Introduction

We would like to thank EVGA for supplying the review sample.



With lots of incredibly interesting offers that cover all market segments from mainstream to the incredibly high-end, EVGA has established itself in a rather short period when it comes to PSUs. We reviewed one of their more recent additions to the G2 line, the G2-750, and it left us fully satisfied with its performance and features. EVGA also sent us its bigger brother, the G2-850, which was released at the same time and is based on exactly the same Super Flower platform, but has 100 W more capacity.

The G2-850 features Gold efficiency, which will save you a lot of money on your electricity bill, and exploits a fully modular cabling design to make installing and routing cables a breeze. It also promises to be incredibly reliable because its modern platform uses components of high quality, like Japanese capacitors, and comes with a stunning ten year warranty, currently the longest period of any company. We should note that you have to register your product within 30 days after the purchase to make use of the warranty. It also can't be transferred to another owner should you decide to sell the PSU, and owners must have a valid invoice in hand to claim it. You will find more about EVGA’s terms of warranty here.

Specifications

The unit is 80 Plus Gold compliant because it uses a slightly less efficient version of the normal Platinum Leadex platform, fully modular, and Haswell ready, so it fully supports the new sleep states (C6 and C7) Intel introduced with its Haswell processors. As is expected of a well-performing PSU, it can deliver its full power continuously at up to 50°C ambient and comes with many protections, although OTP (Over Temperature Protection) is missing. A PSU that includes a semi-passive operation should, in our opinion, always come with OTP.

Vital to EVGA since the company offers a whopping ten year warranty, the cooling fan uses ball-bearings, which should have it last a while. This PSU is a little larger than normal, but almost any ATX case will accommodate it without a problem, and its price is in line with offers by the competition.

The single +12V rail is powerful as it can nearly deliver 71 A, which is enough to easily power even three high-end VGAs. The minor rails are also strong enough to cope with just about anything you might want to integrate into your build, although the 5VSB rail should be a little stronger for a PSU of this category and wattage.

Cables & Connectors, Power Distribution

EVGA equipped its PSU with an adequate number of cables. Owner will have six PCIe and two EPS connectors available to them at the same time. There are also enough SATA and peripheral connectors to cover the needs of a high-end system.

Cable length is good, with the ATX and EPS cables quite long enough to avoid compatibility issues with large cases and the distance between SATA connectors spot on. However, we can't say the same about the distance between peripheral connectors as they are only separated by 10 cm. Devices fed by these connectors are usually placed further apart from one another. All connectors use standard AWG18 gauges for good flexibility and voltage drops that are low enough.

Since this PSU features a single +12V rail, we do not have anything to comment on when it comes to its power distribution.

Packaging

The box is identical to the one used with the G2-750. In the middle of the front are the model and series descriptions, on a black backdrop with the 80 Plus Gold badge residing in the bottom-left corner.


On one of the two sides only, EVGA's name is depicted. The other side is covered in EVGA's usual marketing slogan using nearly every EVGA product.


The box features a plastic handle to make your life easier should you want to move it around.


The rear is covered in some interesting information, including a features list and a table that depicts all available cables and connectors. Three photographs here also cover the unit's most crucial features: the silent ball-bearing fan, its Japanese capacitors, and the fully modular cabling design. The right side of the back holds a graph that details the fan's speeds in semi-passive mode and the power specifications table.

Contents

Inside the box, two Styrofoam sheets and a cloth bag protect the PSU well. EVGA's cloth bag is definitely a novelty in this price segment.


The bundle is pretty rich and includes a pouch you can store all unused modular cables in, some Velcro straps, a set of fixing bolts, the AC power cord, the user's manual, and an ATX-bridging plug that will come in handy should you want to test or activate components, like a water-cooling pump, without firing up the system.


The user's manual is common to both the G2-750 and G2-850 and contains some pretty useful information.


Since very low currents will pass through it, the FDD adapter uses thin wires, and the main ATX cable is flexible enough because it uses standard 18AWG gauges.


All cables are stealth, which means that all of their wires are black.


Cable quality is decent; however, we would definitely prefer it if EVGA were to use flat, ribboned cables instead.