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Review: EVGA 550 B5 PSU (550W)

by Tarinder Sandhu on 25 August 2020, 14:00

Tags: EVGA

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Conclusion

...Our numbers bear out the 550 B5 as a PSU that's competent in all areas.

The cost of PSUs has risen sharply as supply-side problems have surfaced. This puts system integrators and those looking for an entry-level build into a quandary as value is stretched.

It is to this backdrop that EVGA has revamped its 80 PLUS Bronze supplies with the release of the B5 series, promising higher efficiency and lower noise than the B3 predecessor.

Our numbers bear out the 550 B5 as a PSU that's competent in all areas - fully-modular cabling, efficiency, ripple suppression, temps, and noise - and close in electrical performance to a proven 80 PLUS Gold.

We'd prefer the better innards of the 750/850W models, but even priced at £80 for this 550W model, it's actually hard to beat the feature-set on offer here. Is it worth spending an extra £20 for, say, the 750W model that promises more of everything? That's a subjective call, but if keeping to a tight budget is top of your list, we'd certainly put the EVGA 550 B5 on your shortlist.

The Good
  
The Bad
Eco mode
80 PLUS Silver-like performance
Quiet at all times
  
Innards not as good as 750/850W
Second EPS connector preferable



EVGA 550 B5 550W

HEXUS.where2buy

The reviewed PSU can be purchased from Scan Computers*

HEXUS.right2reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.



*UK-based HEXUS community members are eligible for free delivery and priority customer service through the SCAN.care@HEXUS forum.


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Posted by Spud1 - Wed 26 Aug 2020 09:47
It's high time we moved away from 80-plus bronze PSUs imo and the industry starts to really standardise on 80+platinum as a minimum…the environmental impact of these lower efficiency PSUs is already rather large, and it's climbing the more computers & therefore PSUs that are out there.

Good quality 80+platinum PSUs were widely available over 10 years ago, offering 94%+ efficiency compared to the 80ish% that the Bronze PSUs offer. Yes you can argue about amount of copper/manufacturing costs, but like with EVs…the long term environmental benefits are worth it.

I am a fan of EVGA PSUs, but I would not be buying anything lower than a “80+Gold” in 2020, and ideally platinum when they come on sale.

edit: the “gold” version of this PSU (well actually, the G3 550w)… is £19 more (or less if you can find it on sale)- you'd likely save that much (if not more) in power usage over the life of the PSU, plus would be helping the environment overall ;)
Posted by goldstar0011 - Wed 26 Aug 2020 10:00
Was just thinking the same.

I saw LTT video on the new PSU design and connectors that bring efficiency right up, good times
Posted by Xlucine - Thu 27 Aug 2020 20:55
Spud1
It's high time we moved away from 80-plus bronze PSUs imo and the industry starts to really standardise on 80+platinum as a minimum…the environmental impact of these lower efficiency PSUs is already rather large, and it's climbing the more computers & therefore PSUs that are out there.

Good quality 80+platinum PSUs were widely available over 10 years ago, offering 94%+ efficiency compared to the 80ish% that the Bronze PSUs offer. Yes you can argue about amount of copper/manufacturing costs, but like with EVs…the long term environmental benefits are worth it.

I am a fan of EVGA PSUs, but I would not be buying anything lower than a “80+Gold” in 2020, and ideally platinum when they come on sale.

edit: the “gold” version of this PSU (well actually, the G3 550w)… is £19 more (or less if you can find it on sale)- you'd likely save that much (if not more) in power usage over the life of the PSU, plus would be helping the environment overall ;)

We're talking very marginal gains here. At 40 W there's 1.4 W between them at the wall, so assuming heavy use of 40 hours/week that's only 3 kWhrs/year - probably about 2 frozen pizzas worth. Assuming 20p/kWhr, you'll pay off the difference in a mere 3 decades. The difference in power goes up at higher loads of course, but only 4 W worth at 300 W as the efficiency also goes up (40 hours a week of gaming, that'll pay off the £19 in 11 years). ATX PSUs are ATX PSUs, for the most part.
Posted by th3_f15t - Tue 01 Sep 2020 13:34
Xlucine
We're talking very marginal gains here. At 40 W there's 1.4 W between them at the wall, so assuming heavy use of 40 hours/week that's only 3 kWhrs/year - probably about 2 frozen pizzas worth. Assuming 20p/kWhr, you'll pay off the difference in a mere 3 decades. The difference in power goes up at higher loads of course, but only 4 W worth at 300 W as the efficiency also goes up (40 hours a week of gaming, that'll pay off the £19 in 11 years). ATX PSUs are ATX PSUs, for the most part.

That's fair enough on a single-PC basis, but multiply this extra energy usage by the global numbers of ATX power supplies being run like this and we start to understand why every little really does help.
Posted by Spud1 - Tue 01 Sep 2020 14:04
th3_f15t
That's fair enough on a single-PC basis, but multiply this extra energy usage by the global numbers of ATX power supplies being run like this and we start to understand why every little really does help.

Exactly - I mean to reply last week and say the same, this is one of those simple changes that doesn't really affect you/cost you anything (Given the average lifespan of a PSU) but could make a big difference to the world's energy usage.

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