Rosewill Capstone 450W and 650W 80Plus Gold
by Martin Kaffei on March 21, 2012 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- PSUs
- Rosewill
- Capstone
- 80 Plus Gold
Meet the Series
This is the second time we got power supplies from Rosewill. They gave us their best current series with 80Plus Gold and a robust looking case. While the 450W model comes without any modular plugs the 650W is a semi-modular version. Today we will test both to find out which one is the best solution.
Many people are happy with a decent computer that will handle their everyday tasks—nothing fancy, not too expensive, but just a good all-around build. Then there are the enthusiasts that we often hear from in our comments, looking for not just good but great components. Whether we're talking HTPCs, CPUs, GPUs, laptops, SSDs, etc. there are people out there that want the "best". With the Capstone series Rosewill wants to meet those requirements.
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Martin Kaffei - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
@adeceI tried to get some cheap PSUs but it's very difficult. Manufacturers won't give me samples. In addition I live in Germany so I can't buy local brands which are available in the USA.
But I had some cheap PSUs as well and some of them died spectacular. Others had no problems but efficiency and voltage regulation was quite bad. In addition the small number of connectors is always unfavorable.
4745454b - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
I agree to a point.First, if you meant the uber cheap/junk are fine you are way wrong. Those on newegg that advertise "up to 75% efficient" are the ones I'm talking about. If you are buying a 600W PSU for $20, there is something wrong.
Second, I to have mentioned that you don't need the 80Gold or platinum PSUs. Big difference in energy savings between "up to 75%" and 90%. Not so much when looking at 85% and 90%. The extra cost of moving to gold/plat isn't worth it yet. I personally feel that 80bronze is the sweet spot right now. Gold is quickly moving down in price however and some of them are looking good.
If you mean you don't need these super high end ones I'd agree. But there is no way I'd run of those cheapo's that weighs less less then my shoes.
Concillian - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
What I pay for power and what power my computer uses, the cost of power saved does exceed the extra cost of the unit over the life of the PSU if I buy a $70-80 gold vs. a $40 cheapie... so the article does have a purpose.Just because you are not the target audience doesn't make the article irrelevant.
MooseMuffin - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
I've had 2 cheap power supplies die on me over the years, and the catch was that neither one of them would die alone. In both cases they took my videocard with it. Never again.just4U - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
There are alot of really good power supplies in the $50 range and I think for most people they do the trick nicely... and with a level of confidence that it's not going to be some major piece of junk. The PSUs many of you are refering to are the ones we wouldn't pay a buck for (yeah.. you've seen them!)Anyway.. after that it's pretty much up to you.. can go better, but certainly don't want to go worse. Besides alot of psu's in all price ranges come on sale so there isn't really a reason to cheap out in that area. Bad enough the OEMs do it all the time.
crazyglue - Friday, March 23, 2012 - link
Having built untold # of systems for family, friends, & for sale over the last 10 or so years, early on, about 1/4 have failed due to cheap PSU's. Since replacing with better units (at my cost!) I've settled on PC P&C (not OCZ) & all are still purring away.. Many 24/7 home servers-media units... You got lucky I guess, but that's not the norm.....lbeyak - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
I grew increasingly more annoyed every time I saw a new error, and eventually I decided to post about them.Page 2 - Paragraph 1
"According to the manufacturer's specifications, the hole series is SLI-ready and uses a single +12V output."
hole -> whole
Page 2 - Paragraph 2
"The 550W model can deliver 648W on +12V and up to 110W on +3.3V and +5V."
I think you meant 650W here, not 550W.
Page 3 - Paragraph 1
"Here we show how the 450W model looks like."
Here we show how the 450W model looks. OR Here we show what the 450W model looks like. would make more sense here.
Page 4 - Paragraph 1
"This time SuperFlower ist the manufacturer. In the prictures above we show the 650W version only since the 450W model consists of the same design."
ist -> is
prictures -> pictures
Page 6 - Paragraph 2
"The Capstone series combines the resontant circuit with an asynchronous half bridge and DC-to-DC converter on the secondary side."
resontant -> resonant
Page 6 - Paragraph 5
"The FSP Aurum CM 650W is also very cheap, but it's louder and more expensice than the Capstone 650W."
expensice -> expensive
While I appreciate speed of article delivery, I get quite annoyed at errors that could have been prevented easily. Most of these errors could have easily been caught with a simple spell check program. I was just surprised that there were quite a few errors for such a short review (compared to some others on the site).
Thanks for the good review though Martin.
Martin Kaffei - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
Fixed. Thanks a lot.In my next life I would like to become an US citizen.
lbeyak - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
I'm not sure what you mean by that, but I will note that I am a proud Canadian.:)
Martin Kaffei - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
That's nice as well.