EVGA budget PSU quality

[Fasauceome]

I've been looking up some budget power supplies, and the BR and BT lines from EVGA aren't on the PSU tier list. Now I now it's not gospel, but the reviews of this line aren't particularly comprehensive past just listing the specs. I used one for a super budget build that the person immediately threw away for some reason (sort of pissed me off, even though they paid for it), so I have little idea of the quality.

[DocSwag]

I don't think they're very good. I'm pretty sure they're all group regulated. The EVGA BV recently got reviewed by Jonnyguru and it looks to be similar tier as the B1... I wouldn't be surprised if those two are as well.

[seon123]

As with any PSU, they are crap until proven otherwise. If they haven't sent out review samples, it's likely because they don't want reviewers to confirm that they are crap. 

[Fasauceome]

30 minutes ago, seon123 said:

As with any PSU, they are crap until proven otherwise. If they haven't sent out review samples, it's likely because they don't want reviewers to confirm that they are crap. 

I'm not sure about review samples, but they've been available to buy for a long while now, so shouldn't someone have found out if they're good yet?

[seon123]

7 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

I'm not sure about review samples, but they've been available to buy for a long while now, so shouldn't someone have found out if they're good yet?

Someone who just happens to have a load tester and an oscilloscope, and knowledge of a PSU's internals? If it's not a reviewer, noone will really find out. Customer reviews mean nothing. 

[17030644]

59 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

I don't think they're very good. I'm pretty sure they're all group regulated. The EVGA BV recently got reviewed by Jonnyguru and it looks to be similar tier as the B1... I wouldn't be surprised if those two are as well.

the BR uses DC-DC power conversion

 

55 minutes ago, seon123 said:

As with any PSU, they are crap until proven otherwise. If they haven't sent out review samples, it's likely because they don't want reviewers to confirm that they are crap. 

You right, and you can find corsair CX/cooler masterwatt/ EVGA GD for very cheap so...

[Fasauceome]

15 minutes ago, 17030644 said:

the BR uses DC-DC power conversion

 

You right, and you can find corsair CX/cooler masterwatt/ EVGA GD for very cheap so...

BR is like half the cost if CX for the same wattage, obviously a good deal if it's any decent.

[17030644]

25 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

BR is like half the cost if CX for the same wattage, obviously a good deal if it's any decent.

yea i've seen it going as low as 10 bucks

[Spotty]

1 minute ago, fasauceome said:

BR is like half the cost if CX for the same wattage, obviously a good deal if it's any decent.

This alone makes me believe that they are garbage. If it could compete in terms of quality with the CX series, why would it be priced at half the price? Forget the Corsair CX series, why would it be priced below other similar EVGA units? Price isn't a valid measure of quality, but it does say a lot when a PSU is half the price of another poor quality unit by the same company.

EVGA has priced the BT at almost half the price of the B3 (a tier 4 PSU on LTT tier list).
EVGA BT 450W - $25 ($9.99 with $20 mail in rebate)

EVGA B3 450W - $45 ($35 with $20 mail in rebate)

 

 

Is the BR series possibly a replacement/rehash for the B series (tier 5)? From what I can see, that is the market EVGA is targeting with these units.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/13035/evga-introduces-br-series-power-supplies

https://www.techpowerup.com/245607/evga-launches-the-br-series-power-supplies

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/evga-budget-br-psu-series,37385.html (It's okay because it's not written by Avram Piltch)

 

1 hour ago, seon123 said:

As with any PSU, they are crap until proven otherwise.

Especially true and expect it to be especially crap when you're talking about a $25 PSU ($9.99 WITH REBATE!) and don't have any information proving otherwise.

[seon123]

5 minutes ago, Spotty said:

Is the BR series possibly a replacement/rehash for the B series (tier 5)? From what I can see, that is the market EVGA is targeting with these units.

Would be weird if they had a DC-DC unit be below a group regulated unit in their product stack. 

I don't even think EVGA knows. They have so many overlapping units. The BV, BT, BR and B1 are all super low end bronze units. They don't even cost more than the lower efficiency units. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, seon123 said:

Would be weird if they had a DC-DC unit be below a group regulated unit in their product stack. 

I don't even think EVGA knows. They have so many overlapping units. The BV, BT, BR and B1 are all super low end bronze units. They don't even cost more than the lower efficiency units. 

Not if the unit with DC to DC is still shit even though it has DC to DC.  

 

Just yesterday I opened up a TT GX1 600W.  It has DC to DC (and falsely claims to have an FDB fan).

 

Check out the size of that 85°C rated Elite bulk cap.....

[Stefan Payne]

3 hours ago, fasauceome said:

I'm not sure about review samples, but they've been available to buy for a long while now, so shouldn't someone have found out if they're good yet?

Doesn't matter.

And EVGA PSU in general aren't that amazing because everyone else has better units for the same amount of money or less.

 

So no EVGA Unit is really worth it because they tend to be on the loud side and not much is done by EVGA to the manufacturers original design...

 

Most of the EVGA Bronze units are Group regulated and thus should be avoided.

Other manufacturers switched to DC-DC, even on their System Integrator solutions...

SO no, I don't understand why you want EVGA so badly, when there are better units from other Manufacturers...

PSU ain't no magic, its the same game for everyone....

 

[Stefan Payne]

44 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

Check out the size of that 85°C rated Elite bulk cap.....

390µF seems somewhat OKish for a 600W unit, though its the lower limit...

[DocSwag]

On 9/15/2018 at 12:27 PM, 17030644 said:

the BR uses DC-DC power conversion

 

You right, and you can find corsair CX/cooler masterwatt/ EVGA GD for very cheap so...

I looked at some sources and they all say DC to DC on 3.3 and 5v but no mention of 12v. Maybe the standby is derived from 12v or something? IDK

 

Either way, as other's have said, DC to DC doesn't always mean good.

[Fasauceome]

1 minute ago, DocSwag said:

I looked at some sources and they all say DC to DC on 3.3 and 5v but no mention of 12v. Maybe the standby is derived from 12v or something? IDK

 

Either way, as other's have said, DC to DC doesn't always mean good.

There's good and there's good enough for ultra budget. If I wanted a ryzen 5 and a 1070, do you think it's reliable enough for, say, a year?

[DocSwag]

2 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

There's good and there's good enough for ultra budget. If I wanted a ryzen 5 and a 1070, do you think it's reliable enough for, say, a year?

Probably? Can't say for sure. Personally I'd say just pay a bit more and grab a CX/CXM

[seon123]

12 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

I looked at some sources and they all say DC to DC on 3.3 and 5v but no mention of 12v. Maybe the standby is derived from 12v or something? IDK

 

Either way, as other's have said, DC to DC doesn't always mean good.

DC-DC means the 3,3V and 5V rails are derived from the 12V rail. Would be weird if the 12V rail was derived from itself

[DocSwag]

3 minutes ago, seon123 said:

DC-DC means the 3,3V and 5V rails are derived from the 12V rail. Would be weird if the 12V rail was derived from itself

Yeah oops what I meant to say was what I mentioned in the next sentence, how other stuff like the standby might be derived from 12v. I'm not sure... is that really a big deal though? Or is it just 3.3 and 5v that matter.

[seon123]

Just now, DocSwag said:

Yeah oops what I meant to say was what I mentioned in the next sentence, how other stuff like the standby might be derived from 12v. I'm not sure... is that really a big deal though? Or is it just 3.3 and 5v that matter.

It's just the 3,3V and 5V rails that matter. The point is having them independently regulated, and not group regulated. The 5Vsb is independent already, I think. 

[Spotty]

4 hours ago, fasauceome said:

There's good and there's good enough for ultra budget. If I wanted a ryzen 5 and a 1070, do you think it's reliable enough for, say, a year?

A gtx 1070 is not "Ultra budget" and you shouldn't be pairing it with a $10 PSU. Just get a cxm or masterwatt. 

 

"Ultra budget" is more among the lines of gtx750 + q6600 bought from a garage sale for $5.

[Fasauceome]

24 minutes ago, Spotty said:

A gtx 1070 is not "Ultra budget" and you shouldn't be pairing it with a $10 PSU. Just get a cxm or masterwatt. 

 

"Ultra budget" is more among the lines of gtx750 + q6600 bought from a garage sale for $5.

I guess "ultra cheapskate" is more appropriate

[Guest]

On 9/16/2018 at 7:06 AM, Stefan Payne said:

390µF seems somewhat OKish for a 600W unit, though its the lower limit...

10ms @ 80% load.  Also no OTP.

 

[Rexper]

1 hour ago, jonnyGURU said:

10ms @ 80% load.  Also no OTP.

 

Considering the EVGA B3 550 uses a 390uF cap and measured 16.9ms at AC loss to PWR OK end, I wouldn't say it's impossible.

https://www.computerbase.de/2018-08/be-quiet-s9-evga-b3-80plus-bronze-test/3/#abschnitt_stuetzzeit__erp

 

What else can affect hold up time, besides primary topology and bulk capacitor size? I've found data for atleast a dozen PSUs of the same primary topology, but can't find really find a trend. For example, we have the EVGA BQ 850 with 960uF that only measured 12.42ms. Whereas there's a Cougar LX 600 with 330uF measuring 12.9ms.

[Stefan Payne]

3 hours ago, Rexper said:

What else can affect hold up time, besides primary topology and bulk capacitor size?

Secondary side Capacitors  

But also probably the Transformer and Coils on the Primary side as well.

5 hours ago, jonnyGURU said:

10ms @ 80% load.  Also no OTP.

Interesting. Didn't expect it to be that bad.

IIRC the CWT GPS Plattform (wich I really do not like) has little to no capacitance on +12V and only IIRC 6x470µF/16V Polymer caps and one (maybe 2?) 2200µF/16V Caps.

 

No OTP might be because of the CM6900 wich doesn't support it (like one of the Infineon ones do) and they use an 8pin Sitronics (or similar) Supervisior...

[Guest]

Yeah, but even if the supervisor IC doesn't support OTP, it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to make a circuit where the fan controller can trigger any other protection to shut off the PSU.