Antec Signature 850

Antec Signature 850

Beneath its glossy black surface, the Antec Signature 850 PSU (model SG-850) is a powerhouse that promises high performance and reliability.
The SG-850 supports an 80mm fan with PWM (pulse width modulation), which controls the speed of the PSU'fan and makes it qun quietly. Despite its high wattage, the Signature 850 is 80 Plus-certified, making this PSu energy-efficient. Its cabling is also partially modular, with mesh sleeving on all the cables.
Being SLI-certified, the Signature 850 is equipped to handle dual GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics cards, though we used a single (yet massive) GeForce GTX 280 during our stress tests. Our other testing specs included a 2.4GHz AMD Phenom 8750 triple-core processor; two 1TB HDDs and an additional (and dinky) 40GB HD; 2GB of DDR2; and a DVD drive.
We loaded up our system by simultaenously running three instances of Prime95 (one for each core), looping 3DMark 06 (rather than 3D Mark Vantage, which will only loop three times), and playing a music CD- all continuously for five hours.
Although our well-ventilated Antec Twelve Hundred case helped, the Signature 850 didn't seem to have any trouble keeping up. Our test system wasn't grueling as it could have been, but the Signature 850's performance reassured us that it would be ready for future upgrades that would require heavier loads.
antec's Signature 850 was a sturdy PSU that din't let us down.
by Kris Glaser.
source: Computer Power User October 2008.
www.antec.com