Antec TruePower New 750W Power Supply Unit Review

Packaging and Bundle
Packaging
[HR][/HR]Antec has kept the box design very clean and simple sticking to a white, black and yellow colour scheme which Antec often use. On the front we can see a photo of the PSU underneath which are the main features of the power supply telling us the wattage, that it is modular and that it has an 120mm PWM fan. Above the picture is a few certifications showing that it meets 80+ Bronze and SLI specifications as well as being energy efficient. At the bottom it names the product and says how it is designed for efficiency, reliability and quality which is the definition of the TruePower series.

The rear of the box lists the primary features in English, French and German and includes the input and output ratings. There is not much of interest here unless you are browsing in a shop, however the colour scheme is kept up. The right hand side lists the main features again and the left side essentially puts these features into sentence form!

Contents
[HR][/HR] The PSU is very well protected between two pieces of rigid cardboard, held together by a piece of brown paper. Covering the power supply is a plastic bag to protect from scratches and moisture. Whether Antec intended it or not, their packaging is very eco friendly as the majority of the packaging is cardboard with small amounts of plastic and no foam at all. This does lead to a no-frills unboxing which is a shame, although the contents are adequately protected. The modular cables are found packed in a sealed plastic bag

As there is no real ‘structure’ in the box holding everything in place, just turn the box upside down and you will be greeted with the various accessories included. The plug included in mine was a 2-pin European one as it was shipped direct from Antec in Europe, if buying from a retailer you should be supplied with the correct kettle plug for your region.

You will find:

• Bag of modular cables
• User’s manual
• Power Cord
• Mounting screws
• 2x Adjustable Cable Ties

There are many modular cables included in the packaging that allows you to power up a vast array of equipment. The PSU comes with the basics that most systems requiring a 750W PSU will need such as the 24-Pin motherboard connector, Molex connections, PCIe connectors and SATA connectors hard wired into the PSU. All of these connectors are required for the PC so there is no need for them to be modular. The only exception being the CPU power, it comes with both a 4-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connector which is strange. Why not make these modular so you use one and not the other or have it as a 4+4-Pin configuration? The CPU power connector is normally hidden by the heatsink anyway, so a 4+4 Pin connector is unlikely to spoil looks, and looks is not a factor that was taken into consideration they decided to use 6+2 Pin PCIe connectors. It is a minor point as the other CPU cable can be easily hidden, but it seems illogical to include both when one will never be used which goes against the point of having a modular PSU! Again, it’s only a minor point- but it seems like a silly error which both this PSU and PSUs from other manufacturers have not picked up on.

In the modular kit there are two 6-pin PCIe connectors, among others, which will allow you to run 2-way SLI or Crossfire with cards that use 2 PCIe connectors which is the standard on cards these days. These are used in addition to the 6+2 pin PCIe connectors hard wired into the PSU. I can’t help but wonder why these modular connectors were not 6+2 as well. However, 6-pin PCIe connectors can be safely used on 8-pin sockets when plugged in correctly. The hard wired PCIe power connectors are 6-pin with an extra 2-pin part that will make it compatible with 6 or 8-pin sockets. I personally don’t like these connectors because when running a 6-pin card you are left with the leftover pins dangling which doesn’t look nice. But it is a practical solution and is cheaper than including 2 sets of cables for 6-pin or 8-pin which is the only alternative. The PCIe connectors have exclusive access to the 3rd and 4th 12V rail while the 2nd is reserved for the CPU and the first 12V rail is used for accessories. This means you don’t have to worry about all of your various LEDs, fans and other accessories interfering with your CPU or GPU, nor do you have to worry about CPU load throttling the power to your GPU or visa versa. It is a great design as you get the benefits of multiple rails without having to worry about balancing them!