INTRODUCTION

   I still recall a time when low-cost power supply units would fail left and right, sometimes taking along with them hardware components like graphics cards and even entire mainboards. Today however power supply units have advanced to a point that we hardly ever see such unfortunate incidents, even when using low-cost models. Still getting a low-cost model represents numerous issues, sure it may not fail entirely but it may not "feed" your system with stable and "clean" enough power and that may result in general system instability (not to mention it can damage your hardware). Be quiet! has been in the business of manufacturing high-performance power supply units for many years now and today with us we have their latest model to hit the market, the Straight Power 11 Platinum 750W.

   be quiet! is a premium brand of power supplies, PC cases and cooling solutions for desktop PCs. The products of be quiet! offer legendary quiet operation and first-class performance thanks the passion for quality and precision. Attention to detail is the key to perfection. Which is why our very own experts lead product conception, design and quality control from our headquarters in Germany. be quiet! sticks to its name: More than 15 years experience in the field of noise reduction and silence make be quiet! products probably the most silent ones on the market.

   The latest Straight Power 11 Platinum line of power supply units by be quiet! is an upgraded version of their award-winning Straight Power 11 Gold line released back in late 2018 (1KW model review here). Now the most obvious change is moving from the 80 Plus Gold (up to 93% electrical efficiency) certification to the 80 Plus Platinum (up to 94.1% efficiency) for the new line but that's clearly not all since be quiet! has released it in 550/650/750/850/1000/1200W output capacities compared to the 450/550/650/750/850/1000W of the previous line (so they clearly aim at "hungrier" systems this time over). Everything else however remains practically the same so once again all models in the new line are fully-modular (future-proof allowing you to swap cables if the need arises) and feature four high-performance +12V rails (2x20A & 2x24A for the 750W variant) capable of delivering up to the maximum rated unit output (for example 750W for the 750W variant), strong minor rails (total output of 148.6W for our sample), LLC, SR (Synchronous Rectifier), DC-to-DC conversion, 135mm Silent Wings 3 PWM Fluid Dynamic Bearing fan, high-quality Japanese 105°C-rated capacitors, ErP and Energy Star v7.0 ready (previous models were v6.1 ready), EPS v2.92 and ATX v2.51 support (previous models came with support for ATX v2.4) and a full set of electrical protections including over-current (OCP), over-voltage (OVP), under-voltage (UVP), short-circuit (SCP), over-temperature (OTP) and over-power (OPP). Once again be quiet! covers the entire Straight Power 11 Platinum line of power supply units with a limited 5-year warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Be quiet! is using the same package as the previous version so again at the front we see a product picture along with their logo and the main product features.

Things have changed on the sides slightly so now on the left we see an company About paragraph right over the product's electrical table while on the right we have a 2D barcode which when scanned takes you to the online product page.

The main product features are printed at the rear of the box in 2 languages and with 4 pictures.

Typically, the PSU is placed inside a piece of cardboard while the rest of the bundle is located around it.

Inside the box you will find the Straight Power 11 Platinum 750W PSU, modular cables (held together by two cable straps), power cord, 4 mounting screws, 4 cable ties and the user manual.

THE STRAIGHT POWER 11 PLATINUM 750W EXTERIOR

Once again be quiet! has used double sleeved round cables instead of flat ones.

The Straight Power 11 750W Platinum weighs 1.7Kg and measures 160mm in length, 150mm in width and 86mm in height.

A 135mm Silent Wings 3 PWM FDB is again located at the top (bottom when inverted) and does a great job keeping interior temperatures in check.

The be quiet! logo is located on the right side of the enclosure while on the left we find a large sticker containing the units electrical table.

At the front of the chassis we find a total of 8 modular connectors all of which are tagged and different in shape to avoid possible accidents.

The rear features the typical honeycomb perforation along with the power port and the on/off power switch.

THE STRAIGHT POWER 11 PLATINUM INTERIOR

Be quiet! has used an 1800RPM Silent Wings 3 135mm FDB (fluid dynamic bearing) fan for this particular model.

Even though the entire layout of this model is similar to its predecessor i am not entirely convinced that FSP group is behind it (should be however).

The two primary capacitors in our sample (this may vary between batches) are manufactured by the Japanese Nippon Chemi-Con and are rated for use up to 105 degrees Celsius.

Some of the secondary capacitors in our sample (again this may vary) are manufactured by the Japanese Rubycon while others by the Japanese United Chemi-Con (the ones we checked are again for use up to 105 degrees Celsius).

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

     Using a dedicated measurement instrument such as a Chroma or a SunMoon to test power supply units is without doubt the most ideal and accurate way (not to mention the 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 unit just by using a test rig. Certainly, limitations do apply and so you can't really push a 1000W power supply to its limits if your system only uses 500W at peak loads and that's why over the years we saved certain hardware components for the purpose of building a dedicated PSU test rig. True it may not be as accurate as the above mentioned solutions but it comes really close and is in fact much closer to real world usage. 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 4.4 software and its dedicated PSU testing suite since it can really bring a power supply to its knees after inside 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 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 5-10cm. Readings under load are recorded the exact moment we manually switch the fans of all graphics cards from full speed to almost zero, 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. Needless to say in order 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 to be 100% accurate, nor realistic for that matter). 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 considerably less.

* After well over 10 years of testing PSUs the Intel Core i7-920 CPU of this rig failed and so we replaced it with a Xeon X5660 (we also swapped the GA-X58A-UD7 for the G1. Assassin).

TEST RESULTS

CONCLUSION

   Thanks to its 80 Plus Platinum electrical certification (achieved by moving from half to full-bridge technology) the latest Straight Power 11 Platinum 750W power supply unit by be quiet! is clearly one step above its predecessor. There are some secondary differences such as the number of power connectors (8 for the Platinum version and 11 for the Gold version), mainboard power cables (1xP8 & 2xP4+4 connectors for the Platinum version compared to the 1/1 for the Gold version) and size (160mm in length for the Platinum model compared to the 170mm of the Gold model) but these don’t really stand out. Unfortunately since we didn’t test the 750W variant of the Gold series we can’t do a direct comparison with the Platinum variant when it comes to rail stability and noise levels but leaving out the impressive rail stability noise levels could be better (still do remember that our test bench maxed-out the output of the PSU – and then some - so in all likelihood you will never even come close to that number).

   The Straight Power 11 Platinum 750W PSU (E11-PT-750W) by be quiet! currently retails for USD174.90 inside the USA (Newegg.com) and for 149.50Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) a price tag which puts it just over several similar models from the competition. Long story short if you’re out in the market for a new power supply unit and you’re willing to pay a small premium in order to get one of the best 750W models in the market today the be quiet! Straight Power 11 Platinum certainly deserves both your attention and our Golden Award.

PROS

- Very Good Build Quality (Full Bridge Technology / Wire Free Design)
- Impressive Rail Stability
- Fully Modular (Future Proof)
- 80 Plus Platinum Certified
- Features (ErP/Energy Star v7/ATX v2.51)
- Electrical Protections (OCP/OVP/UVP/SCP/OTP/OPP)
- 5 Years Warranty

CONS

- Price (Compared To The Competition)
- Noise Levels (At Max Load)