Date: June 12, 2006 - Author: Greg King - Editor: Rob Williams
Spire makes power supplies? We didn't realize this until recently, so we were more than happy to give one a run on our test bench. This is obviously a product with gamers in mind thanks to its SLi support. But wait... why only one PCI-E connector?
It's that time again boys and girls. Review time.
We at the Techgage labs have on the table today, the Spire RockeTeer V ' SLI Series SP-500W power supply. We have taken a look at a few Spire products in the past but this is our first power supply from them. We have also taken a look at many power supplies from other companies, so I am anxious to see how the latest offering from Spire stacks up with the rest.
I have long stressed to friends and strangers alike the importance of a quality power supply. The power supply is a strong foundation for anyone to build their PC on. I know that anyone that builds their own PC primarily builds around a processor or a video card and in most cases, both. The power supply is often over looked by many who use the included PSU in whatever case they decide to buy. Now there is nothing wrong in using a provided power supply but when you factor in all that a faulty PSU can take with it should it decide to die, ponying up the extra cash for a quality power supply doesn't really seem all that bad. Can said quality be found in this power supply from Spire? Can it hang with my humble SLI system?
Spire is not new to the computing world. Starting out in 1991, Spire has focused on computer cooling but has recently branched out into case and power supply manufacturing. They also manufacture external hard drive enclosures and fans as well. Being as diversified as Spire is, can they deliver a quality power supply when they all ready have so much on their plate to worry about? Let's find out.
Much like every other product from Spire that I have seen, the packaging is almost identical to the VertiCool II that I reviewed last week. The box is obviously larger, but has the same color scheme and characteristics. If it ain't broke...
Not much to it there. From the packaging, I have gathered that there are two fans on the power supply, different from the previous couple power supplies that I have evaluated. I am curious though, about how much of a difference this will make in sound produced.
Once opened, the SP-500W comes wrapped in bubble wrap to provide further protection from any shipping mishaps. You can also see the accessories that Spire included. These extras include zip ties, some colored ties that I would venture one could use for distinguishing between the cables, some screws for mounting and the ever necessary power cord. Also included were a manual and the cables.
The cables come in their own box and appear to be plenty. Let's take a look at what cables are provided.
As you can see in the last picture, there is a native 24 pin power connector but like most other power supplies, it allows you to remove the last 4 pins should you still use a 20 pin ATX motherboard. There is also an 8 pin power connector for Intel machines but can be separated into 2 separate 4 pin connectors for AMD systems. I like this approach and would like to see more companies adopt it in the future.
The power supply itself comes housed in a dark gray titanium casing that really stands out. There is the company logo stamped on the side, adding to the overall look of the unit.
On the back is an 80mm LED fan, the on/off switch and a special 'turbo fan switch.' Now, it might just be me but the name 'turbo fan switch' seems a bit silly but as long as it works, who cares.
On the bottom of the unit is also a 120mm LED fan. This fan turns on when the turbo fan switch is pressed to give added cooling when the power supply is working hard.
Now we see the power supplies bread and butter. The fact that this is a modular power supply is a nice selling point to many. I personally am a cable management freak, so having the ability to pick and choose what cables I need is appealing. Speaking of cables, the fact that every single one of them is wrapped makes me happy. Loose cables get the job done but look terrible at the same time. This is my personal opinion but I would venture to guess that many share this view. Here we see the modular connectors of the PSU. There are places for up to 8 cables, which should be enough for most anyone.
Before we get into testing of the SP-500W, let's take a look at some factory provided information.
There you have it, straight from the horses mouth. Now that you know about it on paper, let's get into the review and see what this has to offer.
The PC that I am using to test this power supply with is the same one that I have used in all of my past reviews. It's nothing too powerful, but certainly in need of power. Let's see how the Spire SP-500W holds up.
Now, as you can see, I have a pair of 7800 GTs. The SP-500W only comes with one PCI-E connector so I am going to have to take SLI out of the equation. The newer version of this power supply is SLI approved and does come with 2 PCI-E connectors. The same applies for the SATA connectors. This unit only came with one cable with 2 SATA connectors on it but units now shipping come with 2. This is clearly stated in the manual that was shipped with this power supply so I can't really hold this against Spire as they have changed their packaging to include these extra cables. This is also reflected on their web site.
Once everything was installed, the power supply and PC booted up as expected. Once in Windows, I began to record the rails of the SP-500W. I will record the rails using ITE SmartGuardian. There will be numbers from idle and load as we will see how the rails fluctuate and if so, how much they do.
To put strain on the power supply, I ran 2 instances of Pi on top of a 2GB file transfer and a loop of 3D Mark '05. So here we have the video card being pushed, the CPU being killed and the both hard drives spinning. This is quite a power draw so let's see how the 'RockeTeer' did.
The numbers speak for themselves. This power supply is rock stable across the board with minute fluctuations on any of the three rails. The Spire SP-500W fulfills my expectations and then some. To test out the PSU even further, I ran 3D Mark '05 in loop mode for 6 hours while I ran some errands in town with the 'turbo fan switch' off. The PSU did not crash, even with the 120mm fan on bottom turned off.
There is one complaint that I do have with the power supply, and that is the questionable plastic used in the connectors. In my Antec P180 case, there are some tight turns and the cables on this power supply are rather firm. The tension from the cable pulled the cord out of my hard drive at an angle, which caused a piece of the plastic broke off of the connector. This was noticed when the power supply was removed from my test bench. Other than that, I have no complaints about the unit. It did what it was supposed to do, and did it well. The rails were solid and did not fluctuate and even when being burdened for long periods of time with less than normal cooling, the unit did not fail or hiccup.
As stated earlier, there were many strong selling points on this power supply, namely the modular cables. This is my first modular power supply and I must say that it reminds me a lot of my friends Mod Stream. I would have no reservations at all in recommending this to anyone in the market for a new power supply.
All in all, this is a quality product. I am glad to see that Spire did their homework and produced a quality manufactured power supply. There are far too many companies that offer power supplies, that I would not wish on my worst enemy. It's a relief to see that Spire chose the high road and produced a quality unit.
When I called to figure out what was going on with the missing PCI-E connector I was on hold for all of 5 minutes and to me, that is an acceptable wait. I know people are busy and I appreciated only having to wait for a few minutes. Never did I mention that I was with a review site either, while waiting. I was only after words did I mention who I was with so I am confident that any end user with a problem would get the same amount of respect that I received from the fine folks at Spire.
After all is said and done, I like this power supply and I like the fact that Spire is continuing to produce quality products. After taking everything into consideration, I am giving the Spire SP-500W an 8 out of 10.
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