Antec TruePower Quattro 1200W
by Jarred Walton on July 7, 2010 6:50 PM ESTAntec TruePower Quattro 1200W Conclusion
With the TruePower Quattro 1200W, Antec can’t reach the highest efficiency ever and some buyers probably won’t like the cable configuration with many fixed cables like the two peripheral harnesses. It lacks the sort of cable management many like, because there is no space for a bigger connector panel.
However, Antec delivers one of the best results for temperatures with a delta (t) of not more than 8° and a nice voltage regulation with a clean output. At 10% load +5V shows exactly 5.00V and doesn’t drop too much with more amps on it. +12V is also nice. Only +3.3V could be regulated better with a result of -3.64% at 110% load. Power Factor was amazing and reached more than 0.99 even at 230VAC. 88.67% efficiency is the result at 50% load and 120VAC, which is slightly worse than the Seasonic X-series from our previous test but not enough that we'd really worry.
The ripple and noise results are nice too. There is not more than 30-35 mV on each rail and all measurements are well within the ATX specification. If you buy this PSU, however, you should stay below 80% load, because the fan gets really loud after that. Otherwise the TruePower Quattro is very silent below 50% load and if you play games or listen to music, noise should not be a problem. Considering the sort of components you'll need to reach 80% load (960W output), you'd probably already have plenty of noise coming from your PC anyway.
The internal design is dominated by two very large heatsinks and Japanese capacitors from Nippon Chemi-Con and Sanyo. Antec is using many shrink tubes as well as foils for short circuit protection and has a good Silicon Touch IC with many safety functions. The EMI filtering is well equipped with an additional MOV behind the entrance. There is not much space for cooling in the secondary circuit but the ventilation is strong enough to solve this problem.
Eight PCIe connectors are more than enough for a triple-SLI setup as well as many peripheral connectors for up to 20 hard drives. All the cables are very long, like the main cable at 65cm. So this PSU is designed for full size towers, a common choice for high-end computer systems with multiple GPUs.
Pricing is actually quite reasonable for this sort of PSU. The standard model starts at $215 online. If you want to buy the OC model you have to pay much more and it is only a solution for extreme overclocking. We couldn't find any in stock, but it looks like prices will be north of $335. For those that need a beastly 1200W PSU, we can say that the Antec TruePower Quattro 1200W is a good choice and sets a high quality standard. If you can live with the limited cable management and you're planning to run a tri-SLI or dual HD 5970 cards, this should work just fine.
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bigboxes - Thursday, July 8, 2010 - link
If it's a pricey model that you've had for only 6 months why didn't you return it for RMA instead of opening it up? Doesn't Antec have a three year warranty?Don't get me wrong. I too opened up my failed Antec PSU... my ten year old PSU. Replaced it with an Antec 380W Green PSU. Can't beat $30 Fry's special. I also had another Antec PSU fail after 4 years (a TP 430w during their bad years). I still have a TP 550 that is humming along in my wife's machine going on 5+ years. I'd say more often than not that Antec makes quality power supplies. Of course I have switched to using Seasonic PSUs, but they are not cheap.
HOOfan 1 - Thursday, July 8, 2010 - link
NeoPower is not exactly a Halo product. It is about a high medium level product.The point is that sometimes you have electronics that are built on a solid design, but fail early. Maybe 1 in 100 NeoPowers would do that.
The NeoPowers had at least average to above average build quality...so I still don't understand your claim that it was cheaply built.
Black Jacque - Friday, July 9, 2010 - link
" particularly if you are a gamer with Triple-SLI or Quad-Crossfire systems."The nine fanbois' in the USA that have rigs like that don't read AnandTech. Its likely they don't even read above a 5th grade level, "D00d!"
I wish AnandTech would stop pimping cr*p like this. Only about 1% of the readers need a Kilowatt powersupply. There needs to be more reviews on 400W and lower, highly efficient power supplies that cost less than US$50. These are the PSUs that 99% of the readers need and own.
If Anand wanted to do us all a favor, he would bend the ear of representatives at Seasonic, Enermax, and Corsair, and tell them that is what is needed, not powersupplies that dim the house lights when you boot your computer.
Perisphetic - Friday, July 9, 2010 - link
95 Amps on the 12V rail?! Finally. I found a replacement unit for my spot welder. Just kidding, I'm sure this will make a fine plasma cutter power source...Perisphetic - Friday, July 9, 2010 - link
PC tuning enthusiast rejoice. Finally a 2 in 1 solution PSU arrives that can easily weld the sheet metal on the modded case and power the build computer as well. No expense has been spared in making the unit a 80 PLUS uncertified device.HOOfan 1 - Sunday, July 11, 2010 - link
How much exactly do you know about internal PSU design?Maybe you think the generic looked neat and clean because it hard hardly any components in there, while the Antec looked junky because it was crammed full of components.
VIDYA - Monday, July 12, 2010 - link
ok this is so shocking for me, to just see the sight of psu above 1 kilowatt........i mean why do you THINK we SHRINK the chips and simplify the programs(browsers, video drivers) ....this range of products is an OXYMORON for technology and reviewers should not encourage them.molecriket - Wednesday, July 14, 2010 - link
99.9% of readers don't care about this overkill. a complete waste of effort.JimDDuncan - Saturday, December 18, 2010 - link
Almost bought this one till I read a review where they tested with cables that did not have built in capacitors. Basically to get performance from this psu you need those specific cables. Also the capicitors are relatively bulky and could get in the way of a tight multi gpu build. Spent the additional 30 dollars on corsair AX 1200.