Antec High Current Pro 1200W Review

Antec High Current Pro 1200W Review

Manufacturer Antec
UK price (as reviewed) £199.54 (inc VAT)
US price (as reviewed) $254.99 (ex tax)

Antec has a well-established reputation for making quality PSUs; its products have won awards from both bit-tech and Custom PC in the past. As such, we were intrigued to get our hands on the flagship 1.2kW model of Antec’s new High Current Pro (HCP) line of PSUs.

Antec has positioned the HCP range to sit above the Quattro line and, as a result, they retail for a little more money. The Antec High Current Pro 1200W retails for £200, which is £20 more than the comparable Quattro model, but a hefty £90 less than the Enermax MaxRevo 1350W. To justify the price bump over the Quattro range, Antec has kitted out the HCP line with high-current, heavy-gauge 16AWG wiring, which it claims reduces conducted resistance and improves the efficiency of the PSU.

Interestingly, the HCP-1200 splits its internal components over two PCBs. These are mounted facing each other inside the unit; one is fitted to the roof of the PSU and one is attached to the floor. Antec used this layout in the Antec CP-1000 and claims that it allows for more PCB real estate. This means that it can use larger, more heavy-duty components, which brings benefits in terms of efficiency and cooling.


Cooling the components attached to these two PCBs is a single end-mounted 80mm fan. This may seem relatively measly compared to the 140mm fans that we’re used to seeing in high-end PSUs, but it proved more than capable of keeping the PSU cool, even when the unit was running at 100 per cent load. Importantly, it also ran quietly during our testing; it was essentially silent at 10 and 50 per cent load, with only an audible hum emanating when the PSU was fully taxed at 100 per cent load.

At the core of the HCP-1200 are eight 12V rails, each of which is rated at a healthy 30A. This means that the HCP-1200 is potentially capable of outputting a huge 1,188W, or 99 per cent of its overall rated capacity, solely over its 12V rails if required.

Thankfully, Antec has been sensible about how it's split up the 12V rails so that no one rail is likely to become overloaded. 12V¹ provides power to the motherboard and the captive SATA and Molex cables, while 12V² and 12V³ feed the two ATX-8 pin connectors; 12V⁴ handles the modular drive connectors, which leaves each of the 12V⁵ to 12V⁸ rails to power the 6+2pin PCI-E connectors.


Complementing the glut of 12V rails is a 3.3V and 5V rail, both of which are rated as being able to draw 25A and a maximum combined wattage of 175W. The HCP-1200 also provides 0.5A over its -12V rail and 4A over its 5VSB rail.

As with most premium PSUs, the HCP-1200 splits its connectors between captive and modular cables. The captive cables are well thought-out and comprise three ATX connections (one 24-pin and two 8-pin EPS12V), four 6+2-pin PCI-E plugs and three SATA and Molex connections, which are likely to be all you need to power a very capable PC.

For those building a super-demanding rig, an extra four 6+2-pin PCI-E plugs, an FDD power connector, nine SATA plugs and six Molex power connections are available via the bundled modular cables. As you would expect from Antec, all the cables are neatly braided and have a generous length too.

Specifications

• Rails 3.3V = 25A, 5V = 25A, 12V¹ = 30A, 12V² = 30A, 12V³ = 30A, 12V⁴ = 30A, 12V⁵ = 30A, 12V⁶ = 30A, 12V⁷ = 30A, 12V⁸ = 30A, -12V = 0.5A, 5VSB = 4A
  
• Maximum combined output 1.2kW
  
• Connections 24-pin ATX, 2x 4-pin ATX12V, 8-pin EPS12V, 8x 6+2-pin PCI-E, 12x S-ATA, 19x Molex, 1x FDD
  
• Cooling 80mm exhaust fan
  
• Dimensions (mm) 150 x 180 x 86 (W x D x H)