Antec HCG 850W

[testman78]

Introduction

Antec have been a veteran of the power supply game for quite some time and today we are taking a look at their latest offer. The new HCG Pro Gold PSU line. The HCG Gold line consists of five units with capacities ranging from 550W to 1kW. With five members in total, the HCG line covers all popular market segments and most users. Enough with the general talk, let's focus on the HCG-850 W that will star in today's review. This unit, like all of the line, is 80 Plus Gold certified, has fully incorporate Japanese Capacitors and is equipped with a full set of protection features.



Specifications.




Packaging & Contents

The Antec HCG 850W ships in a medium with the series description at its face, in large white font. Several icons at the bottom describe its 850 W capacity, fully modular design, the up-to-92% efficiency Antec lays claim to, and the energy this unit will save you.



The rear is full of icons and graphics. An icon describe the unit's complete protections circuit while another one describing the ten-year warranty that supports the unit.



The modular cables are all protected inside a soft felt bag.



The Antec HCG 850W is also protected inside a felt bag.



Inside the box you will find a set of Velcro straps, four mounting screws, several zip ties, an AC power cord, a user's manual and a bundle of modular cables in a separate cloth bag. The manual has all the information you need to know about the power supply such as how to set up your power supply and basic troubleshooting. A total of eleven modular cables are included out of the box, plus one small adapter. All of the peripheral cables, including the SATA, Molex, and Floppy adapter are flat ribbon cables, while the motherboard, CPU, and PCI-E cables are sleeved with black webbing. The flat-ribbon cables are generally quite easy to bend, but the braided cables are a bit stiffer. It should be noted some the braided cables have in-cable capacitors, which make them a bit less flexible. These wires are 18AWG, which should be able to handle most high currents found through PCI Express and ATX/EPS connections. The following modular cables are included out of the box:
- 1x ATX 20+4 pin, 61.0cm
- 2x ATX/EPS 4+4 pin, 65.0cm
- 3x PCIe 6+2 pin, 2 connectors each, 67.5cm to first connector, 7.5cm spacing thereafter
- 2x SATA, 4 connectors, 45.0cm to first connector, 12.0cm spacing thereafter
- 1x SATA, 2 connectors, 35.0cm to first connector, 12.0cm spacing thereafter
- 1x Molex, 3 connectors, 45.0cm to first connector, 12.0cm spacing thereafter
- 1x Molex, 2 connectors, 35.0cm to first connector, 12.0cm spacing thereafter
These measurements are specified from the manufacturer. Most users should have no problems using these cables with the Antec HCG 850W, even if the power supply is in the basement of the case. Fifty centimeters is the general standard between the power supply connection and the first connector, but the shorter peripheral cables may be advantageous in routing management with modern cases. The 12cm spacing between connectors is also adequate between multiple drives. I still question why power supply manufacturers even include floppy connectors nowadays, as floppy drives are practically relics now. Thankfully, this is just a Molex to Floppy adapter, so you can ignore it altogether.




A Closer Look-Outside

The Antec HCG 850W has a relatively compact size for an ATX power supply. In terms of dimensions, this power supply stretches out 14.0cm, which is pretty good. It should be noted fully modular power supplies generally take up more room compared to their semi-modular or non-modular counterparts by a centimeter or two, as this extra real estate is used for the connector board at the back. We will explore what this looks like later when we delve into the Antec HCG 850W. For most ATX or eATX chassis, this sort of length will be almost a non-issue. However, for smaller mATX or mITX cases, the extra length may be more difficult to deal with, even if it is only a few centimeters. In the end, your mileage will vary based on your build.



From the top of the photo here, you can see the Antec logo smacked in the middle with honeycomb holes to allow air to the fan.



These holes running across the 120mm internal fan act as a grille to stop larger debris and objects from entering, all while not impeding airflow significantly. The external casing of the power supply is held together with four screws at the top near the fan, with one screw having a warranty seal over it. The only way to get inside this unit is to void the ten year warranty, which is not advisable to do.



The voltage specification label for the Antec HCG 850W is on the opposite side of the fan. There are two main virtual rails. Up to 20A can be delivered via the +3.3V rail for a total of 66W. The +5V rail can deliver 20A too, bringing the output to 100W in this area. The total combined output for the +3.3V and +5V rail is 100W. In other words, your power allocation combination must fall within the limits of the listed specifications. Meanwhile, a single powerful +12V rail delivers up to 70A (840W) to reduce operating overhead compared to multiple +12V rails. Overall, the combined power output for the whole Antec HCG 850W is an unsurprising 850W. There is a 10W difference between the +12V line and the total output. Again, your power distribution in your system must fall within the limits provided -- it must not exceed 66W on the +3.3V rail, 100W on the +5V rail and 100W combined for both, 840W on the +12V rail, and 850W combined between the positive rails. All these confusing numbers aside, this configuration allows for flexible power demands. It should be sufficient to accommodate most users, but it is interesting to see the lower power output on both the +3.3V and +5V lines. Even so, the overall distribution is pretty reasonable for an 850W power supply. The Antec HCG 850W is 80 Plus Gold certified, which means it is certified to be at least 87%, 90%, 87% efficient at 20%, 50%, and 100% load, respectively.



Otherwise, the sides of the power supply are finished in a smooth black look.



The sides show off the Antec HCG 850W branding.



At the back, we have exhaust vents in a standard honeycomb pattern. This allows excess heat to leave out the back of the power supply. Most modern power supplies have an automatic full range (100V-240V) AC line voltage selection, so you will not need to manually flip an additional switch, and this product is no exception. Therefore, the back has a single power switch and a standard power input. Thankfully, this is not a C20 receptacle, like the ones we have seen on some power supply units. We also have a push button switch with a label of "Hybrid Mode". As the name implies, this switch enables the hybrid silent mode for the fan. According to Seasonic, when this switch is not pressed, the fan will remain off at loads less than 30% of the maximum 850W.



The Antec HCG 850W sports a fully modular design which allows you to use only the cables you need thus helping improve case airflow and eliminating unnecessary wires and reducing clutter. While some users may question the necessity of this for essential cables like the ATX 24-pin and the ATX 4-pin/EPS 8-pin, there still are benefits to having this. For example, I would argue this makes cabling easier, since users can pre-route the cables without needing the power supply installed right away. Secondly, there are a few third party manufacturers who provide sleeved cables for power supplies, and this is only made possible by fully modular units. On the other hand, there is a higher, but very negligible, electrical contact loss at the connectors compared to permanently fixed cables. At the end of the day, your preference will make the final call, but I would stick to fully modular units.



The rear cable connection panel is clean, with similar connectors grouped together and laid out logically. They are clearly labeled, so you know which plug is for what. On the top row, we have the motherboard pins. Next to these are two sets of eight pin connections, used for either the CPU output, or the PCI Express connectors. On the bottom row, we have four sets of six pin connections. These are used for the peripheral outputs for IDE, SATA, or Molex connections. Finally, we have three more PCI Express connectors, though this area can also be used to power the CPU. It is great to see Antec provide this many connectors, which should be sufficient for most users and even power enthusiasts too.




A Look-Inside

The first thing you will notice once the top cover is removed is the clean layout and the cable-free connection design of the power supply. All connections travel through the PCB which helps with improving output power quality. The HCG 850W is manufactured by Seasonic, one of the most respected power supply OEM’s in the world. The integration and soldering quality of the HCG 850W is excellent just as you would expect from Seasonic. The topology used in this unit is a full bridge LLC primary and synchronous rectification with DC-DC VRMs for the minor rails on the secondary. Paired with this fan we see at least 7 heatsinks of various sizes.



The Antec HCG 850W comes with a 120mm Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) fan with a max 2050 RPM and is rated for 0.45A at 12V. Fluid dynamic bearings fans have a much longer lifespan compared to ball bearing fans and generate less operational noise and heat. Also, fluid dynamic bearings use lubrication on the surface to reduce friction and vibration. The fan is made by Hong Hua and the model number is HA1225M12F-Z and it is connected to the PCB using a 2-pin connector. Life expectancy of the fan is estimated to be up to 50,000 hours working at an average temperature of 40 C. The fan does a good job of dissipating the heat and Antec includes a metal grid which is designed to protect the fan from objects that may obstruct its operation.



When we look at the back of PCB, we see soldering that is very neat as Seasonic has done an excellent job with this aspect of the units build quality once more.



Moving on to the primary side, the Antec HCG 850W's input filtering begins up on the housing itself with a PCB that has some X and Y capacitors attached to it. The input filtering then trails onto the main PCB where we find that it is complete. The bridge rectifiers are found next sandwiching a small aluminum heatsink. As we move around to the primary side proper, we find a coil along with the APFC power components on a heatsink. Behind this heatsink we find the main input capacitor which is provided by Nippon Chemi-con. Differing from the other PRIME units we have seen, the capacitors is rated at 400v 680uF 105C. Next to, or around I should say, this capacitor we see a pair of transformers and then, towards the center of the PCB, the switching transistors attached to heatsinks. The power supply uses one GBU15L06 rectifying bridge attached to a heatsink, supporting up to 15A of current at 115c. At 115V, the theoretical power you can pull from the bridge rectifier is 1725W at 100% efficiency. Of course, this is purely from the bridge rectifier, and not all components in the power supply can actually hold this workload. Even so, this is well above the necessary requirements for an 850W power supply. The active PFC circuit in the Antec HCG 850 is controlled by a Champion CM6500 PFC chip. Other components in the active PFC circuitry were pretty easy to get a closer look at. First are two Infineon IPP50R190CE power transistors. These transistors are rated to deliver 15.7A at 100 degrees Celsius continuously. A single STMicroelectronics STTH8S06D diode is also found in the active PFC circuit. Four Greatpower GPT13N50DGN220FP MOSFET transistors are the main switchers, with the Champion CM6901 as the PWM controller. Each GPT13N50DGN220FP can deliver up to 13A at 100 degrees Celsius continuously, with a maximum resistance of 0.49 ohms. This on characteristic is called Static Drain-Source On-Resistance or commonly abbreviated as RDS(on). The more efficient the component is, the lower the RDS(on) value, since it wastes less power with lower resistance.



As we move over to the "secondary side," we see what looks to be three heatsinks for the secondary power components (all of which are very small) arranged around the large transformer you see here today. Scattered throughout this area is a mix of solid and standard electrolytics from Nippon Chemi-con. Up against the modular PCB we see another add-in PCB and this PCB houses the DC-DC VRMs. On this PCB we also find more solid capacitors provided by Nippon Chemi-con. When we move over to look at the modular PCB itself, we see that the single layer PCB is generally well done from what we can see. On the front side we see a number of solid and standard capacitors that are once more provided by Nippon Chemi-con. As for the secondary side, there are quite a few more Japanese capacitors made all from Nippon Chemi-Con, including both the electrolytic and polymer capacitors. The electrolytic capacitors are all rated at least 105c. As with modern high efficiency power supplies, all rectifiers produce the +12V out -- while the +5V and +3.3V outputs are generated from the +12V output using a DC to DC converter within the power supply unit. The +12V output is regulated by four Nexperia, formerly known as NXP Semiconductors, PSMN2R6-40, cooled by the chassis. Drain source voltage is rated at 40V, with a continuous drain current of 100A at 25c. An RDS(on) value of 0.0028 ohm maximum and 0.002 ohm typical are provided. The +5V and +3.3V rails are powered by components on a daughterboard, which unfortunately cannot be viewed due to a metal heatsink being directly attached here. Finally, a Weltrend WT7527V IC provides over/under current and over/under voltage protection.




Test System

In order to review power supplies the right way i needed some key pieces of equipment. Briefly those pieces of equipment are shown below.



SunMoon SM-8800 SMPS ATE
CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs)
CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4)
Extech MultiMaster MM560 digital multimeter
Extech 380803 Power Analyzer
SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa)
Oscium iMSO-104 signal oscilloscope
Oscium WiPry-Combo peak power meter and spectrum analyzer
Sperry DT-506 4 Channel Digital Thermometer
Powerstat Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA, 0-140 VAC


Voltage Variance

The HCG 850W produced outstanding voltage regulation, again staying easily within the claimed tight voltage regulation parameters of 2%.




Cross Load

The power supply dealt with the demanding cross load test very well exhibiting only minor fluctuation.




AC Ripple

The HCG 850W power supply exhibited outstanding AC ripple suppression on all of the primary outputs.




Efficiency

Efficiency is very good, peaking at 92.2 percent at 50 percent load. This drops to around 90.3 percent at full load.




Temperature

The fan works well to expel heat out the rear of the chassis. The overall results are very good indeed.




Noise Level

The large fan spins relatively slowly under low to modest load levels. Above 60% the fan spins up to counter rising heat. At full load the fan is clearly audible but never too intrusive. The Antec HCG 850W features a silent 120mm FDB fan with intelligent semi-fanless operation which makes it great for quiet home or office use. If the loading condition is below 30%, the fan will remain off for silent operation.




Conclusion

Technically, the HCG 850W is rock solid. Noise suppression is worthy of another mention, and the efficiency levels are high, easily achieving 80 Plus Gold certification. Voltage regulation is another plus point – without any hitches in the delivery we can mention. The actual fit and finish seems to be very high quality and for the type of unit this is today there is not much here that makes us pause. The external paint work is stellar, and the overall look will fit in many builds without ruining the overall appearance. It is without question a very well built power supply to solidify the companies standing in the enthusiast sector. With the interior build quality, we see a modern design that features a different layout than we have seen from the recent units. However, it does share excellent execution (with a very good attention to detail when it comes to component placement and soldering). The component selection is again well matched to this integration effort as we see a Hong Hua FDB fan along with capacitors from Nippon Chemi-con (solid and standard). Realistically, this unit seems to be a very nice product that is perhaps a bit nicer than we would expect for what we thought was its intended market segment.



Antec may have been targeting the mainstream audience with their HCG Gold lineup, but the performance of this power supply allows it to fight alongside the best. According to our load testing equipment, it delivers excellent output and efficiency. It may have lagged behind some Platinum or Titanium flagship power supply when comparing efficiency, but the Antec HCG 850W cleared the Gold standard all the time. Combine the performance with a practically quiet Hybrid Mode operation, and you can already paint the Antec HCG 850W a winner. Furthermore, when you factor in the fiercely competitive retail pricing of 120€, it is easy to see this is one of the best bang-for-your-buck power supplies you can get. The Antec HCG 850W is yet another power supply in the company line up to deliver, quality, high grade power to a demanding enthusiast system. Antec is one of the few companies that provides a 10 year warranty on their power supplies. The majority of the manufactures offer 5 year warranties so this shows Antec's commitment to their PSU quality and longevity.