Packaging, Contents, Exterior & Cabling
Packaging
Up front, the unit's model number is emblazoned in a large, bronze font. There's not much else to see except an 80 PLUS Bronze badge.
On one side of the box, EVGA prints a fan speed graph. Despite its low efficiency, the 450 B3 features a semi-passive mode that gets deactivated once the PSU's internal temperature reaches 60°C. A power specifications table on the same side conveys a maximum operating temperature (40°C) at which the PSU is able to deliver its full power continuously.
Around back, five photographs are provided. The two most interesting ones show parts of the unit's internals. EVGA highlights its Japanese bulk cap and the LLC resonant converter. It's a little strange to find such a converter, usually reserved for higher-efficiency PSUs, in this category. Finally, there's a list of modular cables included with the 450 B3.
Contents
The 450 B3 isn't protected particularly well in its box; only bubble-wrap is used and there is no packing foam. EVGA should probably consider something a little beefier to minimize damage from rough shipping.
The user's manual is common across all B3-series models. EVGA's bundle also includes modular cables, the AC power cord, and a set of fixing bolts.
Exterior
The punched fan grille looks nice and doesn't restrict airflow. Up front, EVGA uses a typical honeycomb design. Besides the power switch, a smaller toggle controls whether EVGA's ECO (semi-passive) mode is used or not. It is great to see Super Flower putting the semi-passive control there, where it's easily easily accessible. In previous platforms, this switch was installed around back, so you had to open up your case to reach it.
On one of the two sides is a power specifications table, while the bottom hosts two stickers showing EVGA's part number and this specific PSU's serial number.
The modular panel is quite small since it only hosts seven sockets.
A reduced depth keeps the 450 B3's overall dimensions fairly compact. This, along with the modular cables, helps with compatibility and installation.
Cabling
The cables use dark wires and are not flat, since that'd probably increase their production cost. Moreover, Super Flower does install extra ripple filtering caps on the ATX, EPS, and PCIe cables, which makes it difficult (if not impossible) to flatten them out.
We removed part of the sleeving to peek at the capacitors Super Flower used for its modular cables. They come from CapXon and belong to the company's KF line, featuring a 2000-5000-hour lifetime. CapXon isn't one of our top choices. But most of the ripple filtering is already done at this stage, so those caps won't get stressed enough to prematurely fail.
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