INTRODUCTION

   Serious gamers, enthusiasts and professionals may always have their eyes set on high-wattage power supply units with several high-end features such as 80 Plus Platinum and Titanium electrical certifications but it's always important to remember that the largest piece of the consumer market belongs to people who put price above everything else (a friend of mine also pointed that out less than a week ago when he went to buy a new one for his system). Luckily as expected most manufacturers are well aware of that fact so lately we've seen quite a few feature-rich mid-end models in the sub-1KW range aimed at people with tight budgets such as the brand new High Current Gamer 750W Bronze model (HCG750 Bronze) by our friends over at Antec.

   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.

   Once again Antec is quite forthcoming about their new PSU lines so the HCG 750W Bronze (also available in 850W) features an 80 Plus Bronze efficiency certification (up to 89% electrical efficiency) and can deliver up to 750W of continuous power (916W peak). Just like the HCG 850W Gold model which we reviewed not too long ago the HCG 750W Bronze features a fully modular design (future-proof) and under its hood we find a single powerful 62.5A +12V rail which can deliver up to 100% of the units total power output, minor rails with a total output of 166W, 100% Japanese capacitors, ATX v2.4 support and the usual CircuitShield suite of industrial grade electrical protections including OVP (over-voltage), OCP (over-current), SCP (short-circuit), OPP (over-power), NLO (no-load operation), OTP (over-temperature) and SIP (surge and inrush). Unfortunately however unlike the HCG Gold line and its 10 year limited warranty the HCG Bronze line is covered by Antec with their AQ5 5 year limited warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Once again you can take a look at the main product features from the front of the box.

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

Antec EU contact details are placed on the right side of the box.

For a more detailed description for the features of the HCG750 Bronze you can check the rear of the box.

The specifications and features are also printed at the base of the box in 8 languages.

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

Along with the HCG 750W Bronze, its synthetic cloth cover and power cord you'll also receive a single synthetic cloth bag containing all the modular cables, 5 cable ties, 4 mounting screws, 3 cable straps, warranty information paper and a product overview paper.

THE HCG 750W BRONZE EXTERIOR

I was slightly surprised to see that unlike the HCG 850W Gold which arrived with both round braided power cables and flat SATA power cables the HCG 750W Bronze arrived with just flat ones.

Another thing that slightly surprised as was the size of the HCG 750W Bronze since it's slightly larger compared to the HCG 850W Gold model (150x165x86mm / 150x140x86mm).

An 135mm double-ball bearing fan is placed at the top right beneath the Antec logo.

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 and the power port.

THE HCG 750W BRONZE INTERIOR

The 135mm double ball bearing fan is manufactured by Yate Loon Electronics and can spin up to 2800RPM to produce airflow of up to 140CFM with 48.5dBA of noise.

Interior layout is clean and very similar to what we've seen lately by Antec so Seasonic is probably the OEM manufacturer of the new HCG 750W Bronze model.

The two primary capacitors in our sample are manufactured by Hitachi (HU series) and are rated for use up to 105 degrees Celsius.

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

   Based on our test results the Antec High Current Gamer 750W Bronze Power Supply Unit left us with mixed feelings for sure. We did like its good rail stability, maximum power output (peak of up to 916W) and features like the fully modular design, 100% Japanese capacitors and wide range of electrical protections (CircuitShield) but at the same time noise levels are quite high (the fan is obviously not spinning at 100% - Yate Loon reports 48.5dBA at 1 meter range) but still almost 48dBA is far from what we’d call quiet) and that is definitely something that we expect interests many of you. Of course as we always say if you plan to max out the power output of any PSU then you should climb higher but regardless we do feel that this is a somewhat important issue. On top of that add the fact that Antec covers the High Current Gamer Bronze line with a 5 year warranty (5 years is more than enough but when even their EarthWatts Gold Pro line has 7 it just feels off) and well things could be better for this particular model/line.

     With a current price tag set at USD105.84 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 104Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) the High Current Gamer 750W Bronze Power Supply Unit (HCG750 Bronze) actually costs less compared to its predecessor (both at launch and over a year later). Overall the HCG 750W Bronze may not be award winning material but if you don’t care much about noise levels we do recommend checking it out because of its rail stability, fully modular design and electrical protections.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Good Rail Stability
- Fully Modular Design
- 80 Plus Bronze Certified
- CircuitShield Electrical Protections
- Peak Output (916W)
- 5 Year Warranty
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Very Noisy At Over 90% Load
- Warranty Compared To Other PSU Lines By Antec (For Some)