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Spire RocKeteer VI 600W


Date
: 03/21/07 – 04:53:19 AM

Author
:

Category
: Power Supplies

Page 1 : Introduction

Manufacturer
: Spire

Price
: $122 @ Newegg

Spire was founded in 1991 as a company who was dedicated to producing high quality and reliable products. Today, Spire has grown and setup shop around the world including China, United States, Netherlands, UK, Germany, France, Taiwan, Japan and Brazil. Spire has grown to become a globally recognized leader in computer thermal solutions, power supplies and cases.

Among Spires extensive list of products, they also produce quite a few power supplies. Today we will be taking a look at the Spire RocKeteer VI 600W power supply which is SLI ready, modular, sports two blue LED cooling fans and housed in a dark grey titanium case.

Page 2 : Specifications

Here is what Spire has to say about the RocKeteer VI SP-600W power supply:

Main Features:

Intel BTX 1.0a & ATX 1.3 / 2.01 Specification Compliant
Supports Intel Pentium 4, AMD Sempron and Athlon 64
EMI Shielded VGA/HDD Power Connector
Modular EZ-Cable Power Connectors
Two Blue LED Dual Ball Bearing fans
3 Speed Variable Fan Speed Auto-Control
Completely Silent 10.0 dBA up to 45C / 113F
I/O Short Circuit & Overload Protection
Four SATA Power Connectors
Thermo Reactive Cooling System
Green power energy star
3 Year Warranty

While 600W may seem little in comparison to the onslaught of 850W+ we have taken a look at here and those available on the market, realistically 600W or 650W peak is more than enough for the vast majority of computer enthusiasts.

Taking a look at the label on the power supply, the UL number listed is: E130843 which is registered to Top Power!

Page 3 : Package and Contents

The RocKeteer 600W power supply is shipped inside a fairly large box.

Around the sides of the box various profile pictures of the power supply can be found along with key features.

The back of the box displays various wires and connectors along with a more in depth list of features.

Inside is a box of cables, Velcro wire ties, power cord, manual and the RocKeteer 600W power supply.

Besides the beautiful finish, and sleeved wires, this power supply is also modular!

Spire has chosen to use PCI Express molex connectors for the modular connectors, the ends are labeled in order to prevent confusion.

The wires are sleeved and wrapped in rubber tubing which looks great, however the wires arent exactly flexible.

The motherboard power connector isnt a 20 pin or a 24 pin connector; instead it is a 20+4 pin connector.

Next, lets take a look at the insides.

The insides are identical to the popular OCZ ModStream, in fact even the markings are identical; Top-T100-A Viking B-2. Does this mean this unit is just a 600W ModStream? Possibly!

Taking a look deeper, the RocKeteer 600W uses two Teapo 200V, 1200 uF capacitors in the primary stage.

In the secondary stage this unit uses an assortment of TMX and Asia X capacitors both of which are unfamiliar.

Page 4 : Testing and Performance

In order to simulate system load we will be using peltiers. The reason for this is because when using an actual computer system there is no way we could accurately measure how much load we are putting on the power supply without some very expensive equipment.

Both 12V rails will be attached to 192W equivalent of load drawing approximately 16A. The 3.3V and 5V rails will be attached to pelts which draw a total of around 20A. The combined total load of the 3.3V and 5V rails will total around 166W or 87% of the RocKeteer 600Ws peak capacity.

Prior to any official tests, the unit will run with no load for two weeks or approximately 336 hours at an operation temperature of 21°C (room temperature will vary throughout this period) as a burn in period. We will be running two sets of tests, a cold and a hot test. This is to reflect different conditions the power supply could potentially encounter within an enclosed system. Cold tests will be run with an exhaust temperature of 21°C and hot tests will be run with an exhaust temperature of 45°C. All temperature and voltage readings will be recorded with two separate digital multimeters.

Overall, this power supply performed fairly well. While these numbers arent by any means bad the DC output could have been more stable.

Page 5 : Installation

It would be a good idea to attach the wires after installing the power supply as the wires are fairly stiff and will get in the way.

Because of the inflexible wires, it will be especially hard to route wires behind drive bays and such.

Besides the wires, Spires RocKeteer 600W will have no trouble fitting into most cases.

One question that was continually bugging me was: is the tubing UV reactive? The RocKeteer resembled the ModStream in many ways, but did it have UV reactive wires as well?

Unfortunately, no the wires are not UV reactive.

Those of you with keener eyes may have noticed the vibrant green switch in the back labelled Turbo Fan Switch, throughout our testing we kept the turbo fan turned on in order to allow the power supply to perform its best, however it is not necessary.

Oddly enough, the turbo switch controls the 120mm fan- with the switch in its off position the only fan cooling the RocKeteer 600W is the silent 80mm in the back. Unlike the 80mm fan, the 120mm fan is far from silent! From a distance of 1m and 45 degrees from the power supply my Extech 407730 measured a continuous 42 DB.

This of course can be fixed with a bit of soldering, however the reason why Spire chose to use the 120mm as an auxiliary fan instead of the primary fan is questionable.

Page 6 : Conclusion

And now, we reach the end of yet another review here at Overclockers Online. The Spire RocKeteer SP-600W is a fairly well rounded power supply. While its performance isnt mind boggling or extraordinary, it does hold very well and performs very, very well. Not only does it perform well, but it also looks great! The silver sleeved wires in rubber tubing, blue molex connector and black titanium finish complement each other very well.

While this power supply has many strengths, there are a few noteworthy weaknesses. The main one being the extremely stiff wires! Unfortunately, as good as the wires look, stiffness still outweighs it. Most power supply manufacturers opt to use a single large fan with a perforated back panel, this design is very effective and quiet. Because Spire has chosen to use a 80mm fan in the back, this is not possible. Spires cooling design in this power supply could be improved, but under most circumstances, the 80mm fan itself is sufficient in cooling the power supply. With some simple modifications, one could re-wire the 120mm fan to run continuously at a lower voltage such as 5V thus decreasing noise and maintaining a quiet power supply.

Advantages

Good performance
Lots of power
Beautiful finish
Modular

Disadvantages

Can be loud
Very stiff wires

Overclockers Online would like to thank Spire for making this review possible.