Rosewill Quark 1000 Power Supply Review

Today we take a look at Rosewill's Quark 1000. In addition to 80 PLUS Platinum efficiency and fully modular cabling, this $200 unit can support multiple GPUs.

Early Verdict

The Quark 1000 is a high-quality PSU that offers very good performance and enough power to feed a very strong gaming system with multiple VGAs. The PSU is offered at a good price, and its fully modular design, five-year warranty and Platinum efficiency are its key features.

Pros

  • +

    Delivered full power at 47 C • Load regulation • Efficiency at normal loads • Ripple suppression • Price • Fully modular • Japanese capacitors • Warranty

Cons

  • -

    Noisy at higher loads • Efficiency at light loads

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Rosewill Quark 1000 Power Supply Review

The big advantage of Rosewill's PSU portfolio comes from the company's affordable prices, which allow it to achieve high performance-per-dollar ratios. The Quark series, however, isn't a stand-out value contender compared to the PSU market's tough competition; this shows that Rosewill isn't afraid of having its PSUs do battle with products from well-established companies in this market segment. The truth is that when you invest in a good platform and quality components, you cannot lower the price of the product below a certain point without taking a loss.

Today we're reviewing the second-strongest unit in the Quark series, which offers 1kW max power along with a fully modular cabling design and 80 PLUS Platinum efficiency for $200. Many PSUs with similar specifications cost a little more than the Quark 1000, and this means that Rosewill's PSU will have a small advantage in the price/performance ratio category. However, the price difference is small, so the Quark still has to perform pretty well in order to keep up with its tough competitors like Corsair's HX1000i, Seasonic's Snow Silent 1050W and EVGA's SuperNOVA 1000 P2.

Since Titanium-rated units aren't very popular yet, the prices of Platinum PSUs remain high enough to make them less appealing to many users, especially those on a tight budget. Rosewill tries to offer good deals on its PSUs, but Gold-class models with similar capacity cost significantly less, making them look like a better deal (especially since the efficiency gap between a good Gold PSU and its Platinum counterpart isn't very big). Having clarified this, we can take a better look at Rosewill's Quark series, which consists of six units with capacities ranging from 550 to 1200W. With this line, Rosewill covers most users and systems, from mid-range to high-end ones.

Specifications

Again, the Quark 1000 meets the 80 PLUS Platinum requirements and can deliver its full power continuously at up to 40 degrees Celsius, according to Rosewill. Of course, we plan to crank up the temperature inside our hot box above that. Rosewill includes all relevant protection features, including OTP (Over-Temperature Protection). A Riffle bearing fan handles the unit's cooling without the support of a semi-passive mode. The PSU's dimensions are normal for its capacity, while the warranty is long enough and the price tag is a little lower than what competitors offer for similar specs.

Power Specifications

Swipe to scroll horizontally
RailHeader Cell - Column 1 3.3V5V12V5VSB-12V
Max. PowerAmps2522832.50.3
Watts12099612.53.6
Total Max. Power (W)Row 2 - Cell 1 Row 2 - Cell 2 1000Row 2 - Cell 4 Row 2 - Cell 5

The single +12V rail can deliver the PSU's full power on its own. The minor rails can deliver enough power for the needs of a contemporary high-end system; however, we would like to see a stronger 5VSB rail in a 1kW unit.

Cables And Connectors

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Modular Cables 
ATX connector (700mm)20+4 pin
4+4 pin EPS12V (600mm)2
6+2 pin PCIe (600mm+150mm)8
SATA (500mm+150mm+150mm+150mm)12
Four-pin Molex (550mm+150mm+150mm)3
Four-pin Molex (550mm+150mm) / FDD(+150mm)2 / 1

The PSU has enough cables to deliver its full power efficiently. There are two EPS connectors along with eight PCIe connectors, all of which are available at the same time. The number of SATA and four-pin Molex connectors is more than adequate, and there is even a rarely-used FDD connector. Strangely enough, the main ATX cable is longer than the EPS cables (usually it's the other way around), though in general, all connectors are installed on pretty long cables. In addition, the distance between connectors is sufficient, even if some of you would prefer a shorter distance between the SATA plugs. After all, HDDs are typically installed close to each other. Finally, the 24-pin ATX connector along with the EPS and PCIe connectors use thick 16AWG wires for lower voltage drops, while all the rest of the connectors use standard 18AWG wires.

Power Distribution

Since this PSU features a single +12V rail, we do not have anything to comment on about its power distribution.

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Aris Mpitziopoulos
Contributing Editor

Aris Mpitziopoulos is a contributing editor at Tom's Hardware, covering PSUs.

  • ern88
    I don't know of Rosewill is any better then it was a few years ago. I had friends with a rosewill PSU and it baked big time. Maybe they are better now. But I would stick with EVGA or another well known good company!!!
    Reply
  • justaguywithagun
    i wouldnt hesitate to replace my ~7y/o antec TP750 with a nice rosewill capstone unit when the time comes. in fact, thats essentially my plan. would i throw any rosewill unit in my rig/s? no i wouldnt, but every manufacturer i can think of has units that are less than desirable. rosewill has a come a long long way the last few years
    Reply
  • Calculatron
    1000 rules of acquisition?
    Reply
  • Larry Litmanen
    I don't know of Rosewill is any better then it was a few years ago. I had friends with a rosewill PSU and it baked big time. Maybe they are better now. But I would stick with EVGA or another well known good company!!!

    Obviously EVGA has amazing brand name and they deserve it because of their level of service. However as far as i know EVGA does not have any PSU making plants, they simply rebrand a unit made by Seaconic or another OEM. Many companies do that, so you can probably buy exactly the same unit from a different brand.

    I am not sure if Rosewill builds or rebrands, but i had their products and they are not bad, i personally have not had any issues.
    Reply
  • Aris_Mp
    Several Rosewill PSUs are build by Super Flower, the same OEM that also makes most of EVGA's offerings.
    Reply
  • none12345
    "I don't know of Rosewill is any better then it was a few years ago. I had friends with a rosewill PSU and it baked big time. Maybe they are better now. But I would stick with EVGA or another well known good company!!! "

    I duno if their large ones are as good. But ive had a 550 watt running in this computer for 6.5 years now with no problem. This is the first roswell one i had tried. Thats the longest ive ever stayed on the same power supply.(In the past it was either fry, or had to upgrade the size because of ever increasing component power usage)
    Reply
  • tomtom234
    companies that manufacture a Rosewill psu

    http://www.orionpsudb.com/rosewill
    Reply
  • Aris_Mp
    Like every company that wants to do well into this market Rosewill doesn't rely on only one manufacturer. They had strong ties with Super Flower in the past however they decided to go with other OEMs as well, since SF became so popular and cannot meet the demands of all the companies that want their products.
    Reply
  • Shalmaneser
    Does anyone actually do OCP, OVP, OPP / OLP, OTP, UVP, SCP, and
    NLO? (Something of a rhetorical question), short answer from google is no...

    Also, why is the list graphical? I'd like to have a character list to search through...
    Reply