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.
Load Regulation, Hold-Up Time & Inrush Current
To learn more about our PSU tests and methodology, please check out How We Test Power Supply Units.
Primary Rails And 5VSB Load Regulation
Load Regulation testing is detailed here.
Hold-Up Time
Our hold-up time tests are described in detail here.
The hold-up time we measured is much lower than the 17ms we wanted to see. At least EVGA's power-good signal was accurate.
Inrush Current
For details on our inrush current testing, please click here.
Observed inrush current was high under 115V and 230V inputs. Obviously, the NTC thermistor is too small.
Load Regulation And Efficiency Measurements
The first set of tests reveals the stability of the voltage rails and the PSU’s efficiency. The applied load equals (approximately) 10 to 110 percent of the PSU's maximum load in increments of 10 percentage points.
We conducted two additional tests. During the first, we stressed the two minor rails (5V and 3.3V) with a high load, while the load at +12V was only 0.1A. This test reveals whether a PSU is compatible with Intel's C6/C7 sleep states or not. In the second test, we determined the maximum load the +12V rail could handle with minimal load on the minor rails.
| Test # | 12V | 5V | 3.3V | 5VSB | DC/AC (Watts) | Efficiency | Fan Speed | PSU Noise | Temps (In/Out) | PF/AC Volts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.941A | 1.969A | 1.974A | 0.975A | 44.757 | 77.194% | 1090 RPM | 26.9 dB(A) | 32.03°C | 0.688 |
| 11.939V | 5.077V | 3.337V | 5.127V | 57.980 | 36.05°C | 115.32V | ||||
| 2 | 4.891A | 2.956A | 2.967A | 1.172A | 89.294 | 83.015% | 1282 RPM | 33.2 dB(A) | 32.74°C | 0.870 |
| 11.940V | 5.074V | 3.336V | 5.119V | 107.564 | 37.21°C | 115.26V | ||||
| 3 | 8.254A | 3.446A | 3.448A | 1.370A | 134.418 | 85.044% | 1405 RPM | 34.9 dB(A) | 33.19°C | 0.961 |
| 11.923V | 5.080V | 3.335V | 5.110V | 158.057 | 38.14°C | 115.20V | ||||
| 4 | 11.628A | 3.934A | 3.960A | 1.568A | 179.647 | 85.522% | 1460 RPM | 35.7 dB(A) | 33.84°C | 0.965 |
| 11.906V | 5.085V | 3.333V | 5.102V | 210.060 | 39.61°C | 115.14V | ||||
| 5 | 14.646A | 4.922A | 4.950A | 1.767A | 224.945 | 85.417% | 1548 RPM | 38.3 dB(A) | 34.52°C | 0.978 |
| 11.911V | 5.080V | 3.332V | 5.093V | 263.348 | 41.34°C | 115.08V | ||||
| 6 | 17.593A | 5.913A | 5.946A | 1.967A | 269.444 | 85.130% | 1680 RPM | 39.8 dB(A) | 35.59°C | 0.986 |
| 11.916V | 5.074V | 3.330V | 5.085V | 316.508 | 42.99°C | 115.11V | ||||
| 7 | 20.609A | 6.904A | 6.940A | 2.167A | 314.747 | 84.589% | 1715 RPM | 41.1 dB(A) | 36.43°C | 0.990 |
| 11.919V | 5.070V | 3.329V | 5.077V | 372.091 | 45.35°C | 115.04V | ||||
| 8 | 23.624A | 7.895A | 7.934A | 2.368A | 360.086 | 83.829% | 1795 RPM | 41.6 dB(A) | 37.69°C | 0.993 |
| 11.924V | 5.066V | 3.327V | 5.068V | 429.547 | 48.29°C | 114.97V | ||||
| 9 | 27.081A | 8.381A | 8.417A | 2.369A | 404.988 | 83.079% | 1807 RPM | 41.7 dB(A) | 38.62°C | 0.995 |
| 11.908V | 5.072V | 3.326V | 5.067V | 487.471 | 50.41°C | 114.89V | ||||
| 10 | 30.474A | 8.866A | 8.933A | 2.470A | 449.704 | 82.096% | 1825 RPM | 41.9 dB(A) | 39.12°C | 0.996 |
| 11.895V | 5.077V | 3.325V | 5.061V | 547.778 | 53.91°C | 114.92V | ||||
| 11 | 34.307A | 8.850A | 8.936A | 2.471A | 494.510 | 81.313% | 1800 RPM | 41.7 dB(A) | 39.63°C | 0.997 |
| 11.872V | 5.086V | 3.324V | 5.060V | 608.154 | 55.15°C | 114.85V | ||||
| CL1 | 0.139A | 11.000A | 11.000A | 0.000A | 91.767 | 77.046% | 1765 RPM | 41.5 dB(A) | 36.59°C | 0.924 |
| 12.388V | 4.850V | 3.336V | 5.151V | 119.107 | 44.14°C | 115.24V | ||||
| CL2 | 35.003A | 1.002A | 1.000A | 1.000A | 416.574 | 82.744% | 1740 RPM | 41.3 dB(A) | 38.67°C | 0.995 |
| 11.509V | 5.275V | 3.327V | 5.112V | 503.449 | 51.99°C | 114.88V |
Load regulation on the +12V rail was tight, and the same went for the other three rails as well. The PSU's low capacity helped this, as did the fact that we don't take the CL1 load regulation results into account.
Notice that, during the eleventh test, the fan's speed dropped. This was due to the +12V rail's notably lower voltage compared to our full load test. Since that rail powers the fan's control circuit, it is normal to see a small reduction in speed. Regardless, EVGA's fan profile is quite aggressive, just as we'd anticipate from a low-efficiency PSU.
The 450 BT satisfied the 80 PLUS Bronze requirements, even at the high operating temperatures that we used for benchmarking. Since EVGA only rates this unit at 30°C, we didn't exceed 40°C during our tests.
MORE: Best Power Supplies
MORE: How We Test Power Supplies
MORE: All Power Supply Content
Sabrent debuts 5GB/s Rocket Nano 2242 Gen 4 SSD — a good fit for Lenovo Legion Go, laptops, and NUCs
AMD takes CPU market share from Intel in desktops and servers, but Intel fights back in laptops
Stack Overflow bans users en masse for rebelling against OpenAI partnership — users banned for deleting answers to prevent them being used to train ChatGPT
