The Rosewill Hive 850W PSU Review
by E. Fylladitakis on July 28, 2015 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- PSUs
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Rosewill
- 850W
Most of our US and Canada based readers are likely familiar with Rosewill. The company started as a subsidiary of Newegg and they were initially focused on producing simple bits and hardware at competitive prices. As the company grew larger and diversified into other segments of the market, they eventually fledged into a stand-alone manufacturer, with myriads of products filling their ranks and exports outside of the North American markets. Our latest review of their products was that of the Photon 1050W PSU a few months ago. Today we are having a look at another one of their PSUs, the Hive 850W.
Unlike the Photon, the Hive is a series primarily focused on combining high power output and aggressive pricing. They are not lacking any tangible features, as they are semi-modular models with a black chassis. However, they appear to be a little behind technologically for new high performance models, they are just 80Plus Bronze certified and rated for continuous output at 40°C. Their retail prices are enticing but not excessively low, with the 850W unit retailing for $100 including shipping. As a result the question we're looking to answer today is whether the performance of the new Hive units can justify their price tag.
| Power specifications ( Rated @ 40 °C ) | |||||
| AC INPUT | 100 - 240 VAC, 50 - 60 Hz | ||||
| RAIL | +3.3V | +5V | +12V | +5Vsb | -12V |
| MAX OUTPUT | 22A | 22A | 70.5A | 3A | 0.5A |
| 140W | 846W | 15W | 6W | ||
| TOTAL | 850W | ||||
Packaging and Bundle
The Hive is supplied in a sturdy cardboard box, with the artwork hinting that the origin of its name comes from the honeycomb finger guard pattern. Some basic specifications about the PSU can be found on the sides and the rear of the box.
Few extra items are bundled with the Hive. Rosewill only supplied the AC power cable, a few cable ties and the mounting screws. However, the modular cables come supplied into a nice reusable pouch with a zipper. The cables are "flat", ribbon-like, with black wires. Red connectors are installed on the PCI Express cables.
| Connector type | Hardwired | Modular |
| ATX 24 Pin | 1 | - |
| EPS 4+4 Pin | 1 | - |
| EPS 8 Pin | 1 | - |
| PCI-E 6+2 Pin | - | 6 |
| PCI-E 8 Pin | - | - |
| SATA | - | 8 |
| Molex | - | 6 |
| Floppy | - | 2 |
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ImSpartacus - Tuesday, July 28, 2015 - link
As a layman, this was a cool review to read. It's often hard to figure out exactly what makes one psu different from another with similar marketing "specs". It's assumed that many are based on a handful of oem's designs, but it can be a challenge to dig that deep. This review presents much of that info up front. No digging necessary. Cool beans.Stuka87 - Tuesday, July 28, 2015 - link
The 12V rail sag is a bit more than I would like. And the fact that its only rated for 40C is really a bummer. Its very common for the inside of a PC case to hit 45-50C, especially in the summer with a few GPU's inside it. Some cases do let you put the PUS in upside down so it sucks in cool air (my own does) but many do not.MamiyaOtaru - Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - link
cases that don't put the PSU at the bottom are an anachronism IMHOAndrewJacksonZA - Tuesday, July 28, 2015 - link
Were these tests done at 110V or 220V?E.Fyll - Tuesday, July 28, 2015 - link
230V/50Hz. It is noted in the pipeline that includes the details of all the equipment and procedures.piasabird - Tuesday, July 28, 2015 - link
How do you know what this means unless you have a few other power supplies as a baseline to draw a comparison. For instance if you had what you considered is the best test results for a power supply, and one or two other the test results might make more sense. You always show comparisons for processors and video cards.Oxford Guy - Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - link
An entire article just for one PSU?doggface - Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - link
Have you been here before. They do this all the time???Oxford Guy - Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - link
It's one thing for a little site to devote an entire article to a bronze PSU and another thing for a big one to do so.Quake - Monday, August 3, 2015 - link
Eh... Anandtech was founded in 1997 and it's one of the biggest enthusiast website. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AnandTech