The Rosewill Quark Series Power Supply Review (750W, 850W, 1000W, 1200W)

Conclusion

The Quark PSU series from Rosewill is an attempt to blend top tier performance with a lucrative price tag, alluring those that care only for raw power, good quality and not much else. Despite this being the best series the company offers, Rosewill is still trying to maintain their company profile and mainly compete in terms of value. To that end, extra features and aesthetic improvements are being dismissed, perhaps to a point that they should not have had. For example, the simple, color-coded modular cables are not common among units of this price range.

As far as quality goes, we would classify the Quark PSUs as "Very High", but it is no secret that we have seen better platforms in the past. Enhance is a reputable OEM that designs very good core platforms and, after seeing the assembly and performance of the Rosewill Quark PSUs, we cannot deny that the 13XX Platinum GT platform is very good. The 13XX Platinum platform that the 750W version is based on leaves nothing to be desired in terms of quality, but the power quality and efficiency fall slightly behind that of the GT version of the platform. We also have to voice our thoughts regarding the selection of internal components. Generally, Rosewill seems to be using very reputable suppliers, but the presence of brands with mediocre reputation (Unicon) troubles us. All of the major components in the samples that we received come from very reputable manufacturers (Matsushita, Panasonic, Nippon Chemi-Con, Nichicon, etc.), yet the erratic mix suggests that Rosewill is using the components of whichever manufacturer is available at the time with products that meet certain specifications. Hopefully, Rosewill will stick to high quality suppliers, at least for the major components. Regardless, all of the Quark series units come with a reassuring five-year warranty.

On the other hand, the overall performance of the Quark series PSUs is very good. They do tend to get hot when heavily stressed inside a very warm environment, but they still operate seamlessly and provide excellent power quality, with minimal voltage ripple and very good regulation for their power output. In terms of power quality and stability, the Quark series units can compare to most of the top tier units and designs of every manufacturer. When the units operate in room temperature, the noise level is very low and, with the exception of the 750W model, it remains reasonable even when the PSUs are very heavily stressed. However, the ball bearing fan, smaller heatsinks and, generally, different platform of the 750W model has a significantly different behavior, maintaining about the same operating temperatures but at the expense of a considerably higher noise level.

Nonetheless, the fundamental issue regarding the Quark series is not concerning the quality or the performance of the units. The quality and overall performance of the Quark PSUs is adequate for their intended market, while the five-year warranty is reassuring. Rosewill however has to compete against other manufacturers in terms of value as well, and the current retail pricing of the Quark series is problematic. With their retail price ranging from $210 for the 1200W model to $130 for the 750W model, some of the Quark PSUs are equally priced to products such as Seasonic's famous SS-1200XP3 ($200) and the Corsair AX760 ($140). Rosewill's current pricing scheme is, at the very least, confusing. For example, either due to stock levels or sales, the 1000W version of the Quark currently retails for $1 less than the 850W model, which is a less powerful design based on the same platform. The low retail price of the 1000W version is alluring, but it is obvious that the pricing of the rest of the units is in dire need of adjustments before the Quark series can have a strong competitive edge in the market.