 Plus Platinum certified PSU on the left side right above the list with all available power connectors.

The specifications table is placed on both the rear and top of the box in 8 languages.

Both the unit and its modular cables are placed between two thick pieces of black foam.

After you take everything outside from the box you will have the HCP-850 PSU, AC power cord, modular cables (with their storage pouch), Q-link cable, two cable straps, 4 mounting screws, warranty information paper and the user’s guide.

THE HCP-850 EXTERIOR

The black matte colored HCP-850 may not be the largest PSU out there but it's above average in size and measures 190mm in length, 150mm in width and 86mm in height (weighs 2159g).

For cooling Antec has used a 135mm double ball bearing fan regulated by the unit’s thermal manager.

As usual stickers with the model name and output power is placed on both sides of the unit.

The electrical table is placed on a large sticker at the bottom.

Although not color coded all of the modular connectors are tagged and specific in size.

The OC Link connector allows you to connect a second HCP with the unit in case you ever need more power.

Moving at the rear we see the typical honeycomb perforation, the on/off switch, AC power port and the company logo.

THE HCP-850 INTERIOR

The 135mm double ball bearing fan is manufactured by Delta Electronics (12v, 0.38A) can reach up to 2100RPM and is controlled by the units thermal sensor.

As expected the well-known and respected Delta Electronics is also behind the HCP-850 and once again we see full-bridge LLC topology.

Although i was expecting to see Nippon Chemi-Con primary capacitors instead we find nichicon ones (also made in Japan) rated for use up to 105 degrees Celsius.

Secondary capacitors are of the KZH series by United Chemi-Con again rated 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 computer. Certainly limitations do apply and so you can't really test a 1000W power supply if your system only uses 500W at peak loads and that's why during the past 5 years i have 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 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). 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.

TEST RESULTS

RAIL STABILITY

The HCP-1300 offered rock solid rail stability so we didn't really expect anything less from the HCP-850.

POWER CONSUMPTION

Our test rig was unable to max out the HCP-850 but it did manage to draw almost 800W.

NOISE LEVELS (SPL)

Although 46.9dBA at load is not high enough to call the HCP-850 noisy still at 850W the 135mm fan may produce higher amounts of noise.

CONCLUSION

   Although we've yet to start testing on the High Current Pro Platinum 1000W model which is placed right in the middle of the brand new HCP line we know for certain that Delta was once tasked with the manufacture of ultra-high-end power supply units for Antec (lately they've been focusing in the development of industrial-grade models so they are not really into the consumer market but Antec is a name worthy of an exception). Performance was right up there with the best PSUs we've ever tested, the components are industrial-grade much like the Japanese capacitors, the future-proof feature via the new 20+8pin connector is something that may actually come into play sometime in the near future especially when placed right next to the 7 years warranty offered by Antec. It would be nice if the 135mm fan was slightly less audible at load but when you're using 800W or more from such a PSU then your primary concern should obviously be the noise coming from your graphics cards.

   The HCP-850 (High Current Pro Platinum) 850W PSU has but a single drawback and that's its somewhat high price tag and although normally this would be ok for such a model the thing is that it's actually very close to that of the HCP-1000 and that complicates things a bit (hopefully Antec will resolve that soon). I mean why would anyone choose not to spend USD10 more in order to get the 1000W variant? Sure most people may never need the extra juice but 10 bucks is really nothing compared to the certainty that you will never need more power and not have it. So as we speak the HCP-850 850W 80 Plus Platinum certified PSU retails for USD229.99 in the USA (Amazon.com) and for 260Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). With rock solid rail stability, excellent quality of components, peak output of almost 1KW, future-proof capability and a 7 year warranty you can't really go wrong with the 80 Plus Platinum certified HCP-850 850W PSU by Antec and that's why it gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Great Performance (Rail Stability)
- Fully Modular (Future Proof)
- OC Link (Can Connect Two HCPs)
- 7 Years Warranty
- 80Plus Platinum Certified
- CircuitShield Protections (OCP/OVP/UVP/SCP/OPP/OTP/SIP/NLO/BOP)

CONS

- Price (For Some)