Introduction

We would like to thank Antec for supplying the review sample.

Antec jumped on the Platinum wagon first with the medium class EartWatts units and afterwards decided to refresh their flagship series, the High Current Pro, with a new Platinum unit featuring 1kW power. Taking into account that the HCP-1200 managed to enter the PSU hall of fame, thanks to its excellent performance and reliability especially under tough conditions and ultra-high loads, the new HCP-1000 Platinum has a tough legacy to fulfill. To speak frankly we expected that Antec would release a higher capacity unit but apparently they decided not to do so, because they wanted to keep the HCP-1200 into production since it still rocks very hard!

The new HCP-1000 Platinum, contrary to its bigger and older brother, uses a fully modular cabling system with a 20+8pin socket for the 24pin ATX cable in order to be compatible with any future updates. Also, although the calendar still shows 2012, Antec decided to make this unit compatible with the ErP Lot 6 2013 directive, meaning that it consumes less than 0.5W in standby mode. Moreover it promises a cleaner environment and smaller electricity bills thanks to its high efficiency which according to Antec's claims reaches up to 94%; an impressive level even for a Platinum unit. The cherry on top for the HCP-1000 Platinum is the seven year warranty which Antec provides along with it and the lifetime global 24/7 support. Taking all above into account you can easily figure out that today's review is going to be highly interesting. Besides that we are going to push the HCP-1000 to its limits and beyond, to check if it is a worthy successor to the legendary HCP-1200.

Specifications

Finally a High Current Pro PSU with Platinum efficiency! This means that Delta (who manufactures the PSU for Antec) did its magic again and released a new platform. From the available protections you will see that this unit has all of them, including the No Load Protection, which usually is not utilized in modern PSUs since it may interfere with the C6 power state where the CPU can totally shut itself off, in order to minimize energy consumption. Brown Out Protection protects from low operating voltages while Surge & Inrush Protection protects the unit from spikes coming from the power grid and large inrush currents which occur during the startup phase of the PSU, while the APFC capacitors still charge. The peak inrush current in these cases can reach very high values so usually an NTC thermistor is used to drastically suppress it. Unlike to the HCP-1200, the new Platinum unit uses a top mounted, 135mm fan which is provided by Delta. Also the PSU's dimensions are bigger than the 1200W model since it is 10mm longer. Moreover it is compliant with the most recent ATX and EPS specifications and its warranty is set to seven years. Last but not least, the price is exactly the same as its direct competitor, the top performing Seasonic Platinum-1000.


There are four +12V rails, which have a rather high OCP trigger point so there won't be any problems with power hungry VGAs. Minor rails combined power is set at 130W, a sufficient power level for every modern system. Finally the 5VSB rail has only 0.5A more power than the usual we see nowadays. In a 1kW unit we would like to see at least 4A max power on this rail.

Cables & Connectors, Power Distribution

In total there are six PCIe and two EPS connectors with all being available at the same time and still one 16pin socket is left free so there is room for extra cables/connectors. The number of SATA connectors is not so high, compared to other 1kW units, but we think that it will cover most scenarios. The available 4pin Molex connectors are enough for today's needs since they are mostly used for fans, water cooling pumps and other accessories and not to power drives. The main ATX connector would be better if it had additional 50mm length while all other cables have adequate length and the distance among all connectors is sufficient. Finally, all connectors use 18AWG gauge which is the recommended wire size, by ATX spec.


Power distribution is versatile, something good if you know what you are doing and the opposite if you don't. The 12V1 rail feeds all peripheral cables, some pins of the main ATX connector and can also power one PCIe or one EPS connector. The 12V2 rail powers the remaining pins of the main ATX connector and one PCIe or one EPS connector (as we state later on this paragraph you should prefer to power an EPS connector through this rail). The third 12V rail feeds half the pins of the middle, bottom, red socket and half the pins of the far right red sockets. The 12V4 rail feeds the remaining pins of the red sockets. Quite confusing power distribution, isn't it?
Since there is only one PCIe cable with a 16pin connector is better to choose to connect it to a socket which feeds from rails that do not power any of the two EPS connectors at the same time. The other two PCIe cables have an 8pin connector and the same number of available connectors (two). If you need only one EPS connector is better to connect it to the right side of the bottom left red socket and use 12V3 and 12V4 for the PCIe connectors. If you need an additional EPS connector then use the left half of the bottom left red socket. The photo above explains all that, so better take a good look at it. Finally even with all PCIe and EPS cables installed there is one full red socket free, so if you purchase additional cables you can have up to eight or more PCIe connectors available.

Packaging

The packaging exudes an air of luxury and you easily can figure out that inside it a high-end PSU is hiding, even if you don't know anything about PSUs. The most interesting badges are in the top-front left corner and describe the seven year warranty and the Platinum efficiency. Near the bottom we meet some more visual descriptions for the 1000W capacity, the peak 94% efficiency, the fully modular cabling design and the high energy saving that this unit can offer. On the rear side there are is a feature description in several languages including Spanish, French, Dutch, Russian and Italian, besides English. On one of the two sides we find the power specifications table and the input power range that the unit supports. On the other side there is the available cables/connectors description and a table showing the money this unit can save you, thanks to its high efficiency. According to Antec in the best case scenario where you operate your PC 24/7 at full load (1kW), you can reduce your electricity bill up to 25%.
Finally on the bottom side there are three more visual descriptions referring to the ErP Lot 6 2013 compliance, the 16pin sockets of the modular panel and the stealth wires. Apparently besides stealth fighter jets there are also stealth wires which pass under the user's radar!
According to Antec when all wires of a cable are black/darkened then they are invisible. These marketing guys sometimes are simply unbelievable.