EVGA SuperNOVA 550 G2 PSU Review

Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

Packaging, Contents, Exterior And Cabling

Packaging

The box has the same design as the rest of the G2 units. On the front, we find the model description in a very large font, while the 80 Plus Gold badge is quite small and located near the bottom-left corner. On the back of the package there are two lists providing information on the product's features and the included cables and connectors along with the power specifications table. There are also three photos of the PSU, with one showing the bulk capacitor (provided by Nippon Chemi-Con) and a small scheme showing the fan's operation with the ECO mode activated.

Contents

Inside the box, the PSU is protected by two foam spacers and wrapped in a thick plastic bag. The contents include Velcro straps, a set of screws for chassis mounting, an ATX-bridging plug for switching on the PSU without having it connected to a system, an AC power cord and the user's manual. In addition to the necessary modular cables, EVGA also includes a nice pouch to store the unused cables.

Exterior

The PSU's finish is of the same high quality as the rest of the G2 units. The black matte surface of the casing doesn't attract fingerprints and looks fairly scratch-resistant. EVGA's characteristic punched fan grill makes the unit easily distinguishable among the different PSU brand models. On the front of the unit is the on/off switch, which is installed next to the AC receptacle, while on the sides we find the power specification labels. On the bottom there is a decal showing the unit's model number along with a small sticker depicting the part and serial numbers of the product.

The dimensions of the unit are restricted, which is expected because of the mid-capacity of this PSU. At the back of the unit the modular PCB includes nine sockets, with two of them dedicated to the main ATX cable. There are four 6-pin sockets for peripheral connectors and three 8-pin sockets for the PCIe and EPS cables. If EVGA used two cables with a pair of PCIe connectors each, then this unit could have four PCIe connectors instead of three (note that the 550 GS PSU comes with four PCIe and three EPS connectors).

Cabling

The cables are stealth and of good quality, considering the price of this product. Flat cables were not used, probably to add some extra filtering capacitors on the ATX, PCIe and EPS cables. On flat cables these caps wouldn't look nice at all.

Aris Mpitziopoulos
Contributing Editor

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

  • marraco
    Wow. Ripple behavior is fantastic.

    I would like to see another test. I had a PC with a Coolermaster PSU and 4 HD which were put to sleep mode/hibernation. Sometimes when the 4 HD were powered up the PC hanged, because the 4 HD demanded so much transient power that it threw the PSU voltages out of specs.

    I was thinking that I had a great PSU, but it was expensive garbage.
    Reply
  • Aris_Mp
    this scenario is covered by the transient response tests, which I conduct in page #7 of the review.
    Reply
  • giantbucket
    i don't get it... isn't this like trying to sell a Ferrari with only 3 cylinders to appeal to the sub-$100,000 clientele?
    Reply
  • dstarr3
    Super Flower makes some great hardware. I'm all over this for my upcoming modest gaming rig.
    Reply
  • damric
    It's all about the LEADEX.
    Reply
  • dstarr3
    i don't get it... isn't this like trying to sell a Ferrari with only 3 cylinders to appeal to the sub-$100,000 clientele?

    The problem is that all of the best-built, best-featured PSUs were being made in 850, 1000, 1200, 1600W variants. If you had just a modest system, something mid-range, you either had to get a PSU that was way overkill, or you had to settle for PSUs that weren't so well built, or as efficient, or as fully-featured. So, this is an attempt to distribute very high-quality products to more of the market. And I am 110% A-Okay with that.
    Reply
  • MasterDell
    i don't get it... isn't this like trying to sell a Ferrari with only 3 cylinders to appeal to the sub-$100,000 clientele?

    The problem is that all of the best-built, best-featured PSUs were being made in 850, 1000, 1200, 1600W variants. If you had just a modest system, something mid-range, you either had to get a PSU that was way overkill, or you had to settle for PSUs that weren't so well built, or as efficient, or as fully-featured. So, this is an attempt to distribute very high-quality products to more of the market. And I am 110% A-Okay with that.
    I agree with this to some extent because there are and were tons of PSU's made by Seasonic. Whether they were Antec units or XFX units OEM'd by Seasonic or not.. They were made by Seasonic. Now, as for fully modular, gold rated variants, those were and still are far and few between. However there are tons of Bronze semi-modular/none modular units which are great for mid-range builds.

    I actually own this unit and used it in a build with a 960. I got it right when it came out and for it's price, it offered a ton. I live in Canada and PSU's are way over-priced and the prices make no sense on them. But this unit was priced extremely well likely due to it's availability so I picked one up. No problems and I am glad EVGA is filling this market void. Good on em.
    Reply
  • Nuckles_56
    Nice to see a low wattage power supply being reviewed for a change and particularly one which performs very well
    Reply
  • turkey3_scratch
    I think I found my PSU. I don't need any 750W, but I had trouble finding a high quality 550W unit, and this is it!
    Reply
  • g-unit1111
    I have two G2s, these are far and away some of the best PSUs on the market! Good to see that EVGA is making some lower wattage models that have the same quality and consistency.
    Reply