INTRODUCTION

   The benefits of having a good power supply unit in your system have been mentioned by us more times than i can possibly count but even so it seems that many people place this specific hardware component last in their lists. The most recent example of this was roughly 2 weeks ago when we happened to come across a post in a from someone who had ordered the brand new GeForce RTX 2080 by NVIDIA for his new system but because he was running low on funds he decided to go with a low-cost 650W PSU from a virtually unknown manufacturer (at least for starters). This of course is not the only time we've seen something like that and i personally have changed the minds of many friends and even relatives who thought about doing the same (but with different graphics cards). Antec has a very long history with power supply units and although last year they weren't exactly active in this specific segment of the market recently they released the brand new High Current Gamer series (if the name sounds familiar it's because they had another line in the past with the same name) and today we'll be taking a look at the HCG 850W Gold model.

   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’s offering of enclosures includes a wide range of cases, such as its advanced Performance One Series, economical New Solution Series and VERIS family of media components designed for the home theater PC market. Antec’s products also include front line power supplies, such as its premium Signature Series, powerful TruePower Quattro Series and EarthWatts, one of the most environmentally friendly power supplies available. PC gamers are an increasingly significant consumer of performance components, and many Antec products are designed for the gaming demographic, like the premier gamer enclosure: the Nine Hundred. Antec also offers a line of computer accessories comprising 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 the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, China and Taiwan. The company’s products are sold in more than 40 countries throughout the world.

   As the name clearly suggests the HCG 850W Gold (also available in 650/750W) features an 80 Plus Gold efficiency certification (up to 92% electrical efficiency) and can deliver up to 850W of continuous power (958W peak). The HCG 850W Gold also features a fully modular design (future-proof), powerful 70A single +12V rail which can deliver up to 99% of the units total power output, minor rails with a total output of 118.6W, 100% Japanese capacitors, PhaseWave design (full bridge LLC with DC-DC topology), ATX v2.4 support, Zero RPM fan mode for complete silence and the CircuitShield suite of industrial grade electrical protections including OVP (over-voltage), OCP (over-current), UVP (under-voltage), SCP (short-circuit), OPP (over-power), NLO (no-load operation), OTP (over-temperature) and SIP (surge and inrush). Finally in order to show just how much faith they have in their latest models Antec covers the entire HCG Gold line with a 10 year limited warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The main product features can be seen at the front of the box along with the company logo and model name.

On the left side Antec has placed the unit's electrical table right over its available power connectors.

All of the features are listed in detail at the rear of the box.

As usual the PSU is placed between two thick pieces of black foam (and wrapped inside a fabric cover) while the rest of the bundle is placed next to it.

Along with the HCG 850W Gold, its fabric cover and its power cord you are also getting two bags filled with modular cables, 12 cable ties, 4 mounting screws, 3 cable straps, warranty information paper and a product overview paper.

THE HCG 850W GOLD EXTERIOR

The HGC 850W Gold comes with both round braided power cables for the mainboard and graphics cards and flat SATA power cables.

Just like many other recently released power supplies the HCG 850W Gold features a compact form factor and thus measures just 150mm in width, 140mm in length and 86mm in height.

A 120mm fluid-dynamic bearing fan is placed at the top and features two different modes normal and hybrid (Zero RPM Manager).

The model name is printed on both sides of the enclosure and at its base we find a large sticker containing the electrical specifications table.

All modular connectors are tagged and different in size/shape.

At the rear we find the typical honeycomb perforation, power on/off button, Hybrid fan mode on/off button and the power port.

THE HCG 850W GOLD INTERIOR

The 120mm FDB fan used with the HCG 850W Gold is manufactured by Ong Hua and can reach speeds of up to 2200RPM to produce airflow levels of up to 73.9CFM with up to 32.4dBA of noise.

Interior layout is quite clean and very familiar so if i had to guess I’d say that Seasonic is once again the OEM of the new HCG Gold line.

The primary capacitor is manufactured by the Japanese Nippon Chemi-Con and is certified for 105 degrees Celsius.

Secondary capacitors are manufactured by United Chemi-Con (2200uF 16v) and Nichicon (3300uF 16v) and are also certified for 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 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

CONCLUSION

   Just like with the EarthWatts Gold Pro line Seasonic was also tasked by Antec with the manufacturing of the HCG Gold line and so it’s no surprise that there are quite a few similarities between them (specs-wise). What really matters however is that once again Antec has released a high quality fully modular PSU line in the market that features solid rail performance (even tighter compared to the EarthWatts Gold Pro line even though the HCG Gold is a fully modular one), 80 Plus Gold electrical efficiency certification, an array of industrial grade electrical protections, 100% Japanese made capacitors and a 10 year limited warranty. The 120mm FDB fan did become a bit noisy during our tests when our test rig reached its peak consumption but as we’ve pointed out numerous times in the past if your system can use or even exceed 85-90% of a units total power output then you’ll be better off getting a higher wattage model.

   So how much does Antec ask for their latest High Current Gamer 850W Gold Power Supply Unit (HCG850 Gold)? Well with a current price tag set at USD114.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and at 124.69Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) the HCG 850W Gold lands right in the middle of similar power supplies so I guess Antec did ok here. Bottom line if 850W is more than enough to power your system you really can’t go wrong with the brand new HCG 850W Gold power supply unit by Antec and for that it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Rock Solid Rail Stability
- Fully Modular Design
- Size
- 80 Plus Gold Certified
- CircuitShield Electrical Protections
- Peak Output (958W)
- 10 Year Warranty
- Zero RPM Feature
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Noisy At Over 90% Load