Antec made a strong comeback into the mid-range category with their new High Current Gamer modular units. The HCG-850M I had the chance to test today proved to be a solid performer, like its smaller brother. It managed to register even better efficiency and a tad lower noise output thanks to its more relaxed fan profile at normal ambient. However, stressing it enough will have the fan ramp up annoyingly since it is quite noisy at high speeds. Its increased fan noise under tough conditions is one of two major problems I spotted in the unit, with the most important being Antec's very high asking price, which puts this PSU into the same category as Golden modular units from respected manufacturers. I think Antec should revise its price and lower it by at least 20-30 bucks; that is, if they want to make this worthy PSU competitive. Seasonic surely isn't an affordable OEM because they use expensive components and build good products, but the price is still too high for these features.

To wrap up, the new HCG-850M has all the necessary ingredients to be your next PSU choice as it features very good voltage regulation, high enough efficiency, good general build quality, and excellent ripple suppression, along with only two native cables. The cherry on top is Antec's warranty of five years. The unit is also Haswell ready, which makes it future proof. The only problem is that Antec asks too much for it, but I am pretty sure that they will try to drop the price to normal levels through mail-in rebates or similar discounts, which would boost its price/performance ratio. If it had a lower price, it would easily get a recommendation award from me.