EVGA SuperNOVA 650 P2 PSU Review

Reviews
By Aris Mpitziopoulos
published

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Pros, Cons And Final Verdict

EVGA made a name for itself as a quality PSU vendor in a short amount of time. A big part of that success is surely the company's close cooperation with Super Flower, one of the best PSU manufacturers. In the U.S. market, Super Flower doesn't have a retail presence. But you can find its products under EVGA's label.

The SuperNOVA P2 family consists of high-performance PSUs featuring Platinum-rated efficiency and low noise output, even under tough conditions. The 650 P2 that we reviewed today proved to be one of the quietest models we've ever tested. On top of that, it registered high performance in every discipline, including load regulation and ripple suppression. This unit is also tolerant of harsh environmental conditions; it isn't fazed by high operating temperatures, and rather continues delivering steady and ripple-clean output.

With the introduction of high-end graphics cards that don't require extremely powerful PSUs, even in SLI and CrossFire, mainstream power supplies are becoming popular alternatives to the high-capacity models that so many enthusiasts think are necessary. The 650 P2 can easily support a couple of Nvidia GeForce GTX 970s or 980s, allowing it to serve as the backbone of a powerful gaming system.

Thanks to its high efficiency, the 650 P2 doesn't dissipate much waste heat. As a result, it can operate in passive mode for a long time. Should you wish to keep internal temperatures down, you can deactivate passive mode to keep the fan spinning constantly. Since EVGA employs a low-speed fan and relaxed fan profile anyway, we'd prefer to keep air moving through the enclosure. Then again, if we take into account the 10-year warranty that EVGA provides, it's pretty clear the company is confident the 650 P2 will last.

If you can invest $120 in your next PSU and 650W of power covers your system's needs, then the 650 P2 is an excellent choice. It'll save you some money on electricity bills, that's for sure. On the other hand, if you don't want to spend more than $100 upfront, then EVGA's 650 G2 is also a strong performer offering a notably higher performance-per-dollar ratio. At the end of the day, though, we believe that the $20 difference between both models is easily covered by the Platinum-rated unit's higher efficiency. In addition, the 650 P2 comes with a warranty that's three years longer.

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Aris Mpitziopoulos is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware, covering Power Supplies.

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Aris Mpitziopoulos
Contributing Editor

Aris Mpitziopoulos is a Contributing Editor at Tom's Hardware US, covering PSUs.

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14 Comments Comment from the forums
  • cst1992
    $120 is a good price for a Platinum 650W PSU. That used to be the price for Gold units with half the warranty a couple of years ago.
    Reply
  • TbsToy
    Your reviews are so jaded. Anything for the ad dollars, right? Not going to go all the way here but as an example but why didn't you compare the Antec EA 650 Platinum power supply for a more fair apples to apples test instead of the Bronze 80 one? Yeah, I, know why. You guys just keep going down hill.

    Walt Prill

    Reply
  • Aris_Mp
    Before you dive into conspiracy theories etc. can you tell me where you saw the bronze Antec unit? Last time I checked the Antec Edge 650 which is included in the comparison has Gold efficiency. Also I can only include PSUs which I tested with this setup and the EA 650 Platinum isn't among them. And even if it was it wouldn't do better than the EDGE 650 since it uses a budget, ACRF platform which offers average load regulation and ripple suppression.

    And a piece of advice, better have your facts straight before you jump into conclusions.

    Merry Christmas to all!
    Reply
  • cst1992
    @Aris_Mp I think he's talking about the EA-650 Bronze on the first page of the review. The EA-650 Platinum is also on Newegg, and it's actually cheaper than the EVGA by $6.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G28N5004&cm_re=antec_ea_650-_-17-371-056-_-Product

    Now that I think about it, none of the products on the first page are similar in price to this one while being Platinum, and the CoolerMaster is actually the wrong wattage. Why is that? The products should be similar in price, at least.
    Reply
  • Aris_Mp
    I have no control on the product prices shown on the first page. This is an automated script that looks on all PSUs mentioned in the review and depicts their prices. Also since I don't have so many PSU reviews with 115V input, I have to include into my comparison charts, at least in some cases, PSUs that have slightly different capacity and features than the one under test. Once I have a capable PSU database this won't be a problem any more.

    Also including a product in a pricing list is another thing with including it into a comparison chart. In any case I advice all of you not to lose the forest for the tree(s) and read the entire review before you draw any conclusions or make purchase decisions. Finally, in a PSU review the final rating is based on facts and numbers so the final rating is easily supported.
    Reply
  • PureBlackFire
    nice review.
    Reply
  • Take_Out
    I have been in electronic/electrical power distribution field since 1964 (old fogie, used slide rules {slip sticks} to study field effect transistors, heh) working/studying/troubleshooting in a large assortment of types and uses of devices for military and industrial and residential.

    In gaming computer type PSU builders (not brandnames put on them), I like Super Flower, Seasonic, Antec and used to like PC Power and Cooling before the takeover, donno now. Forgot some I am sure. Use the performance list here to make PSU decisions in a fair manner.

    I build gaming computers for family and friends and they kick ass for the cost and last a long time usually unless a part fails. 8800GT and 560ti video cards I liked. Now like GTX 970s and 960s for my money level. 750 and 750tis and some others nearby are only Direct X12 cards in 7 series lineup, go look it up in Wikipedia, despite deceptive advertising on Newegg that all 7 series cards are Direct X12 compatible, not like them. Must be nubies there for the holidays.

    HATE changing OS just cause engineers need something to do, darn it. I know I simplify it, but it is THERE that they make you spend money and worse, learn their "NEW" way to make it work, how utterly fantastic for them. I think engineers are behind a lot of viruses so they can fix some of them, although there are bad actors for sure out there with extremists.

    I think buying a well known brand (Lenovo, Dell, ASUS, etc) of regular NEW i5 4590 plain model cpu or so computer (absolutely NOT small form factor or s or t on end, ugh, regular-sized ATX board mid tower with 8 or 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB HrdDrve WD or Seagate included in price of about 500USD, then add a 240 or 500GB SSD recommended by Tom's, for OS and top games you play to load a lot faster by a wide margin, really. Steam takes up a LOT of room. Then put a good Nvidia GTX-970 or 960 into it and game away with a darn warrenty. Plus engineers have something to do with making all the parts work together, is quite a job........ really. People who make money depend on those types of puters to feed thier kids, they have to work right, not just having fun with them.

    Really like Intel cpus and Nvidia 900 series video cards right now, dem magic, was a time I liked 3DFX(VooDoo2)SLI and ATI(RAGE) cards, even AMD cpus a decade or so back with the X2 64bit Athlons that buried Intel for a while.

    TUROK Dinosaur Hunter is coming back, OMGosh. Game hooked me on 3D gaming for real.

    EVGA seems to be broadening their approach to vending PSUs. Might prove interesting.
    Usually the companies that have stayed in business for many decades are doing something right and it tells. EVGA hasn't yet, but seems to be trying hard, I like their brand of video cards and they support them well.

    seriously something wrong with me, I could keep going and going, sorry....

    Merry Christmas.
    Reply
  • f-14
    Reply
  • f-14
    too expensive a good PSU should cost $10 per 100w on average nd at the cheapest be the price of the amps on the +12v rail so in this PSU's case average price $65 and sale priced at $54.
    Reply
  • TomaszC
    I have a question regarding Fan RPM, Delta Temperature And Output Noise for load range 300W-400W - does the fan RPM changes smootchly in temperature/load function, or just switch from 0RPM to 800RPM?
    Reply