Date: December 19th, 2005
Article by: Joe Anderson (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner / Head Editor)
Product was submitted by: Antec
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ANTEC TRUECONTROL 2.0 550 WATT INTRODUCTION
I don’t think it’s possible to overstate the importance of a good, high-quality power supply in a system build. Gamers and maximum-effort overclockers have learned (some, the hard way) that it’s the quality, not so much the quantity, of clean, stable power that can make all the difference when it comes to maximizing the performance of their rigs. Sure, you can buy a 550 watt PSU from most online retailers for as little as $20, but do you want to trust it to power the PC components that you’ve paid MANY hundreds of dollars for? I know I wouldn’t.
Antec hasn’t developed a stellar reputation over the years by marketing the least expensive power supplies available. They got their reputation by putting out high-quality, stable power supplies at an affordable price point. Their recently released TrueControl 2.0 550 watt power supply is no exception. Follow along with me as I put this unit through its paces and see what the good folks at Antec have brought us this time.
ANTEC CORPORATE PROFILE
The year was 1986. Starbucks had only a few stores. Don Johnson was actually cool. The average PC had less memory than today’s cellphones. And in Fremont, California, a little company named Antec was born. Antec’s first employees never imagined that their upstart firm would rise to the very top of the high-performance computer components industry. But rise it did. And rather swiftly, too.
We’re headquartered in Fremont, California, with additional offices in the Netherlands, Europe. We’ve also established distribution partnerships throughout Australia and Southeast Asia. So you’ll find Antec products in over 25 countries. But no matter how large we grow, we’ll never forget our mission: to give you the power you need to create the computer you really want. That’s the Antec way. That’s the Power of You.
PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS & FEATURES
As you can see in the above chart (from the Antec website), this PSU has some pretty impressive specs. Perhaps most notable are the two 12V rails with a combined 38 amps, and a load regulation of 3%. Active PFC is absent from the US version of the TrueControl, but it is listed as an SLI certified power supply on the Nvidia website. I think I’ll make you wait a little for one of the more functional and interesting features of this PSU.
