I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

[c_hegge]

OK, so a friend recently asked my advice on a few upgrades to his PC. He wanted a GTX970 and a more appropriate PSU than his 300 Watter. My suggestion for the PSU was one of these - http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014/...3#.VdhcvJfcCMU. Overkill, but there are no decent 500W 80plus gold PSUs on the market here, and this one should be a reliable unit with Jap caps and a decent fan, right? Well, no. once I got the PSU, I peaked though the fan grill, and although it had NCCs on the 5vsb, the rest are all... wait for it... CapXon!. Nice one EVGA (not)! Put NCC in all of the units the reviewers get and give everyone else CapXon. Well, I sure am glad it has a 10 year warranty.

[Stefan Payne]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

Well, if no one really tests those things from the dealer (or at least takes a look at them with the dealer around), those things happen...

Wellk, you're in the asia pacific region so you sometimes have other models, still not good that is...

The question is: Do all of these have CapXon now or not?

[TELVM]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

You need to be careful in selecting the correct EVGA model, they're capitalizing on the success of the Supernovae G2 and P2 to sneak in similarly named but inferior models (also apparently they just can't pump out enough G2 and P2 to meet the huge demand).

... there are no decent 500W 80plus gold PSUs on the market here ...

Paradoxically also from EVGA, awesome bang for the buck:

EVGA Supernova G2 550W review

^ Look at the +12V ripple.


P.S.: Just don't peel off the cable ends ...

[Wester547]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

They should have included a lifetime warranty when they sold that one. And maybe a soldering iron too. I think this goes to show that they will be cheap whenever they can, no exceptions. Kind of like how Bestec interchangeably use NCC KZE and CapXon KF in the same power supply!

[shovenose]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

Kind of like how Bestec interchangeably use NCC KZE and CapXon KF in the same power supply!

That's hilarious - so you either get a really great PSU or a total piece of crap!

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

the evga supernova g2 series is actually an oem unit from superflower's leadex gold series. they use all jap caps (NCC KZE) on the psu mainboard but third tier capxons on the modular cable panel.

[Stefan Payne]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

That's hilarious - so you either get a really great PSU or a total piece of crap!

Well, CapXon isn't that bad - if used correctly. The problem with those caps ist that sometimes they are used in an unfavourable enviroment...

Kinda like Delta and Ltec caps. They get away with it because they know those caps and treat them accordingly...
And that's the biggest problem with those caps. We don't know if they are treated properly.

And of course those 'japanese' caps endure that longer because they are most probably better caps - and (a little bit) more expansive...

[goodpsusearch]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

Capxon are THAT bad

[c_hegge]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

Well, CapXon isn't that bad - if used correctly...

They are hit and miss in my experience. Usually, they will fail within 5 years regardless of how kindly you treat them. On rare occasions, though, you can get a batch like what my old Samsung monitor had - 10 years of use with no fan and a slightly heat-darkened PCB, and they were all fine (although I still recapped it as a precaution before I sold it). I will emphasize again, though, that it is the exception. I've recapped plenty of similar monitors which did fail with the same caps (CapXon KF) which weren't as old.

Regardless of the quality, though, it's still deceptive of EVGA to give the reviewers NCCs so that they get good reviews and give the customers anything less.

EVGA Supernova G2 550W review[/url]

^ Look at the +12V ripple.


P.S.: Just don't peel off the cable ends ...

That would have been nice, but it's not available here. The market for high quality <650W PSUs is really not that well covered here. Something S12G-based would have been nice (like the Seasonic G-550 or Antec TruePower Classic 550W), but PC CaseGear don't have any of them.

[TELVM]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

Don't know about availability in Australia and it's just Bronze (passive +12V rectification & DC-DC) but this one is also great value for money:

Uncle Tom's: Antec VPF 650W Review

Delta OEM, no bling-bling, jap caps all over (except one Samxon). Here around you can get it for just 68€.

[Behemot]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

Seasonic golden units are not that great either. Though they are working on it and there are supposedly more changes coming…

[goodpsusearch]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

Why that? Seem great to me

[Behemot]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

Besides G-360 and SSP-350GT which are different platform, they
- have high ripple
- have stupid fan profile and are noisier than most comparable units
- their OPP is not working much

[goodpsusearch]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

- still in specs
- don't care at all
- bad, but not possible to reach that point in normal use

[c_hegge]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

-wrong. The ripple is not just in spec, but it is in spec by a large margin
-wrong. They are actually very quiet - almost inaudible - under normal loads
-Only on certain batches and models. The S12Gs I and Hardware Secrets tested all had properly configured OPP

Considering that they were about the only 80plus gold <600W units available here with 100% Jap caps, they were an excellent option until the main retailers all stopped selling them.

[goodpsusearch]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

They were never available here in Greece anyway or worse, they were insanely overpriced...

[Behemot]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

I have consistently very bad ripple results from this platform so that is no coincidence. Your stingray O-scope has 250 kHz badwidth and 100 kS rate. That is so out of spec man, with that badwidth you may have only saw just 1.25 % of the overall ripple (in extreme theoretical case, OFC in reality it was much better) - Intel spec clearly says the badwidth to be upper-limited to 20 MHz. You got 250 kHz, you had no chance to see huge part of that. And that HF noise is EXACTLY where the problem is here as even my O-scope probes act as antennas here as I have seen over and over.

You have strange standard sir when everybody who loaded that thing with proper load will tell you it is as loud as air-fighter which is also consistent with TPU fan-speed measurement and that I can hear that thing even over my insanely loud load. It may be good until say 50% load, but what is the point of buying high-end unit with japanese caps which you can basically only load up to 50 % before it tears your ears off?

You with Gabe were most likely the only one beside me who even tried overloading. You used different set up so you may have just not found the problem, I blasted out three units, you say it does not happen? ORLY?

You got many Silverstone units on your market. You have Antec TruePower Classic on your market if you love that terrible S12G platform so much. You HAVE G and S12G OFC as well as tens other units so what the hell are you complaining about man? Have you even tried using search engine?

[c_hegge]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...index&cPath=15 - that's my list there. I only use PCCG. They are one of very few that have halfway decent service and aren't too overpriced.

The thing is, though, that, even if those are real issues, they pale into insignificance compared to not using 100% Jap caps. I'll happily take an S12G over anything that is quieter and has better ripple suppression, but is packed with Teapo and Capxon. The S12G is NOT a terrible platform. Terrible is what I would call PSUs that featured in the el-cheapo roundup. If it does it's rating in spec, it is NOT by any means terrible.

[goodpsusearch]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

The thing is, though, that, even if those are real issues, they pale into insignificance compared to not using 100% Jap caps. I'll happily take an S12G over anything that is quieter and has better ripple suppression, but is packed with Teapo and Capxon.

This.

[Behemot]

Re: I've just lost all confidence in EVGA PSUs

The thing is, though, that, even if those are real issues, they pale into insignificance compared to not using 100% Jap caps. I'll happily take an S12G over anything that is quieter and has better ripple suppression, but is packed with Teapo and Capxon. The S12G is NOT a terrible platform. Terrible is what I would call PSUs that featured in the el-cheapo roundup. If it does it's rating in spec, it is NOT by any means terrible.

I am not sure of that anymore. For me, I do not care, I can recap it if it goes bad after warranty.

For anybody else? The fact is these days PSUs go bad more for feedback problems than bad caps (not talking about the worst craps here) - how many units with both japanese and chinese caps I have seen and the problem was not in caps? Besides FSP units notorious for failing caps, 90 % problems are NOT cap related anymore. And having bad caps but five-year warranty, five years is long enough to seriously consider that. This of course goes up to some level, really expensive unit having chinese caps, that is just *wrong*. But for example the case of Supremo M1 Gold which just dropped in price after my recommendation and it is basically mainstream unit now - I would take it any day of the week over G-550.

Anyway one shop dropping the supplies from their offer is definitelly not removing them from your market…