INTRODUCTION
Although as we speak there are many 80 Plus Platinum certified power supply units in the market (and we’ve been expecting the 80 Plus Titanium certification to get announced for quite some time now) it is the 80 Plus Gold certified units that most people choose mainly because they offer the best price/performance ratio right now (at least for demanding users). Be quiet! Has always been amongst the top PSU manufacturers but it wasn’t until recently that they started expanding to other countries outside of Germany and what best way to do that than to release a brand new PSU line with both 80 Plus Gold and Platinum units. Today we will be taking a look at the Dark Power Pro P10 750W variant which should be more than enough to power systems with dual GPU configurations.
be quiet! is a premium brand manufacturer of power supplies and cooling solutions for your desktop PC. be quiet! products are convincing which is proved by reaching and defending the market leadership in PSU business in Germany for five consecutive years *. This is validated and accompanied by numerous awards for both power supplies and cooling solutions. be quiet! is awarded for five times in a row as manufacturer of the year in the power supply category by the readers of the well-known German hardware magazine PC Games Hardware. Another first and second rank in the categories “fans” and “cooler” underline the high acceptance of our products. be quiet! sticks to its name: Ten years’ experience in the field of noise reduction and silence make be quiet! products probably the most silent one on the market. Undoubted fans have a large impact of the noise levels of be quiet! products. Due we are using our specially developed Silent Wings fans in nearly all of our range. They are equipped with various noise reducing features. Thanks to these we ensure a really silent operation - our products reach the best balance between cooling performance and a virtually inaudible operation. If you choose be quiet! you can be sure to get premium quality and second to none silent operation from the quietness experts.
Since up until recently be quiet! was mostly known inside the EU and more specifically Germany (they have actually broken the charts in Germany) some of you may be somewhat skeptical about buying an PSU manufactured by them but there’s really no reason for that since the Dark Power Pro P10 line of power supplies is actually manufactured by both FSP (550-750W Gold) and Seasonic (850-1200W Platinum) with specifications provided by be quiet! of course. However that’s not all and so be quiet! also uses their own 135mm fluid dynamic bearing SilentWings 2 fan for low noise levels (dBA), long life and excellent airflow levels. So once again with us we have what seems to be an excellent product, at least on paper and so it’s up to us to see if that’s really the case or not.
SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES
PACKAGING AND CONTENTS
The box in which the Dark Power Pro 10 750W arrived has a large product image at the front, the be quiet! logo, a small list with the main features of the unit, the 80Plus Gold certification logo and the power output.
Several award logos can be seen over at the left side of the box right beneath a chart showcasing the unit’s efficiency.
A few words about the product are placed at the right side of the box in two languages.
The unit’s electricity table, available connectors and main features are not only listed at the rear but they are also showcased with several images.
The Dark Power Pro 10 750W is placed inside two pieces of black foam while the rest of the modular cables are placed inside a small black box.
Along with the Dark Power Pro P10 750W you will also get the extra modular cables, user’s manual, mounting screws, AC power cable, 6 cable ties, 4 Velcro straps and the OCK PCI shield.
THE DARK POWER PRO P10 750W
The Dark Power Pro P10 750W is almost entirely modular, comes with a nice black matte paint and really looks unlike any other PSU in the market currently.
As expected the Dark Power Pro P10 750W comes with a 135mm fluid dynamic bearing fan with 7 carbon fiber like blades and the be quiet! logo at the center.
A large sticker with the product name and power output is present on both sides.
A second large sticker placed at the bottom of the unit contains the electrical specifications table and several certification logos.
The modular connectors are different in shape and are also tagged (however not color coded) to avoid any mistakes (also notice the 4 fan headers).
Perfect cable sleeving is something we mostly see with high-end units, however be quiet! takes things a step further by placing a rubber surrounding for improved cable protection.
Most of the unit’s rear follows the typical honeycomb perforation while we also see the usual on/off button and the AC power port.
On both the front and the rear the Dark Power Pro P10 750W features a rubber sleeve which is in place to absorb any vibrations caused by either the case or the power supply itself (these sleeves also make it quite hard to open the unit).
The OCK switch found on the bundled PCI shield allows you to switch between the normal multi-rail system to a single rail system for the most demanding overclockers.
Thanks to the bundled cables you can also plug up to 4 fans directly onto the Dark Power Pro P10 750W.
The BQT T13525-HF18 is a 135mm fluid dynamic bearing fan capable of reaching speeds of up to 1800RPM at 22.6dBA.
The interior design is very clean for such a high end unit and comes with a total of 5 small heatsinks.
Primary capacitors are manufactured by Panasonic (amongst the highest quality capacitors currently) and have a certification of up to 105 degrees Celsius.
Most of the secondary capacitors (some are made by CapXon) are manufactured by the well-known Japanese Nippon Chemi-Con and are also certified for use up to 105 degrees Celsius.
TEST BED
TESTING METHODOLOGY
Using a dedicated measurement instrument such as a Chroma or a SunMoon for power supply testing is without doubt the most ideal and accurate way (not to mention fastest) to do that currently. However it's certainly not the only way there is and so pretty much anyone can test a power supply just by using his own computer. Certainly limitations do apply and so you can't really test a 1000W power supply if your system only uses 500W at extreme loads and that's why during the past 5 years i have saved certain hardware components for the purpose of building a PSU test rig. True it may not be as accurate as the above mentioned solutions but it comes really close and is in fact closer to real. So as always we ran several games with maximum graphic options enabled at a resolution of 2560x1600 in order to stress every hardware component and increase the overall power demands of the system. The Passmark BurnIn Test was also used to overstress the components in an effort to provide the most accurate results possible. As a final test we also used the latest OCCT 4.0 software and its dedicated PSU testing suite since it can really bring a power supply to its knees after even just a few minutes.
Rail stability was checked/measured with the CPUID Hardware monitor and a Metex multimeter which also recorded the system load in idle and in load. As always try to remember that the power consumption numbers listed in the graph are the highest (Peak) ones recorded during the entire duration of the tests and not the average (Idle) ones. Noise levels coming from the fan were recorded using the high precision HD600 ExTech Sound dBA Meter from the rear of the unit and at a range of no more than 5cm. Readings under load are recorded the exact moment we manually switch all graphics cards from full speed to idle, that way the fan of the power supply does not have enough time to slow its RPM and so by doing this we get very accurate noise level readings. To get 100% accurate readings you need to have a noise isolated room for that exact purpose, something which is quite impossible unless you are working inside a real lab (some people use very small noise insulated boxes but due to their size both heat and noise exceed normal levels and so the results can't really be considered 100% accurate). Also do take into account that since all noise measurements take place from just 5-10cm away the final noise levels to reach your ears will be far less.
TEST RESULTS
RAILS
Rail stability is almost excellent especially if we take into account the 11% overload we managed to achieve (750/833W).
CONSUMPTION
An output of 833W from an 750W rated PSU is not something we’ve seen for the first time, however the performance of the unit even at that output was quite impressive.
NOISE LEVELS
Our dBA meter had problems measuring the noise output from the unit during idle so that alone speaks for itself.
CONCLUSION
Thanks to their quality components and design be quiet! has been one of my all-time favorite brands even long before I ever got a sample from them. Of course even after having received a number of units by them up until today my opinion still stands and the Dark Power Pro P10 750W is proof for that since not only it managed to produce solid rail stability even with an 11% over its rated output capacity but at the same time the SilentWings 2 fluid dynamic bearing fan never crossed the 40dBA line.
With a current price tag set at 164.90Euros inside the EU (Caseking) the Dark Power Pro P10 750W is amongst the most expensive 80 Plus Golden certified units in the market at the same power output. Of course the price difference is not unjustifiable and so aside the unit’s excellent performance you are also getting the ability to switch between multi/single rail modes and plug up to 4 fans directly onto the unit. Overall the Dark Power Pro P10 750W by be quiet! is perhaps the best 750W PSU I’ve ever tested (to date at least) and that’s why it receives our Platinum Award.
PROS
- Build Quality
- Rail Stability
- Design
- Low Noise Levels
- Almost 100% Modular
- 80Plus Gold Certified
- OcK Switch (Multi/Single Rail Mode)
- 4 Build In Fan Headers
CONS
- Price (For Some)