Page 3 - Physical Look - Inside
As always, we opened up our Antec High Current Gamer Bronze 750W power supply to take a detailed look at what is going on inside. Please note that doing this at home will void your five-year warranty, thanks to the warranty seal Antec applied over one of the attachment screws. But for the benefit of you, we cracked ours open so you do not need to, haha. There are no user serviceable parts inside.
Disassembling the Antec High Current Gamer Bronze 750W is quite straightforward with the removal of four screws. I could not identify who the OEM of this power supply is. Our photo above shows an overhead view of its internal components. At first glance, the build quality appears to be excellent, as one would expect from the company. There are three main heatsinks inside. One small one and one large one is located on the primary side, while a second large heatsink resides on the secondary side, all of which are unpainted.
A quick tug on the shell, and we got straight to the internal inspection. The transient filter stage is the first input stage of a computer power supply, so we will take a look at that first. Antec has always done a great job in the past to make sure their power supplies met or exceeded the recommended requirements, and the High Current Gamer Bronze 750W is no exception. The Antec High Current Gamer Bronze 750W has two common mode chokes, one metal oxide varistor, two metalized polyester X-capacitors, and four ceramic Y-capacitors. This is twice times the amount of X and Y capacitors than recommended. Considering how many modern-day PSUs have missing MOVs, I am happy to see it here, as this component is used to stabilize spikes from the AC line. A Sanken A6069H current mode control PWM regulator IC for controlling standby power can be spotted as well.
On the primary side, we can see two Japanese brand Hitachi capacitors. 100% Japanese brand capacitors are specified on the marketing material, so this is to be expected. Our 750W version of Antec's High Current Gamer Bronze incorporates two 270µF x 420V capacitors in parallel for an equivalent capacitance of 540µF. Both of them are rated at 105c; whereas more value oriented power supplies usually use 85c rated capacitors.
The active PFC circuit featured on the Antec High Current Gamer Bronze 750W uses one Lite-On Semiconductor GBU15L06 bridge rectifier attached to the first heatsink. At 115V, the maximum rectified forward current capacity with heatsink is 15A, so you can theoretically pull up to 1725W (15A * 1 diode * 115V) from the bridge rectifier at 100% efficiency -- of course, this is limited by the fact that it is not 100% efficient, and neglects the fact that not every component in the system are able to keep up. Further down the line, on the outside of the largest heatsink, we can see two Infineon IPW60R125P6 power transistors. This MOSFET is certified for up to 19A at 100c. These transistors present a maximum resistance of 0.125 ohm when turned on; with a typical resistance of 0.113 ohm according to the manufacturer's data sheet. This on characteristic is called Static Drain-Source On-Resistance, or commonly abbreviated as RDS(on). The more efficient the component is, the lower the RDS(on) value, since it wastes less power with lower resistance. In the middle of the same unpainted heatsink, we can see a Cree C3D08060A Silicon Carbide Schottky diode. This boost diode is certified for up to 10A at 135c. Two Infineon IPP50R190CE power MOFSET transistors are used as the main switchers on the High Current Gamer Bronze 750W power supply. Each Infineon IPP50R190CE MOFSET can deliver up to 15.7A at 100 degrees Celsius continuously.
On the secondary side, we can see more Japanese brand capacitors from Nichicon and Chemi-Con rated at 105c. As with modern high efficiency power supplies, all rectifiers produce the +12V out -- while the +5V and +3.3V outputs are generated from the +12V output using a DC to DC converter within the power supply unit. An ANPEC APW7160A synchronous buck PWM controller can be spotted in this stage. Four Infineon IRFB3306PbF MOSFETs are responsible for generating the +12V output. The IRFB3306PbF's rated continuous drain current is 110A at 100c, and a pulsed drain current of 620A. It has a RDS(on) value of 0.0042 ohm maximum and 0.0033 ohm typical. Two Infineon BSC018NE2LS MOSFETs are responsible for generating the +5V and +3.3V outputs. The BSC018NE2LS's rated continuous drain current is 97A at 100c and a pulsed drain current of 400A. Drain source voltage is rated at 26V, and a RDS(on) value of 0.0023 ohm maximum and 0.0018 ohm typical. Meanwhile, a Silicon Touch PS223 monitoring IC provides over/under current and over/under voltage protection. The datasheets for all components mentioned in this review can be found on their respective manufacturer's websites.
At the back, we have a daughterboard covering a portion of the rear panel for the modular cable sockets. All modular sockets connect to the main PCB after the secondary stage via a series of wires. This is not as efficient as having it directly soldered at the bottom to reduce power transmission loss, but this is an 80 Plus Bronze power supply. The output connector configuration can be seen on the previous page. Overall, the internal build quality of Antec's High Current Gamer Bronze 750W power supply is very good -- something we would expect from what we have seen from the company in the past. Components are arranged pretty well for optimal cooling with minimal wires running around inside, and solder points on its black PCB is quite clean in general. I would say the Antec High Current Gamer Bronze 750W is generally very good with regards to the selection of components used under the hood; appropriate for its performance class.
Lastly, we see a 135mm fan that provides cooling to the Antec High Current Gamer Bronze 750W's internal components. It is connected to the mainboard using a 2-pin connector. A 135mm fan is only marginally smaller than the 140mm maximum you can fit in an ATX power supply, and it is beneficial in most cases in providing lots of airflow at lower speeds for quiet operation. Yate Loon is the fan OEM, with D14BH-12 as the model number, as shown in our photo above. Further research indicates the D14BH-12 is a double ball bearing fan specified at 0.70A for a maximum of speed of 2800 RPM. The rated airflow is 140 CFM at 48.5 dB of noise.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
