Antec Truepower Quattro 1000W Power Supply Review

Conclusion

No matter which way you look at it, the Quattro 1000W is one hell of a power supply; it has solid rails, high efficiency, good ripple suppression and a price to die for. Wait a sec…”a price to die for”? On a $200 power supply? Upon face value it may seem like we are a bit nuts, but truth be told this Antec power supply represents an excellent value for your money. In our testing it stood toe-to-toe with the Silverstone Zeus 1200W which carries an approximate $120 price premium while offering a better warranty and extremely quiet performance. While it is not the power user’s power supply the Zeus is, the Quattro has made a niche for itself in the market by offering solid performance at a great price. Granted, the majority of users out there don’t need 1000W but the Quattro retails for about the same price as many 800W units so if you are in the market for a high-end power supply, you owe it to yourself to seriously consider this one.

However there are a few things which always seem to conspire to keep so many power supplies from our top honors and this unit is no different since there are several minor issues that kept us from completely falling in love with Antec’s creation. Yes we would have liked to have seen more wattage available on the +12V rails but that can be easily overlooked considering how well the power supply did in our tests. To be honest, the one thing that kept coming back to haunt us was the cables. While they were all more than long enough the issue lies in the way Antec went about the job of sleeving them. The minor amount of money spent for a FULL sleeving job would have gone a long way to making the Quattro more aesthetically pleasing and it would not feel like the sleeving was about to fall off. One of the other minor problems we see is that while this power supply has almost everything going for it, its PCI-E 8-pin connectors do not support the new 9800GX2 graphics cards. Whether this is Nvidia’s fault for designing a restrictive fan shroud or Antec’s for not sticking to the 8-pin specifications can be debated until the cows come home but one this in certain: taking a shortcut by making a 6+2 pin connector is definitely not working in Antec’s favor.

Antec has once again shown that they can take the reigns and provide great product without asking their customers to break into a bank in order to afford a high wattage power supply. While the Quattro is not a perfect power supply, it shows that it has the balls to get the job done while being backed up by top-notch 5-year warranty. So, with quality few manufacturers can brag about and a price which makes extremely accessible, the Antec TruePower Quattro 1000W receives our Dam Good Value Award.


Pros:

- Good performance
- 5-year warranty
- Quiet operation
- Efficient
- Good build quality


Cons:

- Sleeving on cables not entirely secure
- 6+2 pin PCI-E connectors not compatible with 9800GX2
- Racing stripes may not be for everyone