Antec Truepower Quattro 850W vs Silverstone Decathlon 850W Review

Silverstone Decathlon 850W

Product Number: DA850
Price: $217.73 @ Directcanada
Packaging: Retail
Fan Size: 1x 120mm
Warranty: 3 Years
Availability: Now
Manufacturer’s Product Page: SilverStone Technology Co., Ltd - Designing Inspiration=


Antec Truepower Quattro 850W

Product Number: TPQ 850
Price: $190.03 @ Directcanada
Packaging: Retail
Fan Size: 1x 80mm
Warranty: 5 Years
Availability: Now
Manufacturer’s Product Page: Antec.com - TruePower Quattro

Consumers had been watching the ongoing Wattage Wars between power supply manufacturers with complete awe for the last 18 months. Within that timeframe came the power-hungry 8800GTX and quad core processors and that awe quixkly turned to abject horror when those same consumers realized that they would have to pony up the money for a high-wattage power supply to go along with their system upgrade. As buyers panicked, manufacturers took advantage and began releasing power supplies with insane output specifications. But, let’s throw a little water on the fire by saying you do not NEED an 800W power supply to power a quad core, single GPU system. What you WANT is something totally different and these two power supplies we are looking at today have probably passed through that “want” list at some time.

Call it kismet, fate or good competition but no matter which way you slice it, both the Antec Truepower Quattro 850W and the Silverstone Decathlon 850W appeared in all their grandeur at retailers within a few weeks of one another. Since then both of these power supplies have been fighting it out in the trenches since they are equally high on the wish lists of enthusiasts everywhere. Since we have seen so many places where they are both being recommended in the same breath, we here at Hardware Canucks have gone ahead and pitted these two monsters against one another.

In the blue corner, wearing a black exterior, weighing in with a single massive +12V rail and a completely modular interface is the Silverstone DA850!!! *insert crowd going wild noises here* In the past we have taken a long, hard look at one of Silverstone’s lower-wattage Decathlon units and found it to be a great all-round performer and we expect the 850W variant to perform just as well. Once again we can’t seem to nail down who manufactures this power supply but it still comes with Silverstone’s 3 year warranty and excellent customer support. Pricing for this unit is presently sitting around the $215 mark.

In the red corner, wearing a black exterior with yellow racing stripes, weighing in with 4 +12V rails, a partial modular interface and a single 80mm fan is the Antec Truepower Quattro 850W!! Antec saw the growing market trends towards more power hungry components and released their Quattro series (in 850W and 1000W outputs) only a few months ago. While most of their other power supplies are now Seasonic-built, the Quattro series are Enhance built which is by no means a step down from Seasonic. Antec backs up the Quattro 850W with their 5-year warranty and (just like Silverstone) amazing customer support. The pricing for this power supply is quite a bit less than its competition by undercutting the DA850 by a good $25 with it sitting pretty at around $190.

So, how will these two powerhouses compare against one another in our brand new battery of tests? Let the clash of the titans begin!!