EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G3 PSU Review

[Guest]

EVGA refreshed its popular G2 PSU family with the G3 one using Super Flower's Leadex II platform. The 850 G3 is the second strongest member in this line-up, offering high performance and a depth of just 15cm.

EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G3 PSU Review : Read more

 

[envy14tpe]

Made by Super Flower? Love the quality SF produces. Can't wait to buy my new Leadex II.

 

[dstarr3]

Ahh, SuperFlower. I don't know why people buy anything else.

 

[powernod]

For those looking for an "80+ Gold efficient PSU", probably they won't have to look elsewhere. LeadexII seems amazing platform!!

 

[BugariaM]

Based on the information from EVGA site
Such an aggressive fan curve is only made on 1000W and 850W units of the G3 series
550W, 650W and 750W - have a much smoother relaxed curve

I'm curious, what is the fan curve for the 850W unit when the ECO mode is off? It is possible that in this mode it will be much quieter at normal load...

 

[damric]

That ripple... yum

 

[waylo]

Dangit. Just bought this yesterday, focusing on a quiet PSU, deciding on this over the G2 or P2 version. I know the quality will be there, but disappointed in the noise levels.

 

[WhyAreYou]

Very nice :O

 

[laviniuc]

great review!

 

[Virtual_Singularity]

Excellent, impressively thorough and professional review, as usual. Much appreciated.

 

[Stone Cold]

Ahh, SuperFlower. I don't know why people buy anything else.

So you are saying this PSU is miles better than the Seasonic prime?!

 

[powernod]

The reviewed PRIME series belong to a different category.
They are "Titanium effiency" while this one is "Gold". Seasonic will release Gold units as well, but they haven't been reviewed so far, so we have to wait and see first before we can start comparing.

 

[waylo]

Based on the information from EVGA site
Such an aggressive fan curve is only made on 1000W and 850W units of the G3 series
550W, 650W and 750W - have a much smoother relaxed curve

I'm curious, what is the fan curve for the 850W unit when the ECO mode is off? It is possible that in this mode it will be much quieter at normal load...

That's an interesting thought. I just received it yesterday. On ECO mode, it was silent up to a point, and then due to temperature probably (I was not stress testing anything) the fan revved up very dramatically. It easily became the loudest thing in my computer as it was a REALLY significant increase from baseline.

I'll be working on it for the next several days to decide if it's worth keeping. The tested efficiency in this review is great, but noise is a huge issue. I have it in a Fractal Design R5 specifically to keep that down!

 

[waylo]

Just as a follow-up, the loud 'catchup' fan noise came on while draw was @ 150W, which was essentially an idle situation. (This PSU is overpowered for what I need, as with the one game I tried my draw was only 350W).

Definitely wondering @crmaris if noise testing could be done with ECO settings turned on and off, for this and future reviews?

 

[PureBlackFire]

the fan profile on this is absolutely abysmal for a unit like this. why change to an FDB fan then have an even more aggressive fan profile, making the unit louder than the last generation products under load? this is just stupid. otherwise it's fine, but not sounding like a blower gpu under load is actually a competitive selling point on a psu these days.

 

[PureBlackFire]

why is the fan profile so aggressive on this unit? what's the point of them moving to an FDB fan if the unit is going to be louder than the last generation model? the performance otherwise is great of course, but not sounding like a blower gpu cooler is actually become a competitive selling point on power supplies lately. this fan profile on this unit is literally stupid and a failure on EVGA's part.

 

[Virtual_Singularity]

Meh... I agree with you, but Evga and superflower have to remain profitable while maintaining decent specs for this gold rated, low priced for the quality, compact sized psu. Aris is likely making a good point in re to requiring its aggressive fan profile to last throughout its 10 year warranty, also. For the overall performance, price & warranty, many will see this as a real bargain despite the noise and other listed cons.