The Rocketeer

The retail box of the Rocketeer is the usual affair with an inset of the power supply itself and the blurb about what it can do. Oddly, in the background there is some kind of schematic of a Star Wars-esque fighter.

Inside, you find the power supply in bubble wrap, with the usual Spire cable management tools, which include the multi coloured Velcro straps which act like cable ties but are adjustable. There are also a few black cable ties for a more permanent solution. Also included is the manual, a kettle cord and screws to mount the Rocketeer in your case; they kindly give you five screws unless you manage to lose one.

The power supply itself is nickel coated to prevent corrosion and to add a little eye candy. Spire PSU’s aren’t meant to be the most interesting part of your system and hence they haven’t gone for anything special in the way of a finish; in contrast to either ultra glossy or matt finishes used by other manufacturers.

To cool the Rocketeer, Spire have decided on using a single blue LED equipped 120mm fan which sucks in air from the bottom of the unit and blasts it out of the back. The back is pretty much clear of any obstruction, allowing better airflow and less turbulence (read: lower noise).

On the rear of the unit, there is the usual power in socket, an on and off switch. The back isn’t honeycombed, but slotted which seems to have big enough gaps for a large air flow. There is a small Spire logo which would be half visible from the back of your case. The only other indication that this isn’t just a generic brand PSU is the large label telling you the voltage/amps each rail spits out.

This power supply, unfortunately, isn’t modular, however all of the cables are compact. The standard molex/SATA cables are all twisted together meaning that they are essentially sleeved. The main ATX plug is sleeved in black. The Rocketeer comes equipped with two PCI-e connectors allowing you to power two graphics cards (or one in the case of some GeForce 8800’s). All the plugs, with the exception of the molex and FDD power connectors are labelled or colour coded making installation that much easier.

There are plenty of available connectors for most peoples systems, and there is a good tradeoff between excess cables and connectivity. However, if you are the kind of person that uses plenty of cooling fans, disc drives and case mods, the six molex connectors may not suffice. There are only two SATA connectors, considering as most people have at least 2 drives, the Spire sadly lacks in this area. The two FDD plugs seem almost pointless these days as CD’s/DVD’s/flash discs have become the order of the day to transfer files.

The Rocketeer is RoHS compliant meaning that the components aren’t full of arsenic, anthrax and other nasties. This Rocketeer is the usual size for a PSU, unlike Spire’s SP-500w modular power supply with is slightly longer than average.

The only differences between the 500w Spire and this one is the 5v rail, instead of 36A, the SP-600w pumps through 54A if needed. There are two 12v rails which each have a max of 20A. While there is no documentation on this, I’m guessing that they second 12v rail is used exclusively for the PCI-e connectors.