INTRODUCTION

   A few days ago my cousin called and asked me whether or not spending 45Euros on a power supply unit to replace the one that stopped working was reasonable or just too much. To be honest with all of you at first i didn't really realize what he was saying, i mean spending 45Euros both to purchase a PSU and have installed in your system just couldn't be cheaper so for a second there i thought he wanted something better so he decided to ask me for suggestions. In the end that wasn't the case so he did believe that spending that amount of money was more than he should (no wonder his previous PSU didn't last long). That being said we've pointed out the reasons of owning a quality PSU numerous times in the past and so i believe that no one should trust all those cheap models in the market not only because they may stop working (that really should be the least of your worries) but also because they may drag along your entire system with them. 80 Plus Platinum certified PSUs are quite popular nowadays especially with the price drops occurred by the introduction of the 80 Plus Titanium certification (which actually took longer than expected) so today we will be taking a look at yet another such model the High Current Pro Platinum 1000W (HCP-1000) by Antec.

     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.

   Exactly like the High Current Pro Platinum 1300W and 850W models the 1000W model is an 80 Plus Platinum certified fully modular power supply unit (again future-proof thanks to the 20+8pin MBU socket) which can output up to 1000W of continuous and clean power thanks to its high quality components (including Japanese capacitors) and full suite of industrial grade protections such as 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-1000 features the same OC link connectivity that allows it to connect to another PSU of the HCP line and comes ready with 4 +12V rails capable of using the entire output of the PSU (1000W) with up to 40A on each rail. Since the HCP-1000 is part of Antec’s flagship line of PSUs they are covering it with their excellent seven year warranty and 24/7 customer service. Having reviewed both the 1300W and 850W models we pretty much know of what to expect from the 1000W model but it's always good to be certain so let's test it out.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Once again we see the same silver/platinum colored box (and again a bit ruined in our case).

You can find the unit’s electrical table on the right side along with company contact information.

If you are curious as to what the 80 Plus Platinum certification offers you can find a quick explanation on the opposite side right above a table with all available power connectors.

The specifications of the HCP-1000 are placed at both the rear and top of the box in 8 languages.

Three pictures placed at the bottom of the box showcase the 3 main product features.

The entire bundle is placed between two thick pieces of black foam and inside cloth pouches.

Included with the HCP-1000 PSU is the AC power cord, modular cables, Q-link cable, two cable straps, 4 mounting screws, warranty information paper and the user’s guide.

THE HCP-1000 EXTERIOR

The HCP-1000 features a nice black matte coating and measures 190mm in length, 150mm in width and 86mm in height (weighs 2.2kg).

For cooling of the interior Antec has used the same 135mm double ball bearing fan as with the other two models which has its speed regulated by the unit’s thermal manager.

Two large stickers with the model name and output power are placed on both sides of the unit.

The electrical table is once again located on a large sticker at the bottom.

At the front of the device we see all of the modular connectors which are tagged and specific in size.

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

THE HCP-1000 INTERIOR

The 135mm double ball bearing fan (12v, 0.38A) manufactured by Delta Electronics is the same exact model as the one used in the 1300W/850W models and can reach up to 2100RPM.

Delta Electronics is responsible for the entire High Current Pro Platinum line of PSUs (full-bridge LLC topology is present here as well).

For primary capacitors Delta chose models from Rubycon (made in Japan) rated for use up to 105 degrees Celsius.

Secondary capacitors are actually made by both Rubycon and United Chemi-Con (also 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

Once again a member of the High Current Pro Platinum line of PSUs by Antec offers rock solid rail stability, as expected really.

POWER CONSUMPTION

We were able to pull 1036W from the unit without any issues whatsoever (not that we expected any to begin with).

NOISE LEVELS (SPL)

47.2dBA at load is not the lowest number we’ve seen with the High Current Pro Platinum line but it’s not very high plus you can expect it to be even quieter in your system since we did manage to surpass its maximum output.

CONCLUSION

   When you have tested two out of three models in a specific PSU line then it's really simple logic that the third should perform on par with the other two. Because of that it was never really a matter of whether or not the HCP-1000 would perform well but rather a question of just how well and the end result is nothing short of excellent especially after taking into account that we maxed out the output of the unit during our tests. Once again we see that Antec has used high quality components such as Japanese made capacitors and paired them with state of the art technologies and industrial grade electrical protections. We also see the same fully modular design, future-proof feature and 7 years warranty as we did with the other two models of the High Current Pro Platinum line. Unfortunately the similarities also extend to the 135mm fan used and although we can't call it loud still it would be nice if Antec was to use a dual mode feature with their future models like Seasonic does.

   As mentioned earlier the introduction of 80 Plus Titanium certified PSUs has in a way "forced" manufacturers to cut prices on their Platinum and Gold certified units and the HCP-1000 is no exception since you can currently find it for USD229.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 240Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). That being said price may still be an issue for some people but compared to 1KW 80 Plus Platinum models by other manufacturers it's actually quite good and in the end that's all that matters when comparing prices. Overall the High Current Pro Platinum 1000W model is just as good as it's two award winning brothers and naturally 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)