EVGA SuperNOVA 850 P2 Power Supply Review
EVGA's second-best power supply family is called P2, and it includes six PSUs with capacities ranging from 650W to 1600W. All six models address enthusiasts who don't mind paying a little more for an 80 Plus Platinum-certified PSU. Like most high-end EVGA PSUs, the P2s are based on Super Flower's Leadex platform, so we expect them to offer high performance.
In today's review, the 850 P2 will have to contend with our Chroma load testers. This is an ideal PSU for a system with two graphics cards, so long as they don't need more than 300W of power each. It will easily support a couple of GeForce GTX 980 Tis, along with a potent CPU. Besides Platinum efficiency, the 850 P2 also features fully modular cabling and a semi-passive mode that can be turned off. Additionally, EVGA backs its product up with a 10-year warranty, which is the longest you'll find covering a PSU.
Without a doubt, this P2 model has excellent specifications, and given our experience with its smaller sibling, the 650 P2, we're pretty sure it will perform well.
Another one of this platform's strengths is its low noise output, even under tough conditions. If you have the ECO (semi-passive) mode enabled, then you won't hear a thing under light and moderate loads. The Japanese caps are a strong asset to this unit's features, since they imbue the design with higher reliability. Electrolytic capacitors that don't use high-quality electrolyte might register good performance initially, but after a short time their performance drops, negatively affecting ripple filtering. Japanese caps typically use high-quality electrolyte, so they age more slowly than Taiwanese and Chinese caps.
Specifications
As mentioned, this PSU features Platinum efficiency and modular cabling. In addition, it can deliver its full power continuously at up to 50 °C, so it can handle tough conditions without faltering. We did notice that over-temperature protection is missing, though. This is an important feature that shouldn't be absent, especially in a high-end PSU with a semi-passive mode. A double ball-bearing fan kicks in when active cooling becomes necessary. Finally, the 850 P2's dimensions are quite compact for an 850W PSU, so you won't have compatibility problems with any normal ATX case.
Power Specifications
| Rail | 3.3V | 5V | 12V | 5VSB | -12V | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max. Power | Amps | 20 | 20 | 70.8 | 2.5 | 0.5 |
| Watts | 100 | 849.6 | 12.5 | 6 | ||
| Total Max. Power (W) | 850 |
The minor rails are on the weak side; they can deliver only 100W max combined power. Still, that should suffice for any modern system. We would like to see a stronger 5VSB rail with at least 3A maximum current output. The +12V rail, which is what matters the most, can deliver the PSU's full power on its own, as is the case on all units that feature DC-DC converters for generating the minor rails.
Cables And Connectors
| Modular Cables | ||
|---|---|---|
| Description | Cable Count | Connector Count (Total) |
| ATX connector 20+4 pin (600mm) | 1 | 1 |
| 4+4 pin EPS12V (700mm) | 2 | 2 |
| 6+2 pin PCIe (700mm) | 2 | 2 |
| 6+2 pin PCIe (700mm) / Six-pin PCIe (+150mm) | 2 | 2 / 2 |
| SATA (550mm+100mm+100mm) | 2 | 6 |
| SATA (550mm+100mm+100mm+100mm) | 1 | 4 |
| Four-pin Molex (550mm+100mm+100mm+100mm) | 1 | 4 |
| FDD Adapter (+100mm) | 1 | 1 |
The PSU is equipped with two EPS and six PCIe connectors (two of which are six-pin connectors; the rest are 6+2-pin). Since this is a higher-capacity PSU, we'd like to see all of the PCIe connectors with 6+2 pins. It seems that EVGA didn't want any problems in case someone tried to drive three Tahiti- or Fiji-based Radeon cards with this supply. Taking into account that a stock R9 290 4GB consumes up to 320W in a worst-case scenario, we can understand that sentiment.
The PSU has 10 SATA and four-pin Molex connectors, along with a floppy (Berg) adapter. Cable length is sufficient, and the distance between the SATA connectors seems ideal since hard drives are usually installed close to each other. On the other hand, the distance between four-pin Molex connectors should be at least 13-15cm, since peripheral devices like case fans are typically farther apart. In order to lower voltage drops, EVGA equips the 24-pin ATX, EPS and PCIe connectors with thicker, 16-gauge wires, while the other connectors use standard 18-gauge wires.
Power Distribution
Since this PSU features a single +12V rail, we do not have anything to say about its power distribution.
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