Antec Signature 850W PSU

Antec Signature 850W

Manufacturer: Antec
UK Price (as reviewed): £135.68 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): $223.99 (ex. Tax)

Antec's new Signature power supply series is designed to be the pinnacle of consumer PSU technology. By this, we don't just mean high power, we mean the black box is full of clever tricks and quality components rarely seen outside of the realm of servers.

Offering components like Tantalum ceramic capacitors, independent VRMs, Japanese capacitors and fan, a dual PCB layout, 80 Plus Bronze and SLI certification, as well as a five year warranty it certainly has some neat tricks up its sleeve. The Signature, while manufactured in co-operation with the industry giant Delta, takes on some of its server grade ideas, which means it's about as far from a simple rebrand as you can get.

It's built in a similar guise to the Cooler Master Ultimate UCP 900W we reviewed last week. That was a truly fantastic PSU with an exceptional, unparalleled efficiency, however at the time it was really very expensive so we couldn't really recommend it. Since then, Cooler Master has dropped its price to undercut the Signature, but does the Antec still warrant a better purchase in a super-high quality, yet fringe market? We went off to find out...

Box Contents

• Multi language manual
  
• Test report card
  
• Power cable
  
• Modular cable bundle
  
• Four case screws

The presentation and box is absolutely superb. From the outset its clear Antec wanted to make something that expressed a certain divinity rather than marketing fluff splattered all over it. The report card is a lovely touch - something mirrored from the PC Power & Cooling Turbocool products - although a quirky little novelty in reality.

The manual has some good diagrams and is well written rather than (the often usual) Engrish, although it's a little thin on some detail, instead mostly filling it out with marketing fluff and an install guide rather than a 12V rail guide, cable lengths, ripple statistics, etc.

Despite being semi-modular, we'd still like to see some cable tiding options like Velcro strips or even a few black zip ties. I mean, after shelling out £150 for a lovely piece of kit a few matching extras wouldn't go amiss. The other argument, though, is that it's £150 of PSU, rather than free peripheral fluff.