Riding the Rails

What makes this an attractive power solution is the amount of power from each of the rails. The Antec TP-750 offers 25 Amps on each 3.3V, 5V, and all four 12V rails. This is just about a perfect power balance if ever one was designed. The 3.3V and 5V don’t realistically need any more than this in today’s systems. Powering the 12V rails is more important than ever given the power hungry video cards, motherboards, and processors.

You’re wondering how this is all possible? Well, we could show you some white sheets or spec files on PDF. But, it’s much easier to just show you. Yes, that means we’re going to cut it up!

Test System Setup

For the basic purpose of testing under regular, real world conditions, the PSU was installed on an upper echelon system. This is one of the important steps to validating the reliability of a PSU. Inside our system, we’ve selected the following components which include…

• Intel I7 965 3.2GHz Processor
• GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R Ultra Durable 3 Motherboard
• 3x1GB Kingston HyperX Triple Channel Memory Kit
• Zotac GTX 285 AMP! Video Card
• 2 x 500 GB Seagate SATA II Hard Drives
• Sony Bluray 16X DVD Burner

Our operating system of choice was Windows Vista 32 Bit.

Performance

Voltage measurements were recorded with the system at idle and under full CPU load. What’s being checked for is whether or not there is sufficient voltage on the 3.3, 5, and 12 Volt rails. The measurements were also monitored for any voltage fluctuations and, if any, how much.

The PSU provided steady power across the entire spectrum especially with the test system at full load which was about 635 Watts. Voltages revealed extremely minimal .02 fluctuations going from idle to load.

Next, the PSU connected to a load tester. The unit was put under incremental load starting at 25% and continuing up to 100% load. The power rails were measured repeatedly looking to see if they remained above each rail’s spec. Again, voltage fluctuations were monitored.

As you can see, at 100% load, the largest voltage fluctuation recorded was .07 volts on the 12 Volt rails at the highest stress points. Each power rail remained well within spec.These are all very respectable results. Voltage fluctuations were kept well under control throughout each power rail and well under .1 Volt tolerance limit.

80 PLUS or Just 80?

So how did the Antec TP-750 do in the area of efficiency? Its 80-Plus Bronze Certification holds quite true. After further tallying the power versus watts produced, the unit is a strong 87% performer. Whether at half or full load, you’ll be getting an efficient power supply.

Under or over powered systems can be a serious problem. If you’re lucky, your motherboard will give you hint after hint by shutting down or restarting to protect the system. In a worst case scenario, one or more of the computer’s components can be damaged from prolonged exposure to over and/or under volting. In either case, it’s worth picking up a good PSU and the Antec TP-750 seems quite capable.