Power Supply Roundup: 730W to 900W
by Christoph Katzer on November 22, 2007 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Antec TruePower Quattro - 850W
The Quattro 850 has a very difference appearance than other offerings. Antec painted yellow racing stripes on the black housing, which gives it a unique appearance. Whether that's good or bad is up to personal opinion; regardless, you won't see these stripes when the power supply is mounted in most cases. The cooling is provided by an 80mm fan located at the front of the power supply. The packaging is well built, providing protection during transportation. We found all the standard accessories in the box.
The label shows four 12V rails rated at 18A each. The lower voltage 3.3V and 5V rails have the standard 25A and 30A rating, respectively, which is more than enough in today's systems. The total maximum load for the 12V rails is described as 768W, which is good for demanding systems. Antec lists 100-240VAC input voltage on the label, but as with other units we tested the Antec with 90VAC as well and didn't encounter any problems.
Cables and Connectors
All cables are sleeved with a black mesh; this looks pretty but naturally increases the price. For an 850W power supply the TruePower Quattro has one of the highest amounts of cable harnesses. There are nine Molex and eight SATA connectors, which could power up quite a lot of hard drives. Of course, looking at the back of the power supply we see only three jacks for peripherals; the user can only attach three of the harnesses, but at least they can choose which cables they need.
Two massive heatsinks occupy most of the internal space; these are not only wide but also thick. This arrangement keeps the inside cool and we measured only up to 68°C with 50°C ambient temperature outside of the power supply. Heat is transferred quickly out of the power supply and the heatsinks leave plenty of space for air to cool the components on the PCB.
Antec uses quality components, with a Nippon Chemi-Con capacitor rated at 470µF, 450V, and 105°C taking center stage. The secondary side has several Teapo caps installed, which is a common choice. Overall, the topology makes a very good impression.
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tynopik - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
the efficiency charts are fantastic as you can see exactly how all the units compare at a specified wattagebut then you go back and do the acoustics charts by % load? why?
if i want to see how all the units compare at a 500w load, there's no easy way to do that as that might be a 68% load on one unit and a 55% load on another unit
Christoph Katzer - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
Next time will doVidmar - Saturday, November 24, 2007 - link
Thanks for doing the charts in watts instead of load. I've been asking for that for some time. As has been said here it makes it much easier to find a good unit based upon a known wattage your system uses. Good article.tynopik - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
great!and then once all units are tested to the same baseline, that opens the door for dynamic comparisons
as you build up a database of reviews, you could have a dynamic system where you can choose a 400-500 watt unit you reviewed 9 months ago and a 600 watt unit you just reviewed and it will generate the comparison charts on the fly
something for the future perhaps ;)
Etern205 - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link
Newegg is selling the Antec TruePower Quattro 850 at $249 whilethe 1KW version is selling for $299 with a -$80 instant rebate!
850w version
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
1KW version
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
Traciatim - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link
Could you please design and test with a machine that actually uses 700+ Watts of DC output?Jjoshua2 - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link
I like the old review better. I don't have time to read the whole reviews, so I just read the conclusion and then go over a few interesting paragraphs. I hope you have a longer conclusion next time!Thanks.
Christoph Katzer - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
Ehm there are 8 pages comparison/conclusion.... not enough?Of course people not appreciating the work and just read the last page find it boring... so next time I write a page about 10 PSUs and that'd be enough? ...
Googer - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link
Check the hot deals section of Anandtech forums, a little while ago I posted a $50 price drop of the Silencer 750 down to a budgetable $150.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...=40&...
Christoph Katzer - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
That would be a really good deal indeed.