Rosewill HIVE 650 W Power Supply Review

Introduction

The HIVE is the latest power supply series from Rosewill, and is available in 550 W, 650 W, and 750 W versions, featuring a partial modular cabling system, coming with the 80 Plus Bronze certification, and with the manufacturer promising that these units can deliver their labeled wattage at 40° C. Let’s see if the 650 W model is a good option.

The HIVE unit is manufactured by Sirfa/Highpower and is a rebranded Highpower DP-650 BR unit. As a matter of fact, it uses the same platform as the OCZ ZS Series 650 W, with the notable difference that the unit sold by OCZ doesn’t have a modular cabling system.

Figure 1: Rosewill HIVE 650 W power supply

Figure 2: Rosewill HIVE 650 W power supply

The Rosewill HIVE 650 W is 7.1” (160 mm) deep, using a 135 mm sleeve bearing fan on its bottom (Globe Fan RL4Z S1352512H). The OCZ ZS Series 650 W uses a ball-bearing model.

As mentioned, this unit has a modular cabling system with six connectors, two red for video card power cables and four black for peripheral and SATA power cables. The main motherboard cable and the ATX12V/EPS12V cable are permanently attached to the power supply, and they use nylon sleeves that come from inside the unit. This power supply comes with the following cables:

• Main motherboard cable with a 20/24-pin connector, 19.3” (49 cm) long, permanently attached to the power supply
• One cable with two ATX12V connectors that together form an EPS12V connector, 21.6” (55 cm) long, permanently attached to the power supply
• Two cables, each with one six/eight-pin connector for video cards, 18.1” (46 cm) long, modular cabling system
• Two cables, each with four SATA power connectors, 18.1” (46 cm) to the first connector, 5.9” (15 cm) between connectors, modular cabling system
• Two cables, each with two standard peripheral power connectors and one floppy disk drive power connector, 18.1” (46 cm) to the first connector, 5.9” (15 cm) between connectors, modular cabling system

All wires are 18 AWG wires, which is the minimum recommended gauge.

The cable configuration is excellent for a 650 W power supply, with two video card power connectors and eight SATA power connectors. On the other hand, there are only four peripheral power connectors, the cables are somewhat short, and you may have trouble using this power supply in some full-tower cases.

Figure 3: Cables

Let’s now take an in-depth look inside this power supply.