EVGA 450 BT PSU Review: Amazing Value At $25

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Final Analysis

The 450 BT's price tag ranges from $25 to $40, depending on available rebates and discounts. Even at that higher price, this PSU's value proposition is amazing. The Super Flower platform it's based on is old and outdated. However, with some clever tricks, including a low maximum power output on its minor rails, it facilitates decent performance and 80 PLUS Bronze efficiency.

Usually, PSUs in this price range are ticking time bombs. But that's not the case with EVGA's 450 BT, which is covered by a three-year warranty. Despite a mere 30-degree temperature rating, this model still outlived our most demanding tests (the most stressful of them run at 40°C). To be honest, we expected the 450 BT to die prematurely on our bench. It soldiered on though, even making it through our brutal protection feature evaluations.

While we'd normally advise you to steer clear of a $40 (or $25) PSU, the fact of the matter is that there's a lot of demand for inexpensive hardware. If you're looking to build a simple, mainstream PC and don't want to spend a ton of money, EVGA's 450 BT checks all of the right boxes. It offers satisfactory efficiency, good ripple suppression, tight load regulation (even under highly imbalanced loads), and it keeps all of its rails within the ATX specification's tolerances. Yes, the 3.3V rail's transient response is really bad. Under real-life conditions, however, that rail shouldn't have to shoulder much stress.

The Teapo capacitors that we find inside are fairly low-end. Regardless, they're better than other Chinese-made caps common in cheap PSUs. EVGA's sleeve bearing fan does come from a respected manufacturer (Globe Fan), fortunately enough. There is no semi-passive fan mode, since the 450 BT's low efficiency results in high temperatures. As a result, you end up hearing a lot of fan noise under taxing workloads. Then again, we prefer aggressive fan profiles in low-efficiency PSUs; they help enhance reliability. The parts that RSY uses in this PSU, coupled with that aggressive fan profile, ensure EVGA's 450 BT should outlive its warranty period.

Corsair's CX450 is the 450 BT's main competitor. It achieves slightly higher performance, along with lower noise output. However, it's also a bit more expensive. The CX450 boasts a five-year warranty, though. It also includes a rifle bearing fan and is based on a modern platform featuring an LLC resonant converter. If you see EVGA's 450 BT for $40, which is $5 shy of the CX450, then buy the Corsair PSU. If you can get the 450 BT for $25, though, there's just no way to beat it.

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Disclaimer: Aris Mpitziopoulos is Tom's Hardware's PSU reviewer. He is also the Chief Testing Engineer of Cybenetics, and developed the Cybenetics certification methodologies apart from his role on Tom's Hardware. Neither Tom's Hardware nor its parent company, Purch Media, are financially involved with Cybenetics. Aris does not perform the actual certifications for Cybenetics.

Aris Mpitziopoulos
Contributing Editor

Aris Mpitziopoulos is a contributing editor at Tom's Hardware, covering PSUs.

  • Onus
    This looks like a decent choice for a business-class PC, or even a light gamer, which probably won't pull more than half its rated output.
    Reply
  • chimera201
    Could you measure hold up at lower loads(20%, 50%, etc)?
    And why isn't inrush results included in cybenetics database?
    Normally "S" is considered higher than "A++"
    Reply
  • Aris_Mp
    S stands for standard. As for the hold-up time, it is measured only in the worst case scenario, which is full load. Unfortunately there is no time to take extra measurements, especially since we want to implement some other tests.

    About the inrush current, Cyben''s pdf report covers only the basic in order to be kept at a normal size.
    Reply
  • chimera201
    Just curious how the values for hold up would look like at lower loads (I know it's higher). If you do plan on testing it even once at-least do it on a cheaper PSU unit. Testing it on a higher-end unit would defeat the purpose.

    And I thought Cybenetics was supposed to give a detailed report. Not including inrush results, etc kind of defeats the purpose.
    Reply
  • Aris_Mp
    The main role of Cybenetics is to provide efficiency and noise certifications. The extra results are just to let people know a little more about a PSU's quality. If Cyben provided everything then it would be a review and not a certification.
    Reply
  • HERETIC-1
    Quality,low power PSU's are hard to find-Reason-Quality components cost money.
    PSU IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF ANY BUILD.....................
    RECOMENDED-
    Seasonic G360 or G450
    Corsair SF450
    Reply
  • Marlin Schwanke
    Read the list of cons again. This thing is junk. There is no such thing as a decent $25 power supply.
    Reply
  • fry178
    so more cons than pros, calling it decent build quality when almost all cons are related to quality.
    lol.
    less respect with every review like this..
    Reply
  • Aris_Mp
    Every product is judged based on its price.

    "Almost all cons are related to quality". Actually two our of the six have to do, in a degree, with build quality. Thin cables and overated MOV. Transient response, lower hold-up time, noise and old platform are not build quality related. Build quality has to do with the quality of the components and the craftsmanship unless you imply/understand something else.

    You know what I also call decent build quality? A PSU that has a 25C rating and manages to finish all of my tests at much higher ambient temperatures. If its components were crappy then it wouldn't even last a minute under the overload tests, as many other PSUs that have died in my hands so far.
    Reply
  • fry178
    cables are still components.
    and as well as everything else, it's still directly/indirectly related to quality, no matter if physical parts or design/engineering.
    especially since this isnt a box sold by a 12y living in the grandparents basement.

    i dont expect a semi modular unit with a 140mm silent fan on this, but i doubt lots of ppl would consider this type of "quality" product, if it was anything else they are using, not even talking about the fact its a name brand that sells very good units.


    when did it start to be ok for a product to have more cons than pros?...
    doesnt make any sense to me to call it "amazing value".
    but i guess thats just me.

    Reply