Antec High Current Pro HCP-1200 1200 Watt SLI 80 PLUS GOLD Modular Power Supply
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- Antec’s power fupply unit provides continuous power,
- The steady power a PSU can output continuously, rather than the amount delivered at it’s short-lived peak
- 16 AWG high current cable for high performance components to reduce conducted resistance.
- Nvidi SLI ready certification
- 1200W of continuous power
1200W Power Supply
Antec Power Supply
Antec High Current Pro HCP-1200 1200 Watt SLI 80 PLUS GOLD Modular Power Supply
List Price: $ 349.95
Price:
Perfect for gaming rigs,
My desktop draws a lot of power and my older PSU had some nasty coil whine under load and would see some minor voltage drops. For the stability and longevity of your hardware you don’t want voltage fluxuations like this so I started looking for a bigger PSU. I chose the HCP-1200 due to it’s stellar flutter values and the fact that it’s one of the only high-power PSUs to offer multiple 12v rails anymore. The advantage to multiple 12v rails is that using a single rail means that it’s easier to overvolt an individual component since they’re all driven together. Multiple rails allows the PSU to better manage the power to single components or small groups.
My system specs are below. This PSU handles the load very well with low noise and outstanding voltages. I see almost no dip at all when I spin up Folding@Home on both GPUs and the CPU and my machine can run at 100% load like this for weeks without any issues at all.
This PSU delivers.
Motherboard: MSI NF980-G65
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
Frequency: 3920 GHz FSB / QPI: 206 MHz Multiplier: 19 x Stepping: 3 VCore: 1.432v
RAM: Crucial 4x 2GB Ballistix Tracer DDR3-1600
Frequency: 825 MHz Timing: 8-8-8-24-3 Voltage: 1.68 v
GPU: EVGA 2x EVGA GTX580 SuperClocked (SLI)
GPU Frequency: 900 MHz Shader Frequency: 1800 MHz Memory Frequency: 2200 MHz
Sound: Creative X-Fi X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB x2 (RAID 1)
CPU Cooler: Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme
PSU: Antec HCP-1200
Addtl Fans: 2x 120mm, 2x 90mm, 1x 250mm, 2x 50mm
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|4 1/2 stars,
A fine, high-efficiency, high power, and quiet power supply.
PROS
High efficiency – less energy turned into heat and fan noise
Hybrid/modular approach (see below)
Easily fit my existing Antec case
Good variety of option cables included
CONS
Cables are rather stiff, longer than I need, a bit difficult to bundle up.
Would prefer to have 4 SATA connectors on one cable, rather than 3
Expensive
CASE FIT
I decided to keep my Antec Sonata II mini-tower case for my new computer build, but I anticipated that the 450W power supply was not going to be up to the task of the i7 processor, 4 hard drives, 8GB RAM, and a GTX 560 video card. I wanted a power supply that would provide power to spare should I decide in the future to use two video cards, add more memory, etc. The power estimator tool on Antec’s site helps determine how much power you need.
A key requirement, of course, is that the new power supply fit easily into the existing case. Antec tech support assured me that this power supply would fit. In asking about the CP-850, they said it was a little larger and may not fit. I thought power supplies were a standard size, yet I can imagine some small variations making a difference. Anyway, the HCP-850 was an easy fit, and replacing the existing power supply with this one took just a few minutes. Obviously, buying an Antec power supply for an Antec case has the advantage that their tech support can answer questions like this.
HYBRID MODULAR APPROACH
Some power supplies have permanent cables. If they have what you need, great, otherwise adapters may or may not give you what you need. Others have a fully modular approach. This is good, except that for the cables carrying the most current (the motherboard, CPU, and PCI-E video adapter) there is some loss in using connectors.
Antec recognized that these three high-current cables would be used in most computer systems. In the name of efficiency, they made them non-removable. All other cables are modular – you have an assortment of cables to be used as required, and you use only what you need. This approach is optimally efficient, provides flexibility, and minimizes cable clutter for unnecessary cables, and I think it is superior to the totally modular approach, and of course the permanent cable approach.
THE CABLES
The cable length appears to be designed to be adequate for a full-size tower. Since I have a mini-tower, all cables (especially the motherboard cable) were a few inches too long. My approach was to install the power supply and motherboard first, arrange and plug in the cables, then use adhesive cable-tie hold downs to make them semi-permanently in place. Of course, if necessary, the cable ties can be cut, and the adhesive hold-downs pried off. Arranged in this fashion, they are not in the way of the other cables, and being close to the bottom of the case, they do not interfere with air flow in the case.
These cables are not very flexible (none of the cables are), mainly because they use heavy-gauge copper wire for efficiency in handling high currents.
The modular cables are similarly long enough to reach most devices in a full-size tower. They were more than enough to reach the most distant SATA hard drive at the bottom of my case. The annoying thing is that my case supports four drives (fairly common in tower cases), but the SATA power cable only has three connectors. This could be because the power supply rail could not provide enough power for four drives. Anyway, it makes the arrangement of power cables inconvenient.
Also, the middle SATA power connectors need to be turned to connect to the board. Since the cables are not very flexible, this is difficult to accomplish. Worse, because SATA connectors often do not have clips to hold them in place, they can come off. This delayed my configuration and installation process as I had to discover which RAID drive of the pair was not functioning, and why.
The SATA and EIDE cables are about the same length, long enough to reach to the bottom of the tower case. Obviously they are much longer than needed for the optical drives which tend to be placed at the top, quite near the power supply. The excess length makes it difficult to neatly bundle up these cables, however, they are not in the way of the air flow.
It would be very useful if Antec made optional cables that vary the number and type of connectors and the length of the cord and offer these for separate purchase.
PERFORMANCE
My current configuration (pun intended) adds up to the middle range of the range for this power supply. That happens to be the most efficient part of the curve (up to 92%), whereas at the high end of the range, it is more like 87%. I know that should I need it, there is plenty of extra power…
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|Great Product, Great Manufacturer, Great Retailer,
Very pleased with the build quality of this power supply. It delivers what it promises and is extremely quiet under nomal load. The modular connectors are well made and fit naturally (can’t say the same about Corsair or Cooler Master PSUs). It is not 100% modular and for a good reason: The main sensitive connections to the mother board (20+4 and PCIe) are intentionally fixed-wired to ensure maximum high current contact and reliability. The fan is large enough to run slowly and quitely – yet cool effectively. In my opinion, 850w is plenty of power for years to come and this product seems to last that long from what I’ve seen so far. Highly recommend it.
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