EVGA 450 BT PSU Review: Amazing Value At $25

Cheap power supplies rarely earn recommendations because they're often ticking time bombs. But the allure of a low price tag tempts the value-oriented among us. Normally, EVGA's 450 BT sells for $45. But from time to time, you'll find it on sale for $25. While that sounds too good to be true for a capable 450W PSU, we're here to tell you that this model does deserve consideration for its satisfactory efficiency, good ripple suppression, tight load regulation, and ability to keep its rails within the ATX specification's tolerances.

EVGA 450 BT

Pros

• Incredibly low price
• Properly tuned protection features
• Satisfactory performance in critical benchmarks
• Decent build quality
• Fully sleeved cables

Cons

• Outdated platform
• Bad 3.3V transient response
• Noisy
• Lower than 17ms hold-up time
• Cables with thinner than recommended wires
• Overrated MOV in the transient filter

Verdict

At $25, EVGA's 450 BT is a great deal. It's even a decent buy at the company's $40 list price. However, at that point you may as well consider Corsair's CX450 as well. It's only $5 more expensive and far superior in a number of tests. Still, the 450 BT was a nice surprise. We didn't expect it to demonstrate such tight load regulation and good ripple suppression.

3/5

$44.99Newegg

Of course, there are some pretty obvious limitations associated with entry-level power supplies, mostly related to the bargain bin components found inside. And 450W isn't much for a gaming PC, so you have to make sure you're putting it in the right kind of machine.

The competition in this price range mostly consists of generic stuff from China. The only branded models we could find were Corsair's CX450 and VS450, Cooler Master's MWE 450W, the Antec VP-450, and Rosewill's ARC. Unfortunately, we only have performance data for the CX450 and CX450M, so our comparisons are limited for now.

Understandably, the 450 BT offers basic features. There just isn't any room for extras at this price range. So, for $25 to $40, you get fixed cables, 80 PLUS Bronze efficiency, and a sleeve bearing fan. The PSU is based on a Super Flower platform manufactured by RSY.

We weren't expecting semi-passive fan functionality, and that's probably for the best since EVGA claims a low 30°C temperature rating for sustained full-power output. If you need a PSU able to withstand tougher conditions, then you have to spend more money.

Specifications

This PSU's efficiency is very low according to the 80 PLUS and Cybenetics standards, while its LAMBDA-S+ noise level isn't particularly promising. Fortunately, all of the protection features we check for are included. The 120mm sleeve bearing-based cooling fan isn't bad, either.

A compact 14.5cm depth measurement is admirable, as is the three-year warranty.

Power Specifications

The minor rails offer up to 90W of combined power, while the +12V rail cannot deliver the PSU's full power on its own. That's an indication of a group regulation design on the secondary side. Even still, the minor rails' low combined output should help this configuration behave well in unbalanced loads.

Cables & Connectors

It's nice to see an affordable 450W PSU with a couple of PCIe connectors for graphics cards. The number of peripheral connectors is also satisfactory.

On the other hand, we don't like the 20-gauge wires used for most of the connectors. Cables responsible for transferring the highest power levels should at least use 18-gauge wires. It's especially shameful to find those thinner wires on the EPS and 24-pin ATX connectors.

The 450 BT's cables are shown in the photos above.

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EVGA 450 BT

$44.99Newegg