Performance, Performance Per Dollar And Noise Ratings
Performance Rating
The following graph shows the total performance rating of the PSU, comparing it to other units we have tested in the past. To be more specific, the tested unit is shown as 100 percent, and every other unit's performance is shown relative to the tested unit.
The EVGA SuperNOVA 550 G2 is one of the best performers in the midcapacity category. It only loses to the much more expensive, Platinum-efficiency Seasonic fanless PSU, which is based on a higher-level platform. From the above graph, you can also see that the performance difference between EVGA's 550 G2 and the 550 GS models is quite large, mostly because of the poor ripple suppression on the +12V rail in the GS unit.
Performance Per Dollar
The following chart may be the most interesting to many readers because it depicts the unit's performance-per-dollar score. We looked up the current price of each PSU on popular online shops and used those prices and all relative performance numbers to calculate the index. If the specific unit wasn't available in the United States, we searched for it in popular European Union shops, converting the listed price to USD (without VAT). Note that all of the numbers in the following graph are normalized by the rated power of each PSU.
Although you can't exactly all it affordable, since it costs $90, the EVGA 550 G2 offers very good performance, resulting in a high performance-per-dollar ratio. As you can see from the chart above, the 550 G2 unit is very close to the Seasonic G-550 V2, a good-performing but noisy PSU, which doesn't feature a fully modular cabling design like EVGA's offering.
Noise Rating
The graph below depicts the cooling fan's average noise over the PSU's entire operating range, with an ambient temperature between 28 and 30 degrees C (82 to 86 degrees F).
In this graph, the 550 G2 clearly takes the lead, outranking EVGA's 550 GS model. If you don't need a second EPS connector, then the choice between the 550 G2 and GS models is a no-brainer.
