Test Setup

All measurements are performed utilizing a custom designed and built load tester, called Faganas, which is able to stress PSUs up to 1800 Watts. We also use a DS1M12 (Stingray) oscilloscope, a CHY 502 thermometer, a Fluke 175 multimeter and an Instek GPM-8212 power meter. Furthermore, in our setup we have included a wooden box, which along with a heating element is used as a Hot Box. Finally, we have at our disposal nine electronic loads (six Array 3711A, 300W each, and three Array 3710A, 150W each), a Rigol 1052E oscilloscope and a CEM DT-8852 sound level meter. In the near future the electronic loads will form our new test set up, which with the help of our custom built software will have the same capabilities with the, ultra expensive, Chroma ATEs. In this article you will find more details about our equipment and the review methodology we follow.

Voltage Regulation Charts

The following charts show the voltage values of the main rails, recorded over a range from 60W to the maximum specified load, and the deviation (in percent), when compared with the voltage values at 60W load.

Efficiency Chart

In this chart you will find the efficiency of HCP-750 at low loads and at loads equal to 20-100% of PSU’s maximum rated load.

Voltage Regulation and Efficiency Measurements

The first set of tests reveals the stability of voltage rails and the efficiency of HCP-750. The applied load equals to (approximately) 20%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 80% and 100%, of the maximum load that the PSU can handle. In addition, we conduct two more tests. In the first we stress the two minor rails (5V & 3.3V) with the maximum load that our tester can apply to these rails, while the load at +12V is only 2A and in the second test we dial the maximum load that +12V can handle while load at minor rails is minimum.


At 20% load, efficiency is low for Gold standards, but 80 PLUS measures efficiency at merely 23°C ambient and in this specific test we had 20°C higher temperature in the hot box. Throughout 40-100% load, efficiency is pretty high. As for voltage regulation, at +12V it is under 3%, at 5V is 3% and at 3.3V a little looser at 3.6%. We expected +12V to be close to 1%, since this is a high-end Antec PSU, but unfortunately this was not the case. At 100% load and CL2 tests the fan made its present felt, although the loader's fans were screaming. However the ambient was close to 50°C in both cases. Normally this PSU has very cool operation due to very low energy dissipation so the fan will not make much noise.

Efficiency at Low Loads

In the next tests, we measure the efficiency of HCP-750 at loads much lower than 20% of its maximum rated load (the lowest load that the 80 Plus Standard measures). The loads that we dial are (approximately) 40, 65 and 90W. This is important for scenarios in which a typical office PC is in idle with power saving turned on.


With 41W load, efficiency is very low, with 66W things get much better and finally with 90W the PSU manages to pass the 80% mark. In general we can easily conclude that low loads are not the strong point of HCP-750.

Power Consumption in Idle & Standby

In the table below you will find the power consumption and the voltage values of all rails (except -12V), when the PSU is in idle mode (On but without any load at its rails) and the power consumption when the PSU is in standby (without any load at 5VSB).


Standby power consumption is very low and the unit easily wins the ErP Lot 6 badge.