Antec High Current Gamer 750 W Power Supply Review

[nextpage title=”Introduction”]

Antec has recently released a new power supply series, called High Current Gamer, so far featuring 400 W, 520 W, 620 W, 750 W, and 900 W models, all featuring 80 Plus Bronze certification.

The Antec Higher Current Gamer 750 W is manufactured by Delta Electronics.

Figure 1: Antec High Current Gamer 750 W power supply

Figure 2: Antec High Current Gamer 750 W power supply

The Antec High Current Gamer 750 W is 7.1” (180 mm) deep, with a 135 mm dual ball bearing fan (ADDA ADN512UB-A90).

The new Antec High Current Gamer 750 W doesn’t have a modular cabling system. All cables are protected with nylon sleeves. The power supply comes with the following cables:

• Main motherboard cable with a 20/24-pin connector, 22” (56 cm) long
• One cable with two ATX12V connectors that together form an EPS12V connector, 26” (66 cm) long
• Two cables with two six/eight-pin connectors for video cards each, 22” (56 cm) to the first connector, 5.9” (15 cm) between connectors
• Three cables with three SATA power connectors each, 22” (56 cm) to the first connector, 5.5” (14 cm) between connectors
• One cable with three standard peripheral power connectors, 22” (56 cm) to the first connector, 5.9” (15 cm) between connectors
• One cable with three standard peripheral power connectors and one floppy disk drive power connector, 22” (56 cm) to the first connector, 5.9” (15 cm) between connectors

All wires are 18 AWG, which is the minimum recommended gauge.

Even though this power supply has four power connectors for video cards, allowing you to install two video cards that require two power connectors each without the need of adapters, they are available on two cables. We’d like this power supply better if each video card power connector was installed on an individual cable. On the other hand, the number of SATA power connectors is very good for a 750 W power supply (nine).

Figure 3: Cables

Let’s now take an in-depth look inside this power supply.

[nextpage title=”A Look Inside The Antec High Current Gamer 750 W”]

We decided to disassemble this power supply to see what it looks like inside, how it is designed, and what components are used. Please read our Anatomy of Switching Power Supplies tutorial to understand how a power supply works and to compare this power supply to others.

This page will be an overview, and then in the following pages we will discuss in detail the quality and ratings of the components used.

Figure 4: Top view

Figure 5: Front quarter view

Figure 6: Rear quarter view

Figure 7: Printed circuit board

[nextpage title=”Transient Filtering Stage”]

As we have mentioned in other articles and reviews, the first place we look when opening a power supply for a hint about its quality, is its filtering stage. The recommended components for this stage are two ferrite coils, two ceramic capacitors (Y capacitors, usually blue), one metalized polyester capacitor (X capacitor), and one MOV (Metal-Oxide Varistor). Very low-end power supplies use fewer components, usually removing the MOV and the first coil. 

Although the Antec High Current Gamer 750 W has two Y capacitors and two X capacitors more than the minimum required, it doesn’t feature an MOV, component that removes spikes coming from the power grid.

Figure 8: Transient filtering stage (part 1)

Figure 9: Transient filtering stage (part 2)

In the next page we will have a more detailed discussion about the components used in the Antec High Current Gamer 750 W.

[nextpage title=”Primary Analysis”]

On this page we will take an in-depth look at the primary stage of the Antec High Current Gamer 750 W For a better understanding, please read our Anatomy of Switching Power Supplies tutorial.

This power supply uses one GSIB1560 rectifying bridge, which is attached to an individual heatsink. This bridge supports up to 15 A at 107° C so, in theory, you would be able to pull up to 1,725 W from a 115 V power grid. Assuming 80% efficiency, the bridge would allow this unit to deliver up to 1,380 W without burning itself out. Of course, we are only talking about this component, and the real limit will depend on all the other components in this power supply.

Figure 10: Rectifying bridge

The active PFC circuit uses two SPW24N60C3 MOSFETs, which are capable of delivering up to 24.3 A at 25° C or up to 15.4 A at 100° C (note the difference temperature makes) in continuous mode, or up to 72.9 A in pulse mode at 25° C, each. These transistors present a 160 mΩ resistance when turned on, a characteristic called RDS(on). The lower this number the better, meaning that the transistors will waste less power and the power supply will achieve a higher efficiency.

This power supply uses two electrolytic capacitors to filter the output from the active PFC circuit. The use of more than one capacitor here has absolute nothing to do with the “quality” of the power supply, as laypersons may assume (including people without the proper background in electronics doing power supply reviews around the web). Instead of using one big capacitor manufacturers may choose to use two or more smaller components that will give the same total capacitance, in order to better accommodate space on the printed circuit board, as two capacitors with the same total capacitance are physically smaller than a single capacitor with equivalent capacitance. The Antec High Current Gamer 750 W uses two 270 µF x 420 V capacitors connected in parallel, the equivalent of one 540 µF x 420 V capacitor. They are Japanese, manufactured by Rubycon, and labeled at 85° C. (Interesting enough the reviewer’s guide provided by Antec says these capacitors are from a different vendor, Chemi-Con.)

In the switching section, two IPP60R199CP MOSFET transistors are used, installed in the traditional two-transistor forward configuration. Each transistor can deliver up to 16 A at 25° C or up to 10 A at 100° C in continuous mode, or up to 51 A at 25° C in pulse mode. They have a 199 mΩ RDS(on).

Figure 11: One of the active PFC transistors and the switching transistors

The primary is controlled by the omnipresent CM6800 active PFC/PWM combo controller.

Figure 12: Active PFC/PWM combo controller

Now let’s take a look at the secondary of this power supply.

[nextpage title=”Secondary Analysis”]

This power supply uses a semi-synchronous design on its +12 V rail. A synchronous design is when the manufacturer replaces the diode with a MOSFET transistor in order to increase efficiency, but in the Antec High Current Gamer 750 W the manufacturer added MOSFETs only in the direct rectification part of the rectification, still using Schottky rectifiers in the “freewheeling” part.

The +12 V output uses two IPP037N08N3 MOSFET transistors for the direct rectification, each one able to deliver up to 100 A at 100° C with an RDS(on) of only 3.5 mΩ, and three STPS61L60CT Schottky rectifiers for the “freewheeling” part of the rectification, each one capable of handling up to 60 A (30 A per internal diode at 120° C, maximum voltage drop of 0.66 V).

The +5 V output uses two SB30L40CT Schottky rectifiers connected in parallel (30 A, 15 A per internal diode), giving us a maximum theoretical current of 43 A or 214 W for this output.

The +3.3 V output uses two MBRB30H30CTG Schottky rectifiers connected in parallel (30 A, 15 A per internal diode at 138° C, maximum voltage drop of 0.55 V, each). This gives a maximum theoretical current of 43 A or 141 W for the +3.3 V output.

Figure 13: +3.3 V rectifier, +5 V rectifier, +12 V rectifers, and +12 V transistor

The secondary is monitored by a DWA107N181 integrated circuit. Unfortunately we couldn’t find the datasheet of this component and, therefore, we can’t confirm the protections it supports.

Figure 14: Monitoring circuit

All electrolytic capacitors used in this power supply are also Japanese, from Chemi-Con, and labeled at 105° C.

[nextpage title=”Power Distribution”]

In Figure 15, you can see the power supply label containing all the power specs.

Figure 15: Power supply label

This power supply has four +12 V virtual rails. Even though we didn’t have access to the datasheet of the monitoring integrated circuit, we could clearly see one “shunt” attached to each “virtual rail” (click here to learn more about this subject).

These rails are distributed like this:

• +12V1 (solid yellow wires): Main motherboard cable, SATA and peripheral connectors
• +12V2 (yellow/black wires): The ATX12V/EPS12V cable
• +12V3 (yellow/blue wires): One of the video card power cables
• +12V4 (yellow/green wires): The other video card power cable

This distribution is good, as it puts the CPU (ATX12V/EPS12V) and the video cards on separate rails.

Let’s now see if this power supply can really deliver 750 W.

[nextpage title=”Load Tests”]

We conducted several tests with this power supply, as described in the article Hardware Secrets Power Supply Test Methodology.  

First we tested this power supply with five different load patterns, trying to pull around 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% of its labeled maximum capacity (actual percentage used listed under “% Max Load”), watching the behavior of the reviewed unit under each load. In the table below, we list the load patterns we used and th
e results for each load.

If you add all the powers listed for each test, you may find a different value than what is posted under “Total” below. Since each output can have a slight variation (e.g., the +5 V output working at +5.10 V), the actual total amount of power being delivered is slightly different than the calculated value. In the “Total” row, we are using the real amount of power being delivered, as measured by our load tester.

The +12VA and +12VB inputs listed below are the two +12 V independent inputs from our load tester. During our tests, the +12VA input was connected to the power supply +12V1 and +12V3 rails, while the +12VB input was connected to the power supply +12V2 rail.

Input	Test 1	Test 2	Test 3	Test 4	Test 5
+12VA	5 A (60 W)	11 A (132 W)	16 A (192 W)	22 A (264 W)	27 A (324 W)
+12VB	5 A (60 W)	10 A (120 W)	16 A (192 W)	21 A (252 W)	27 A (324 W)
+5V	2 A (10 W)	4 A (20 W)	6 A (30 W)	8 A (40 W)	10 A (50 W)
+3.3 V	2 A (6.6 W)	4 A (13.2 W)	6 A (19.8 W)	8 A (26.4 W)	10 A (33 W)
+5VSB	1 A (5 W)	1.5 A (7.5 W)	2 A (10 W)	2.5 A (12.5 W)	3 A (15 W)
-12 V	0.5 A (6 W)	0.5 A (6 W)	0.5 A (6 W)	0.5 A (6 W)	0.5 A (6 W)
Total	148.4 W	299.7 W	450.2 W	645.3 W	748.2 W
% Max Load	19.8%	40.0%	60.0%	86.0%	99.8%
Room Temp.	45.6° C	45.3° C	45.6° C	48.1° C	48.0° C
PSU Temp.	47.0° C	47.9° C	48.6° C	50.2° C	51.4° C
Voltage Regulation	Pass	Pass	Pass	Pass	Pass
Ripple and Noise	Pass	Pass	Pass	Pass	Pass
AC Power	176.4 W	348.9 W	530.7 W	785.0 W	931.0 W
Efficiency	84.1%	85.9%	84.8%	82.2%	80.4%
AC Voltage	111.7 V	109.9 V	108.1 V	104.9 V	103.7 V
Power Factor	0.944	0.959	0.971	0.978	0.981
Final Result	Pass	Pass	Pass	Pass	Pass

The Antec High Current Gamer 750 W can really deliver its labeled wattage at high temperatures.

Efficiency was very decent when we pulled up to 80% of the unit’s labeled wattage (i.e., up to 600 W), between 82% and 86%. At full load, however, efficiency dropped to around 80% mark. Being an 80 Plus Bronze unit, it should present at least 82% efficiency at full load, but during the 80 Plus certification power supplies are tested at only 23° C, while we tested this particular unit at 48° C, and efficiency drops with temperature.

Voltage regulation was very good, with all voltages within 3% of their nominal values, except the -12 V output (still inside the proper range, though). The ATX12V specification allows voltages to be up to 5% from their nominal values (10% for the -12 V output). Therefore this power supply presents voltages closer to their nominal values than necessary most of the time.

Noise and ripple levels were always extremely low. Below you can see the results for the power supply outputs during test number five. The maximum allowed is 120 mV for the +12 V and -12 V outputs, and 50 mV for the +5 V, +3.3 V, and +5VSB outputs. All values are peak-to-peak figures.

Figure 16: +12VA input from load tester during test five at 748.2 W (25.2 mV)

Figure 17: +12VB input from load tester during test five at 748.2 W (21.2 mV)

Figure 18: +5V rail during test five at 748.2 W (13.6 mV)

Figure 19: +3.3 V rail during test five at 748.2 W (14.2 mV)

Let’s see if we can pull even more from the Antec High Current Gamer 750 W.

[nextpage title=”Overload Tests”]

Below you can see the maximum we could pull from this power supply. We couldn’t pull more than that because the power supply shut down, showing that its protections are working just fine. As you can see, the Antec High Current Gamer 750 W was capable of delivering almost 1,000 W.

Input	Overload Test
+12VA	33 A (396 W)
+12VB	33 A (396 W)
+5V	23 A (115 W)
+3.3 V	23 A (75.9 W)
+5VSB	3 A (15 W)
-12 V	0.5 A (6 W)
Total	987.4 W
% Max Load	131.7%
Room Temp.	45.1° C
PSU Temp.	52.8° C
AC Power	1,338 W
Efficiency	73.8%
AC Voltage	99.3 V
Power Factor	0.998

[nextpage title=”Main Specifications”]

The specs of the Antec High Current Gamer 750 W include:

• Standards: ATX12V and EPS12V (exact versions not available)
• Nominal labeled power: 750 W continuous
• Measured maximum power: 987.4 W at 45.1° C ambient
• Labeled efficiency: Up to 88%, 80 Plus Bronze certification
• Measured efficiency: Between 80.4% and 85.9% at 115 V (nominal, see complete results for actual voltage)
• Active PFC: Yes
• Modular Cabling System: No
• Motherboard Power Connectors: One 20/24-pin connector and two ATX12V connectors that together form an EPS12V connector
• Video Card Power Connectors: Four six/eight-pin connectors on two cables
• SATA Power Connectors: Nine on three cables
• Peripheral Power Connectors: Six on two cables
• Floppy Disk Drive Power Connectors: One
• Protections (as listed by the manufacturer): Over voltage (OVP), under voltage (UVP), over power (OPP), over current (OCP), over temperature (OTP), and short-circuit (SCP) protections
• Are the above protections really available? Not verified
• Warranty: Five years
• Real Manufacturer: Delta Electronics
• More Information: https://www.antec.com
• MSRP in the US: USD 150.00

[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]

The new Antec High Current Gamer 750 W has as highlights good efficiency (when operating up to 600 W), very good voltage regulation (voltages closer to their nominal values than required) and outstanding noise and ripple levels (i.e., very low). It is also highly overspec’ed, as we could easily pull almost 1,000 W from it.

It comes with four power connectors for video cards, but using only two cables. This is the main thing we didn’t like about it is that its video card, as we think it should use individual cables for each video card power connector.

Its success will depend on the price it will reach the market. It comes with a suggested price of USD 150, but we know that most online stores don’t sell power supplies at their suggested prices. It will probably be available at the main stores (Newegg.com, etc) at around USD 120 – USD 130. At this price range, however, the High Current Gamer 750 W will face a fierce competition, especially from the XFX 750 W Black Edition and PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk II 750 W – both presented a far higher efficiency during our tests.

Therefore, even though the Antec High Current Gamer 750 W is a good power supply, there are better options in the same price range.