The ugly marketing tricks are back, this time courtesy of
Antec.
While boasting 80 PLUS Platinum certification on the box,
by the vendor's own admission efficiency of only 87 to 90% (i.e. Gold) is to be expected from the retail units.
In other words, a superior hand-picked sample was sent for 80 PLUS certification.
While it is the manufacturer's prerogative to do so, such attitude towards the end users should be pointed out and stigmatized as unfair competition.
Other manufacturers whose units had reached unexpectedly high certification levels (e.g. SilverStone or Corsair with their HX850) opted to stick with the lower certification level as more representative of the typical efficiency of their products, as a fair play gesture.
Priced at $260, the
Antec HCP 1000W is tied with the renowned
Seasonic Platinum 1000W and significantly more expensive
than most Gold certified units(1).
In fact, it is even more expensive than the
Kingwin LZP 1000W meeting its rated (Platinum) efficiency, and merely $6 less expensive than the Seasonic-manufactured
XFX ProSeries 1250W.
While Delta-manufactured Antec HCP 1000W is without a doubt an excellent PSU well worth recommending, a store-bought unit is very unlikely to reach the 80 PLUS Platinum efficiency levels.
Apples to apples, Antec - doling out the big bucks for a mining PSU I'd
really prefer the unit to be able to meet its advertized efficiency.
Notes:
(1) there are five links here, mind you.
