Rosewill Hive 550W
by Martin Kaffei on March 17, 2012 9:42 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- PSUs
- 550W
- 80Plus Bronze
- Rosewill
- Hive
Conclusion
The Hive 550W is the first product from Rosewill we've tested. It provides an acceptable voltage regulation and quality. We like the look more than the design from other Sirtec models, and even better is that the Hive 550W is available for about $70. That's a decent value for a good all-around PSU, which is similar to most other solutions in this performance class.
The power supply uses a well known layout from Sirtec, and it's a cheaper design. The PSU is nothing special, corresponding to what we have seen in many other models. The EMI filtering is well equipped, and a varistor in the entrance is a good idea. All cables should be protected with heatshrinks, and while some of them are we would like to see the others protected as well. The relatively low-end Teapo capacitors on the secondary side are acceptable for a PSU in this range, while the fan is pretty low-end as well. Rosewill promised to use a Japanese main capacitor but this time they used Teapo.
As our test shows, the power supply can provide the rated output without any complications. The efficiency at 5% could be somewhat higher, but few will notice the loss of a few extra watts. The voltage regulation on our crossload test 1 (+3.20% at +5V) could also be better, but all results are still within ATX specification. The ripple and noise voltage is always low on +5V and +3.3V, and the power factor is high at all loads and input voltages.
The package includes all the important accessories for installation and a user guide. All the cables have lengths of 45cm or more, so this PSU will work well in most cases. It includes two PCIe connectors and 16 peripheral ones (8 SATA + 6 Molex + 2 FDD), plus a very long CPU cable. The black cable sleeving is quite cheap. Apart from that the black finish of the case and those unusual ventilation holes on the top look well.
All in all, the Rosewill Hive 550W is a decent mainstream PSU. It doesn't have any special features beyond respectable voltage quality and a remarkable case design. The Hive's strongest competition comes from XFX. The Core Edition PRO550W comes with Japanese capacitors but without modular cables. Furthermore Seasonic offers a very good PSU with 520W (M12II 520 Bronze) which is probably the best solution in this price range. Seasonic provides Japanese capacitors and modular connectors. However, the modular Rosewill Hive 550W is still an attractive offer when money is tight.
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ggathagan - Sunday, March 18, 2012 - link
bathotropic is trying to say:"I'm too ignorant to realize that someone whose first language is not English has a higher chance of making a slight spelling mistake.
Even thought the word is spelled correctly when used the second time in the same sentence, I have no life and want to convince myself that I'm superior to others by pointing out inconsequential errors."
Translation: bathotropic is trying to say:"I'm an a$$hat who acts like a third-grader because I'm on the Internet."
AnnonymousCoward - Sunday, March 18, 2012 - link
Thanks for clarifying.benedict - Monday, March 19, 2012 - link
This PSU is too expensive for what it's offering. Besides, ignoring the marketing, this is really a 450W PSU, not a 550W one.I'm curious what FSP has to offer in that market segment. They used to have really good low and middle-end offerings.
Onus - Tuesday, March 20, 2012 - link
Since Martin ran it up to 110% where it remained efficient and well in spec, and it did not choke, smoke, and croak, I'm not sure I understand why you are asserting that this is only a 450W PSU. Rosewill may have wrecked its PSU reputation a dozen years ago by selling junk, and the tech world has a long memory, but Rosewill seems to have cleaned up its act in recent years.The outright lie about the Japanese cap does concern me, but that could be a lie from Sirtec to Rosewill as easily as a lie from Rosewill to consumers; hopefully they can beat their supplier into submission on this one. Iirc, Sirtec was the OEM on some of OCZ's more questionable offerings, that started out well enough, but didn't hold up; this could be another like those.
benedict - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - link
Quite simple really, 12V output is 456W, not 550. If you take a look at quality PSUs you'll see their 12V output is almost the same as the advertised wattage of the PSU. If I make you a PSU with 500W on the 3.3V line and 100W on the 12V line and mark it as 600W will you put it in any pc? Fact is, all modern power hoggers in a pc, the CPU and GPU both consume 12V and that's what mostly matters. If you make a PSU with 450W output on the 12V line then mark it as 450W, anything higher is misleading.benedict - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - link
Also, Martin has just reviewed 2 more PSU's from Rosewill, note how their 12V output matches the power rating this time.thetrystero - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - link
Can you please elaborate on how you arrived at the 456 figure? Was it by a P=I*V calculation? I could not find that figure anywhere in the article.zero2dash - Monday, March 19, 2012 - link
Being NewEgg's house brand and generally low priced, I can't say I'd trust EVERY Rosewill product out there, but they do have some that are nice and worth consideration.Recently I put together a system with one of their Green series PSU's after reading the Hardware Secrets review....was going to go with the RG530-S12 but then there was a promo on the RG630-S12 putting it cheaper so I went with that instead (fairly easy decision to make...more juice for less $). Anyway it's been a solid PSU and I've heard no complaints from my customer. IMHO it certainly beats the Corsair CX line of which I've had no luck getting one that didn't have coil whine (and therefore I've quit using them).
Finding a reliable lower wattage PSU around the $50 range that isn't junk is getting hard.
samuraid - Monday, March 19, 2012 - link
Right at the start of the article: "In fact this is the frist time we test a PSU from this company"Frist -> First
Ryude85 - Tuesday, May 1, 2012 - link
This psu sells for $44.99 with free shipping on newegg, all the time. At that price, its the best bang for your Buck.