Turn off the Ad Banner   

To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu.

    -----------------------------------------------

     This story was printed from CdrInfo.com,

     located at http://www.cdrinfo.com.

    -----------------------------------------------

Appeared on: Monday, March 5, 2007
Spire SP-600W

1. Introduction

Choosing the right Power supply is not always an easy task. Today's PCs require additional power, especially if SLI or Crossfire VGA installations are used. Spire, a well respected manufacturer offering a variety of products, recently added a new lines of PSUs to the product list. In this review, we will sample a member of the "Rocketeer IV" line, a 600Watt PSU aimed at enthusiast users.

- Spire SP-600W - RockeTeer VI - SLI Series™

The new SpirePower series BTX / ATX Modular EZ-Cable Gaming power supplies, give even the most demanding PC users a way to keep cool. Housed in gunmetal titanium colored enclosures, these power supplies feature multiple, low-noise blue LED ball bearing fans to ensure smooth and silent operation in the workplace or at home. Whether it is work or play, business presentations or games, applications can take center stage because they no longer have to compete with typical PC cooling noise.

- Features

- Technical specifications       

2. Retail package

The retail package for the Spire Rocketeer IV 600Watt, costs around US$120~135. The retail package is complete and includes several cables, and goodies.

Opening the retail package, unveils another box inside,

which contains all the module power cables:

Underneath that, we find the printed manual and more goodies:

A power cable is present, cable ties as well:

The PSU itself is 150 x 140 x 86 mm, certified for ATX v2.03 standard. The PSU has a 120mm semi-translucent cooling fan which lights up blue when operating. Case modders will love the internal fan's bright blue LEDs for their cases, but we would like the option of a PSU without the LEDs as well :-).

The external gunmetal titanium enclosure is very impressive and adds points to the overall look and design. The PSU edges are smooth, so you can handle it without any worries. At the rear, there is the standard 8cm fan to blow out hot air.

On the side, we find a label with the PSU certifications, specs and ratings. As you can see, there are two +12V rails. This PSU has enough power to drive a fully loaded system with SLI or Crossfire setup.

The only cables from the PSU, are the 24pin power cable, and the two 4pin cables:

The PSU has connections for the remaining power feeds to HD or Optical Disc Drives for example. Here, you use the module cables supplied to connect devices as required, so there are no unused cables cluttering up the inside of your case. The picture below shows the ends that connect to the PSU for a couple of the cables available:

All cables are copper shielded & UV nylon sleeved. The shielding provides protection against noise spikes, and it looks and feels good, but it can be difficult to bend sometimes:

3. Photos

More pictures of this impressive PSU:

 

4. Tests

Testing a PSU is not easy. We simply loaded our system as much as we could, including an SLI setup with two Asus EN7900GS Top, and stress tested the system with extensive CPU+3D usage using 3D Mark 06 v1.0.2. Our test PC was as follows:

All PSU ratings were monitored with Everest Ultimate Edition v3.0 and plotted with Microsoft Excel. The following table lists the industry wide specifications for DC Output Voltage Regulation.

 

After running 3D Mark 06, the monitored outputs showed whether the PSU remained within specs:

A summary of the above graphs can be found in the following table:

Minimum
Maximum
Average
+3.3 V
V
3.34
3.36
3.35
+5 V
V
5.03
5.05
5.04
+12 V
V
12.10
12.35
12.25

The results are very good. All measurements are well within specs, even with the SLI setup.

5. Conclusion

The Spire Rocketeer IV SP-600W is a very good product, both in its specifications and under real life testing. It performed very well, supplying our test PC with stable voltages with very small deviations. With two PCI-E +12V lines, you can power up an SLI or Crossfire setup so you don't need to worry about future upgrades anytime soon. The 3 years warranty is another positive from Spire.

Overall, we cannot find any serious drawbacks with the Spire SP-600W Power Supply. The price of US$120~135 is right for this type of PSU and its intended use, it has a very nice design and finish, and it will light up the inside of any case.

- The Good

- The Bad



Home | News | All News | Reviews | Articles | Guides | Download | Expert Area | Forum | Site Info
Site best viewed at 1024x768+ - CDRINFO.COM 1998-2024 - All rights reserved -
Privacy policy - Contact Us .