Antec HCG Gold 1000W Power Supply Review

Efficiency

Our efficiency testing confirmed that the Antec HCG Gold does indeed entirely qualify itself as an 80-Plus Gold efficiency-rated power supply. The results, however, are far more encouraging than that title might suggest. In truth, the results provided were exceptionally high that almost sees this tip-toe into Platinum territory. A higher efficiency band which, if this PSU had that certification, would easily add £30-£40 to the price tag.

Put simply though, this is 100% Gold, not just in name, and a very high one at that!

PFC (Power Factor Correction)

The PFC results for the Antec HCG Gold are, without a doubt, some of the highest (and, by proxy, best) we have ever encountered. As you can see in the results below, even at 20% load, an area where the scores for the vast majority of PSUs often dip into the 800-850 territory, this didn’t come anything close to that!

The lowest score found in our testing was 0.959. And just to put this into context, we’ve reviewed many power supplies in the past where this would represent their highest score.

Voltage Regulation

Regardless of the load output, the Antec HTC Gold provided us with amazingly consistent results in our voltage regulation testing. This has, by proxy, given it an exceptionally low level of average deviancy. – The only mild fly in the ointment was the -12V results which did indicate a slight over-volt. Given the relatively low importance of this rail in modern PC design, however, we can say fairly confidently that this should not impact the overall performance for the average user in any respect!