Antec HCG 750W: Built for Gamers?
by Martin Kaffei on April 12, 2011 8:20 PM ESTNoise, Efficiency, and Power Factor
| Sound Pressure Level | |
| Load | dB(A) |
| 10% | 19 |
| 20% | 19 |
| 50% | 20 |
| 80% | 25 |
| 100% | 35 |
| 110% | 38 |
Like most Antec PSUs this one gets very loud once we near 100% load. However, most PCs don't (and shouldn't) reach that level so the sound pressure during low to moderate loads is more important. Most "gamer" systems also have GPUs that generate a lot of heat, so an active cooled PSU is very welcome here. At a load of 50% (~375W) or less, the HCG-750 is nearly inaudible in a closed PC; 20 dBA is almost certainly less noise than most GPUs will generate, and they would likely be necessary to reach such a load.
Efficiency and PFC
| 115VAC, 60Hz | ||
| Load | Efficiency | PFC |
| 10% | 81% | 0.946 |
| 20% | 85% | 0.959 |
| 50% | 86% | 0.974 |
| 80% | 83% | 0.991 |
| 100% | 81% | 0.996 |
| 110% | 80% | - |
| 230VAC, 50Hz | ||
| Load | Efficiency | PFC |
| 10% | 82% | 0.868 |
| 20% | 87% | 0.899 |
| 50% | 88% | 0.933 |
| 80% | 86% | 0.944 |
| 100% | 85% | 0.953 |
| 110% | 84% | - |
We have two different charts for efficiency and PFC, as some readers expressed interest in 230VAC measurements. The efficiency is good for an 80 Plus Bronze PSU, reaching up to 86% on 115VAC, though our 81% result at full load on 115VAC is actually slightly below the required 82%. More importantly, we see greater than 80% efficiency at low loads, which isn't always a given even with high-end power supplies. PFC is also good on 115VAC. As is always the case, on 230VAC PFC drops quite a bit and we'd like to see better results. On the other hand, efficiency on 230VAC goes up several points, easily qualifying for a Bronze rating and nearly reaching Silver levels. Not bad for a moderately priced PSU.
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sean.crees - Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - link
I'm sorry, but if it's not 80+ Gold certified now a days, then it's not even an option. Maybe 5 years ago this would have been good, but now it's just meh. If your going to drop money on a quality PSU, you might as well get the gold standard.LeTiger - Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - link
Agreed. If it's not Gold Cert, it's not going in my case.vol7ron - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
I guess we have different standards. I'm only buying 80+ Platinumiamezza - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
I'm only buy 100+ Unobtanium PSU'sThey are specified at over 100% efficiency - they actually put power back in to the grid.
Yuniverse - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
lol... love it ! :)Souka - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
If it's not at least %101 effecient then i'm not buying it...bigboxes - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
If the power company is not paying ME I'm not going to buy it.JMC2000 - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
Hopefully, there is a 1200W 100+ Unobtanium PSU, with around 120%-150% efficiency. That way, I can get max power, while only using ~7A @ 115V, and get paid by the electric co everytime I boot my Über 1337 PC :)PrinceGaz - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
110% efficiency PSU would not put any power back anywhere, rather the output power would be 110% of the input power from the mains. So if you drew 550W from a 110% "Unobtainium" PSU, it would still take 500W from the grid.As counter-intuitive as it seems, a PSU would actually need to have a negative efficiency figure in order to return power to the grid when drawing power from it (a -80% efficiency would mean that if you drew 500W from it, it would return 625W to the grid).
DarkKnight_Y2K - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
LOL. That was a good one!