Introduction

We would like to thank Antec for supplying the High Current Gamer HCG-520 review sample.

Antec’s High Current Gamer PSUs aim at users that do not want to spend a fortune for a basic but good and reliable PSU with decent warranty. They don’t offer features like Gold/Platinum efficiency and modular cabling design but they are equipped with a quiet ball bearing fan, Japanese capacitors which grant increased life span and three years warranty. The Antec HCG series consists of five models with capacities spanning from 400W to 900W. Here we should note that we have already tested the HCG-620 in a previous review and were quite satisfied with its performance.

In today’s review we will rigorously test the Antec HCG-520, which as its model number implies, has 520W capacity and contrary to Antec’s strong beliefs in multi-rail PSUs is equipped with a single +12V rail that can provide up to 40A. In addition it is 80 Plus Bronze certified and meets the ErP Lot 6 requirements for less than 1W power consumption in standby. The Antec HCG-520 has two PCIe connectors (6+2 pin) so it supports either a dual power input graphics card or two single power input ones. In general this PSU is suitable for medium-range systems with low power consumption, so we are quite sure that it will be of great interest to many users out there.

Specifications

Although it's a single rail PSU it is equipped with Over Current Protection. Interesting!
Also the warranty period is fairly decent for its price tag. If it performs well in our tests then it will be a good bargain at this price, since it uses Japanese-brand capacitors and a high quality ball bearing fan.


There is one +12V rail which can provide up to 40A or 480W, a power level close to the PSU's max total power. Since this PSU is group regulated, it will be interesting to see if it can cope with such a high load at +12V in cross load tests. Usually only the PSU's with DC-DC converters for the minor rails generation, can deliver almost all of their power at the +12V rail(s) alone.

Cables & Connectors, Power Distribution

All cables are hard wired and fully sleeved back into the housing. The PSU is equipped with two 6+2 pin PCIe connectors, an acceptable number for its capacity. Also the number of SATA and peripheral connectors is sufficient. All cables, besides the EPS one which is quite long, have average length and 70-80 mm, especially for the main ATX cable, would be ideal. The distance between the connectors is very close to 150 mm, a value that represents the recommended minimum length for general-use power supplies according to ATX spec (p. 4.2.2). Finally, all connectors use 18 AWG wires, the minimum recommended wire size.

Since this PSU features a single +12V rail we do not have anything to comment about its power distribution.