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.
This is a low-end power supply from EVGA, which might be affordable. Still, with such low performance and efficiency, you should consider paying a bit more and get a Bronze unit instead of a White. The era of group regulated PSUs has passed, thankfully.
It is a shame that the protection features don't work well since the high over current protection at 12V and the highly set over power protection can easily kill this power supply under increased operating temperatures. There is over-temperature protection, at least, which is essential to any power supply. Another let down was the high EMI emissions, which can affect any electronics device in the same network.
We wonder how this unit is sold in several regions, including Europe, where EMI emissions should not exceed the corresponding limits or else the product is not even allowed to be imported. Most manufacturers can get EMI reports from third-tier labs, though, or just test Golden samples and overcome this obstacle. As a sidenote, EVGA did not provide the sample we evaluated, but we bought it ourselves, so it is what a regular customer will find in the stores.
The EVGA 650 N1 is a fine example of what you get when you cheap out on the PSU. You might have a super high-end graphics card and a powerful CPU. Still, these two will be tied to the PSU's operation and will be affected, of course, if the power supply doesn't provide stable and clean rails. Even for lower-end systems, it is highly preferred to use a good PSU over a cheap one.
If you are looking for an affordable 650W power supply, currently, the available options are limited because prices are sky-high. The Corsair VS650 and CV650 have the same price as the EVGA 650 N1, during some periods, and an even better option is the Corsair CX650. If you want to go for a high-end Bronze unit, you should look at the Cooler Master MWE Bronze 650 or the Corsair CX650F.
MORE: Best Power Supplies
MORE: How We Test Power Supplies
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
MORE: All Power Supply Content
Disclaimer: Aris Mpitziopoulos is Tom's Hardware's PSU reviewer. He is also the Chief Testing Engineer of Cybenetics and developed the Cybenetics certification methodologies apart from his role on Tom's Hardware. Neither Tom's Hardware nor its parent company, Future PLC, are financially involved with Cybenetics. Aris does not perform the actual certifications for Cybenetics.
Aris Mpitziopoulos is a contributing editor at Tom's Hardware, covering PSUs.
-
Archaic59 Just another POS on the endless pile that we have to warn people about. Who could even use it? It's not for a gaming system and how many people really need 650 watts in a home office system? I remember when I used to recommend EVGA power supplies regularly. Yeah, the Super Flower days, which are long gone. RIP EVGA.Reply -
DSzymborski In fairness, even when EVGA had PSUs made by Super Flower and SeaSonic, the N series still totally sucked then as well.Reply -
maxamillionfeettall "EVGA states that the PSU's fan has a sleeve bearing, but I broke it apart and found an inferior rifle bearing."Reply
Rifle bearing is just a modified sleeve bearing and is superior to plain sleeve bearings iirc. It's even stated in the psu 101 article, so idk why it's stated as inferior to plain sleeve bearing this time around.