Temperatures and Noise Level

As already mentioned, Antec uses an 80mm fan for cooling. They have chosen an ADDA fan with PWM control (AD0812XB-A78GL), so the regulation allows the manufacturer to start softly, which is definitely useful. Usually you need a high starting current to bring the fan into action. No we will see how loud the fan is in the practical tests.

Sound Pressure Level
Load dB(A)
10% 18
20% 19
50% 19
80% 24
100% 28
110% 34

For a powerful PSU Antec starts very softly at only 18 dB(A) at 10% load. So we can confirm that the PWM fan has a good regulation. From 10 to 50% load it is still hardly audible. Only with full load or more the fan gets annoyingly loud.

Temperature
Load Ambient Exhaust
10% 26°C 30°C
20% 26°C 30°C
50% 26°C 30°C
80% 26°C 31°C
100% 26°C 32°C
110% 26°C 34°C

The temperatures were always better than expected and delta (t) is not more than 8° at full load. You can easily see why the fan gets much louder with 50% load or more. The temperatures begin to increase quickly and the heatsink is finally at capacity, requiring more airflow to keep it cooled.

Ripple and Noise +12V Antec TruePower Quattro 1200W Conclusion
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  • Alchemy69 - Wednesday, July 7, 2010 - link

    Very silent? Isn't that like a little bit pregnant?
  • computergeek485 - Wednesday, July 7, 2010 - link

    haha yea pretty much
  • shin0bi272 - Wednesday, July 7, 2010 - link

    My case has a dual power supply setup... Even running triple or quad SLI I wonder how long it would be before I would need 2 of these. he he he
  • JarredWalton - Thursday, July 8, 2010 - link

    Inexpensive Antec PSUs are the same as any other inexpensive PSU: they have to cut some corners. The high-end stuff is generally in a different league.
  • atmartens - Thursday, July 8, 2010 - link

    SPCR gives good power supply reviews. The CP-850 and CP-1000 in particular seem to be high quality. The catch is they only fit several Antec cases. In any case, don't just go by brand name.
  • michal1980 - Thursday, July 8, 2010 - link

    into a 20amp circuit. Or dont bother having anything else turned on in that room.

    1200watts, 110% load = 1320 Watts / 84.04% efficent = 1570.68Watts / 120V = 13 amps. Most outlets really only see ~115 volts. Which puts you at 13.65 amps.

    Most room circuits are wired at 15amps. Which means with this psu maxed out you have about 230 Watts left over for everything else.

    Why?
  • HOOfan 1 - Thursday, July 8, 2010 - link

    Why would you be loading it to 110%?
  • michal1980 - Thursday, July 8, 2010 - link

    ok, at 100% your at nealry 12amps.

    Still darn close to the limit of most circuits at home

    Simple put, a 15amp circuit can put out 1800watts.
  • HOOfan 1 - Thursday, July 8, 2010 - link

    But why are you assuming that people would be running the PSU at 110%.

    That would be the fault of the owner, not the fault of Antec for building a 1200W PSU.

    A triple SLi GTX 480 setup would need about a 1200W PSU, although it wouldn't be pulling that much power.

    Not a good idea to even run a PSU at 100% for extended time.

    Besides, just put the PSU on its own 15A circuit.
  • Moricon - Friday, July 9, 2010 - link

    Ha,here in UK we have 240v Yay us :) 3000w at our disposal.

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