Antec HCG850 Pro Platinum ATX 3.1 Power Supply Review

How Much Does it Cost?

Unfortunately, I couldn’t see stock for this one at the time of writing, but you can check for up to date stock and prices on Amazon here. However, similar products on the market are priced around £160-200, and with the premium quality cables on this unit, I’d expect it to be slightly on the higher-end of that scale, as Platinum rated units tend to be more expensive anyway.

Overview

Antec has a long history with their HCG series, and they were some of the best power supplies I ever tested back when I first started here at eTeknix. Many of those HCG units saw many years of heavy usage in my office and own systems too, and I can honestly say I never had a problem with them. I only replaced them as my power demands increased or I simply had the opportunity to get something new for a build.

Thankfully, their reputation for reliability is still strong, with great quality components used throughout, delivering strong power delivery that far exceeded the 850 watts, meaning you can draw big power when you need to without cause for concern. These power supplies are rated for “continuous power” too, so it’ll sit at 100% all day and night long without breaking a sweat, which is what you want for constantly gaming, or systems that are rendering video around the clock.

The only minor concern was the 3.3v rail was running around 3v, but in modern systems that’s really a non-issue these days. Actually, it’s a trend I’m going to have to research a little more too, as I’m noticing this result in other modern units, but overall, I’ve never actually seen it cause any problems either, as the 12V and the 5VSB seem to be key to system performance these days, as motherboard systems just convert everything on the motherboard.

Should I Buy One?

With great quality components, and DC-to-DC topology, it’s unlikely you’ll suffer from excess heat, noise, or coil whine from this unit, which is obviously what we all want from a power supply. 850W isn’t enough power for my needs, but for most high-end GPU systems with a decent gaming CPU, 850W is plenty, and should you run into any power spikes, it’ll soak them up with ease. Finally, those premium individually sleeved cables are the cherry on top, making this look and feel like a premium product worthy of showing off.