A Look Inside

Before reading this page we strongly suggest to take a look at this article, which will help you understand the internal components of a PSU much better.


The OEM of the HCP-1200 is Delta Electronics, a major manufacturer and one of the most experienced in this field. Once we open the PSU we find out that it is consists of two PCBs, facing each other. One holds the transient filter and a part of the APFC while the other holds the rest of the APFC along with the primary and the secondary side.


At the AC receptacle we find a line filter and the wires are wrapped around a ferrite bead. The rest of the transient filter resides on one of the two PCBs and consists of one X and four Y caps, an MOV and two chokes. In this area we also find two thermistors for in-rush current protection and an electromagnetic relay to isolate them once the PSU starts.


There are two rectifier bridges, LL15XB60, which are bolted to a heatsink. The APFC switchers are two SPW47N60C3 and of course there is a boost diode (C3D10060A).


In the part of the APFC that resides on the first PCB there are two Rubycon caps (450V, 390μF, ΜΧΗ, 105°C). On the second PCB we also find two smaller Rubycons (450V, 150μF, ΜΧΗ, 105°C). So in total the APFC has four smoothing/reservoir capacitors!


On the second PCB we find the four primary switches which follow the full-bridge phase-shift topology and the main transformer, which has a unique design since it accommodates the mosfets that regulate +12V. Afterward the +12V is feed into two DC-DC Voltage Regulation Modules (VRMs) which generate the minor rails. In each VRM we find three FDP038AN mosfets. In the secondary we also find a mix of Nipon Chemi-Con and Rubycon filtering electrolytic caps along with several polymer caps. All electrolytic caps are rated at 105°C.


Housekeeping is done by a DWA103N IC which is assisted by two LM339 and two LM393A voltage comparators. On the back of the same daughter-board we find the PWM controller, a UCC3895.


The modular PCB is quite small and on its solder side we find two electrolytic caps along with many SMD ones. Three +12V rails feed this small PCB!


Soldering quality in general is quite good although it isn't of the same quality level as we have seen on other Delta products (the first HCP-1200 I reviewed last year had far better soldering quality and the solder side of both PCBs featured a black color and not a green one). On the solder side of the second PCB we find the synchronous controller of the VRMs, a Fairchild SG1577 IC. Also in the area where the +12V wires leave the PCB there are eight shunts, for the equivalent number of +12V rails.


The cooling fan is provided by Sanyo Denki and its model number is 9AH0812P4G131. It uses ball bearing and according to Antec is relatively quiet even at high loads. In our load tests will see that.