EVGA decided to cooperate with Seasonic as well, aside from Super Flower and FSP, to further enrich their already large portfolio of PSU products. While this is surely a good thing since it offers a wider range of options to their customers, it can also confuse since there are currently two low- and mid-capacity EVGA lines with identical characteristics and similar price tags. I am referring to the G2 and GS lines that include 550 W and 650 W models. The G2 units utilize Super Flower's high-end Leadex Gold platform while the lower capacity GS units use a new Seasonic platform that looks to be a modified version of the platform used in Seasonic's budget G series line. While both lines are priced similarly, this gives the G2 units an edge since they use a high-end platform with better overall performance, and a longer warranty. This doesn't mean that the 650 GS unit I evaluated today isn't a good choice for a mid-level system; however, I strongly believe that the 650 G2 is a better bang-for-the-buck product. I recently evaluated its smaller brother, the 550 G2, and its performance was significantly higher than the 550 GS, so I am pretty sure that exactly the same applies to the 650 G2 and 650 GS units.

Given this is a Seasonic design, I expected much lower ripple on especially the +12V rail, a rail most system components utilize heavily; the reason behind the 650 GS's low overall performance score is the 60 mV ripple I measured on this rail. Seasonic has repeatedly proven that they have mastered the art of ripple suppression; however, this platform's ripple suppression cannot compete with Super Flower's corresponding offerings. I expect Seasonic to revise the platform, and the sooner this design can offer less than 20 mV ripple at +12V, the better of it will be. The 650 GS did pretty well in every other performance metric since it easily delivered its full power under very tough conditions and was very efficient. Only the fan's noise once the unit had been stressed might bother some of you, and given this platform's high efficiency, Seasonic could afford to make this PSU's passive mode last longer. When it comes to having a unit operate silently, Seasonic's approach loses to Super Flower's design mostly because Seasonic uses smaller diameter fans with their PSUs, and smaller fans have to rotate at higher speeds for the same amount of airflow. This at least makes the lower capacity GS units nosier than SF's corresponding offerings, and the G2 units operate passively for longer.

The 650 GS is without a doubt a very good PSU, but it could be much better if only the platform's ripple at +12V were lower. This EVGA unit's main competitor is, strangely enough, another EVGA model that comes with a longer warranty and the same price tag, so you would probably only prefer the 650 GS over the 650 G2 if you are a huge fan of Seasonic's designs. In my opinion, EVGA should lower the price of the 650 GS and 550 GS in order to increase the performance-per-buck ratio, which would make them more appealing. However, I don't even know if such is possible since Seasonic isn't a cheap OEM and these units use expensive components, which drives production cost up quite high. Whatever the case, EVGA's people need to find a way to resolve the internal competition between their 550 W and 650 W G2 and GS units.