In the many forums I frequent, I sometimes see people wishing they could afford one of Antec's high end Signature units and yet not quite willing to go for one of the Truepower Trio models. Well, Antec's decided to freshen up the Truepower line once more, and they've just released the brand new Truepower New series. These are 80 Plus certified units that promise to bring the Truepower name closer in quality to the Signatures while still keeping the price affordable.

Let's find out if they were successful.

Way back in the day, Antec came out with a new power supply line called the Truepowers. When these were introduced, they promised groundbreaking stability at reasonable prices for us consumers. As time passed, the Truepower line evolved and changed. We soon had the Truepower II series, and then the Truepower Trio series.

Well, get ready folks because it's happening again. Antec just sent me what you see in the above picture, the latest unit to bear the Truepower moniker, the Truepower New 750W. These new Truepower units start at 550W and go up to the 750W model I'm looking at today.

The box wastes no time in bragging about the unit inside, as you can see in this shot. While the Truepower line is no longer top of the heap at Antec (that would be the Signatures), this little blurb seems to promise enough high end performance to please most people who can't afford to lose the arm and leg a Signature costs. Some of the improvements over the previous True Trio units include 80 Plus Bronze certification and a PWM fan, so says the box.

There's more coolness being bragged about on the back of the box. It's a bit hard to read in the above shot, so...

• DC to DC voltage regulator modules for greater system stability
• 120mm PWM fan runs up to 50% quieter than standard fans
• Advanced Hybrid Cable Management improves airflow and reduces clutter
• Double layer PCB optimizes cooling efficiency and allows for heavy duty components
• 80 PLUS® Bronze certification saves energy and lowers your electric bill
• Supports dual GPUs and dual/quad core CPUs
• 4 +12V rail output circuits provide stable power
• ATX12V v2.3 and EPS12V v2.91
• 2 x 8-pin (6 + 2) & 2 x 6-pin PCI-E graphics card connectors for modern graphics cards
• Safety approval: UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick

Also present is a load table and a promise that the unit meets 82% efficiency at minimum, full load. We'll just see about that, won't we?

Hmm... I guess I didn't need to type most of that out after all. Methinks I need some new glasses to go with my new Truepower New. And all this talk about new stuff makes me want to listen to Lidell Townsell for some reason. Mm-hmm, yeah yeah. That, or stand in front of the window and do the Numa Numa dance. Again.

As is the case with many new Antec units lately, the True New comes packaged looking like it came out of the grocery store produce section or something. And I have to tell you, the box must have been using technology from Dr. Who, because it seems to me it was holding twice as much as it should have been able to fit.

See? Along with the power supply and all its hardwired cables we have a bag full of modular cables, a power cable, user guide, and a bag of screws. All this crammed into an 8" x 9" x 4.5" box. Trying to get this all back into the box was a lot like me trying to get myself into my old jeans - the ones that last fit in high school, when I was still only 6' 3." It just wasn't easy. Or photogenic.

The user guide is really just a folded up piece of paper with a few useful bits of information on it in multiple languages.

And here's our new Truepower New Numa Numa... er, power supply right now. Sorry... all this newness seems to be overloading my poor brain. The unit is finished in a simple dark gray paint, with some purpleness in the label to contrast with.

Hi, pot! Are you ok? Warranty void if removed. Sincerely, Antec.

Wow, my brain really is sipping the crazy juice today. Let's zoom in on those modular connectors - there's something you should see there.

And that something is the little label below the connectors. This label tells you which 12V rail serves these connectors. 12V1 on the two black ones, and 12V3/12V4 for the red ones.

Going back to the label, there's some interesting info there. First, there's that huge combined 12V rating of 744W - that's a lot of juice for a unit rated at 750W total. This gives us a pretty good indication that the VRM design takes the approach of drawing power from the 12V for the 3.3V and 5V rails. I can't wait to get inside it and see what the design's like.

Also, you'll see that each of the four 12V rails is rated at 25A. This is more than adequate for just about anything you'd want to power with a 750W unit these days.

Unless I'm confused again, it almost looks to me like this unit already has most of the cabling hardwired. Looks a bit cluttered, honestly. And yes, I do believe there is a separate EPS12V and ATX12V cable. What for? How many rigs out there need both? Usually, it's one or the other, and most units come with a modular 4+4 pin EPS12V connector to prevent the kind of clutter that comes from having two cables essentially providing redundant functionality more than once a second time.

Otherwise, the sleeving is at least well done, going up into the unit to help alleviate wire chafing against the grommet.

And here are the modular cables. There are a fair few of them too, despite the fact that the unit itself has just about all you'd ever need hardwired to it already.

Once more unto the load testing phase we goeth. Like always, the SunMoon SM-268 ATE will be the Burton Guster to my Shawn Spencer. It's able to electronically load units as big as 1100W or so, so it should be ok with this here new Truepower New 750W. Assisting it will be Lassie, my pet name for the Brand 4-1850 power meter that can never take a joke; and Jules, the dual LM35DZ thermometer with a heart of gold. No, I'm not going to do the Snoopy dance if this goes well. Well... probably not. Almost certainly not. While this is all going on, Henry, the cranky USB Instruments DS1M12 USB oscilloscope, will be watching the outputs to see if ripple and noise are staying in spec.

As always, this is done in three stages. First we'll do some load testing at room temperature using a program of balanced progressive tests ranging from 20%-100% of full power followed by two crossload tests. Then, we'll have Henry there watch the 5VSB and 12V rails for turn on spikes that go out of spec. Finally, we'll repeat the progressive and crossload tests with the unit locked in a hot box. If that doesn't make the sparks fly, nothing will.

Since this is a quad 12V unit, and Gus can only take two 12V rails at a time, I'll be using my nifty breakout board to sum all the rails to one. Loads for the progressive and crossload tests are chosen with respect to the maximum limits given on the label. Sigh... just once, I'd like to really let fly at these units. Should I? Come on, it'll be fun. Yes, Gus, I know those limits are chosen for a reason; but life is short, the sun is out, and there's a little red guy on my shoulder telling me I should. Just crossload test two, then. Ok, fine, I'll stick to the maximum combined 12V limit... that will still run the unit 25W over spec, and we'll still get to see if the maximum combined 12V rating can be reached in normal use. Deal? Deal.

Are you watching? I'm doing my Snoopy dance now, for the True New is so far making a fantastic first impression. Not only are we seeing the 80 Plus Bronze numbers being met up there, we're also seeing Jules report some nice temperature readings. In fact, everything over test two is nailed to 32 degrees at the exhaust. That said, the PWM fan isn't quite all it's been made out to be, because I heard it whining by test five. It was a quiet whine, but a whine nonetheless.

Moving over to the voltage readings, I was somewhat disappointed, for the unit didn't quite stay as stable as I'd have liked to see it. It's well in spec, but rather unremarkable. Especially on the 3.3V, where a loose-ish ATX connector contributed to a fair sized voltage drop. But then if you take a look at test CL2, the unit is putting out 18W more than it was rated for, while still pulling in a remarkable 84.2% efficiency. So far, I'd have to say things are looking very good, but not quite spectacular for the True New.

Overshoot Transient Testing - Antec True New 750W
VSB On	VSB to Full, 12V	Off to Full, 12V

Now we get some good news, for the True New is excelling here. Remember last week's Enermax review when we saw one of theirs knocking the ball out of the park on the 5VSB rail?; Well, look out Enermax - Antec has your number and they're calling collect. The 5VSB spike on this unit is ever so slightly lower than the Revolution managed, and make no mistake - that's something to brag about. And then we move on to the 12V overshoot shots, and see that the Antec is now whupping the Revolution 85+ with its own power cord. 8 volts - that's the extent of the 12V spike.

You know what? The previous Truepower line was Seasonic based, and these results are very reminiscent of the Seasonic M12D I looked at. D'ya think? Naaaaaw, couldn't be. Antec couldn't possibly be using a Seasonic platform that retails for a small fortune in these units, could they? We'll find out for sure in page three. Meantime, let the hot boxing commence. Lassie, Jules, Gus, let's grill us a Truepower.

Ha haha haaaaa ha. I know this... much is... true: the True New is having no problem at all dealing with the heat. It's still bringing in 80 Plus Bronze, which is a notable accomplishment already considering that the hot box hit 49 degrees. And look at that - 765 watts at 45 degrees. And it's still doing 83.5% efficiency! This is just outstanding. And look at that - the simple act of reseating the ATX connector lit a fire under the 3.3V rail which is now more stable than the other two rails. Amazing.

Fannage whinage? Yessage. By test five again. This is not the quietest Antec I've had my mitts on.

You know what else is true? I'm not a fan of Spandau Ballet songs that are now stuck in my head. Maybe Henry, the grumpy USB oscilloscope, can help me there.

Oscilloscope Results - Antec True New 750W
Test #	+3.3V	+5V	+12V
Test 1
Test 2
Test 3
Test 4
Test 5
Test CL1
Test CL2

Looking at these shots, I have another annoying 80's classic from Frida stuck in my head, for over there on the 5V rail there's something going on-on-on. While this rail is well in spec at all load levels, it looks like that rail got infected with the boogie woogie bug. Starting in test one and ending by test five, it threw odd random spikes into the waveform. Sometimes the spikes were obvious, sometimes not. Sometimes they weren't there at all. I've adjusted the timebase on the scope to show you better.

That being said, the True New is once again an outstanding performer. Every last rail is doing better than 25mV of ripple. If this isn't the M12D platform, it's pretty darned close to being just as awesome. I'm doing my Snoopy dance again. Just you try and stop me.

Time to take us apart a Truepower. First up, a fan shot.

PWM fan from Adda.

Most of the AC transient filter is attached to this card. Four Y capacitors, one X capacitor, and one coil.

Soldering was above average, but could use improving here and there.

Like right here, maybe. Dead center is the leads of one of the 12V Schottky's. Sure, the soldering is good, but the component leads were left a bit long.

Here's the modular connector board, along with several extra capacitors. Nippon-Chemicon furnishes all the caps in this thing, by the way.

Well, uh, it's a Seasonic built unit for sure, but sure 'tis no M12D. If anything, it looks like some kind of hybrid between the Truepower Trio and M12D. See that VRM module? Looks almost identical to the M12D's. Interesting comma very.

On the bottom left is all that remains of the transient filter. One coil and a MOV. Two GBU806's serve as bridge rectifiers.

Why look! It almost seems like I could throw in some LED's and get me a True New Blue! Woohoo! In fact, Antec is indeed releasing such a creature at 750W.

A closer look at the VRM. Looks like they're using threadlocker on those screws - good idea.

Next to the capacitor is the daughterboard for the PWM controller, a CM6802BHG. The other little card linked with it by the plastic standoff there is for the protection IC, a PS232S.

PWM fan controller is up near the front, as you can see here.

The primary uses two 35N60C3's and a diode for PFC, and two 24N60C3's in double forward as main switchers.

12V secondary uses three 40U45CT's in parallel for 12V output.

Last but not least, here's the VRM unclothed. Two APW7073's combine with seven APM2556N's for 5V and 3.3 output.

Just for kicks, let's look at the M12D VRM, because I have to be honest - I think they're identical.

If that's not Flanders, he's done his homework. There are a couple minor differences here and there, but for the most part the two VRM's look pretty similar.

Performance (40% of the final score) - once again we arrive at the scoring section. And this one's going to be easy. First, you have a unit that held up 80 Plus Bronze numbers, even when overloaded by 18 watts, even when cooked to 49 degrees in the hot box. Then, you have ripple and noise so low it was barely there at all. As if that weren't enough, the unit channeled its distant cousin the M12D in the overshoot transient tests and put the smackdown on nearly everything else I've ever tested. But, while those are all good things, I'd like to see the underside of the PCB cleaned up just a wee bit and the voltage stability on the 12V and 5V rails improved just a smidgeon. Today I'm going to be generous though and hand out a 9.5.

Functionality (20% of the final score) - while this unit is modular, I'm not quite sure what the point is, with so many cables already hardwired to the unit. Worse than that, there's a full length ATX12V cable and a full length EPS12V cable... both hardwired. But I do have to admit the sleeving is well done and the fan was mostly silent, even if it did start whining when the heat came on. 8.

Value (30% of the final score) - these just hit the market, so there's not much stock anywhere on them yet. Fortunately, Antec told me the MSRP on this unit: $159.95. The Seasonic M12D, which this unit comes close to performance wise, is about a hundred smackers more money. At the same time, you can get a Corsair 750W for significantly cheaper, but I'd have to say the extra cost on this unit is worth it. And if the initial retail prices I'm seeing on this unit are anywhere near accurate, Antec is going to be almost impossible to beat on this one. 10.

Aesthetics (10% of the final score) - I like matte black and I like matte gray. Sadly, this isn't quite my taste in gray, and the paint seems easily scratched. I think I need to go back down to 8 on this one.

Summary

Antec continues their evolution of the Truepower name with a unit that surpasses all previous Truepower incarnations easily. Coming in with performance reminiscent of models significantly more expensive and 80 Plus Bronze levels of efficiency, there's not much to hate about the Truepower New 750W. I think Antec could do with making more of the hardwired cables modular, but other than that, there's no reason you shouldn't buy one of these as soon as they hit the shelves. Signature too expensive? Too many people around you own a Corsair and you want to be different? Truepower Trio just a bit too lackluster for you? You too can have a True New.

The Good:

• fantastic efficiency
• very stable voltages
• ripple? What ripple? Oh, you mean that 25mV squiggle there? That hardly counts.
• did more than full rated power at 45 degrees

The Bad:

• too many hardwired cables defeats the purpose of modular

The Mediocre:

• Spandau Ballet won't stop singing in my head about being true. Time to fire up that P.M. Dawn CD. Set adrift on memory bliss of... doh!