An Overclock.net member, "shilka", posted late last month over the failure of power protection in EVGA's SuperNova B3 power supplies, specifically the 450 and 850 W models. This adds to the concerns first raised by Tom's Hardware, one of whose review units created fireworks. Normally, for a product that has been on the market for some time, as the B3 series has, one could chalk up such incidents to a faulty batch. But it appears that might not be the case, considering JonnyGuru also reviewed EVGA's B3 and did not encounter any fire hazards.
It has subsequently emerged that the sample provided by EVGA to JonnyGuru was manufactured by Super Flower, whose Leadex platform is well known for its performance and high quality. Aris of Tom's Hardware (and TechPowerUp), however, bought their review sample from a retail outlet. The manufacturing of the latter had been outsourced to RSY, with (in this case) a resulting decline in build quality. It remains unclear whether Super Flower outsourced its production, or if EVGA is using multiple suppliers or switched manufacturers all together. Regardless, lesser quality PSUs would appear to be in stores in comparison to what was reviewed at JonnyGuru, arguably the most influential review site for PSUs.
After several days of silence, EVGA made a boilerplate statement (to Legitreviews):
"EVGA stands behind its full line of products, and the 5-Year Warranty on each B3 power supply demonstrates the confidence EVGA has in the quality and safety of each product shipped. If anyone has questions or concerns, please contact EVGA Customer Service and we are more than happy to assist. In the rare instance that a replacement unit is necessary, EVGA will support with a free Advanced RMA on all EVGA SuperNOVA B3 Power Supplies.
In addition, the EVGA SuperNOVA B3 review samples, as well as the production, were all built at the exact same qualified facility."
Does not exactly clear things up, does it? EVGA has a responsibility to ensure that its products remains consistent in features and performance across different production lines. The company has an excellent reputation for customer service, but offering to assist customers in those "rare instances" when "a replacement unit is necessary" is somewhat problematic. Not only is there no mention of coverage for hardware damaged by a malfunctioning PSU, but the SuperNova B3 line has been on the market for approximately six months now, so there are potentially a lot of units out there that might constitute a danger. On the other hand, these could be isolated cases as one would expect other reports of trouble to have emerged in the past six months.
Update (October 11, 2017): EVGA did respond to our email and provided the same statement seen above. In addition, they also mentioned they have not had a report of the PSUs going faulty under normal operating conditions, assured us that it would not, and they would stand by their warranty terms to where if it happens and affects other hardware (our query), they would review all the hardware as part of the RMA process.
View at TechPowerUp Main Site
It has subsequently emerged that the sample provided by EVGA to JonnyGuru was manufactured by Super Flower, whose Leadex platform is well known for its performance and high quality. Aris of Tom's Hardware (and TechPowerUp), however, bought their review sample from a retail outlet. The manufacturing of the latter had been outsourced to RSY, with (in this case) a resulting decline in build quality. It remains unclear whether Super Flower outsourced its production, or if EVGA is using multiple suppliers or switched manufacturers all together. Regardless, lesser quality PSUs would appear to be in stores in comparison to what was reviewed at JonnyGuru, arguably the most influential review site for PSUs.
After several days of silence, EVGA made a boilerplate statement (to Legitreviews):
"EVGA stands behind its full line of products, and the 5-Year Warranty on each B3 power supply demonstrates the confidence EVGA has in the quality and safety of each product shipped. If anyone has questions or concerns, please contact EVGA Customer Service and we are more than happy to assist. In the rare instance that a replacement unit is necessary, EVGA will support with a free Advanced RMA on all EVGA SuperNOVA B3 Power Supplies.
In addition, the EVGA SuperNOVA B3 review samples, as well as the production, were all built at the exact same qualified facility."
Does not exactly clear things up, does it? EVGA has a responsibility to ensure that its products remains consistent in features and performance across different production lines. The company has an excellent reputation for customer service, but offering to assist customers in those "rare instances" when "a replacement unit is necessary" is somewhat problematic. Not only is there no mention of coverage for hardware damaged by a malfunctioning PSU, but the SuperNova B3 line has been on the market for approximately six months now, so there are potentially a lot of units out there that might constitute a danger. On the other hand, these could be isolated cases as one would expect other reports of trouble to have emerged in the past six months.
Update (October 11, 2017): EVGA did respond to our email and provided the same statement seen above. In addition, they also mentioned they have not had a report of the PSUs going faulty under normal operating conditions, assured us that it would not, and they would stand by their warranty terms to where if it happens and affects other hardware (our query), they would review all the hardware as part of the RMA process.
View at TechPowerUp Main Site
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