The Combination of extremely quiet and high standard-be quiet! Dark Power Pro 1200W

[windwithme]

When you heard the name “be quiet!”, you could know intuitively that it is a PSU brand with focus on extremely quietness.
be quiet! is an European brand, and its research teams are located in Germany.
In Asian market, their products are available from last year, but in European market, be quiet! has built its own eminent position already.

be quiet! has two series products: Straight Power & Dark power Pro.
Straight Power is un-module power and targets at regular market.
Dark Power Pro is module power. Its level and standards are higher and superior.
Now, you could find 450/550/650/750/850/1000/1200W Dark Power Pro products on the market.
Because they sort their products in small scale, it will help customers fit their own need.

What I have on hand is a Dark Power Pro 1200W, the best and highest standard product be quiet! publishes.
First of all, we could see its outside package, black and high quality.
Its size is 533 X 405 X 329mm(W*L* H)

Their package looks like a present.
After unpacking, we could find its PSU and manual.

The module wires
Its wires are thicker than other brands. It is safer in use.
The instruction manual is thick, including 7 different languages.
1 X 20/24pin(MB)
1 X P8
1 X 12V P4
1 X EPS 6pin
11 X SATA
13 X HDD(4pin)
2 X FDD
1 X PCI-E 6pin
6 X PCI-E(6+2pin)
RPM control X1/Fan connectors X4(This is one of be quiet!’s advantages)

Power itself of be quiet! Dark power Pro 1200W
Black metal material, Mirror-like special design out figure, no finger print left.

14cm FDB(Fluid Dynamic Bearing) fan to cool down the power.
According to the PSU’s usage, the speed of fan changes.
From 10% usage to 100%, the noise goes from 20 dB to 35dB.

The cellular back holes emphasize the Active PFC

The module outlets
There have detail pictures for all cable positions.

Specification of Dark Power Pro 1200W
There are six 12V inputs. Output power could reach 85A, enough for any high-level computer.

Test Platform
CPU: INTEL Core 2 Duo E8400 E0
MB: DFI LANParty LT X48-T3RS
DRAM: CORSAIR Dominator TWIN3X2048-1800C7DIN
VGA: MSI R4870X2-T2D2G-OC
HD: Seagate 7200.10 320GB
POWER: be quiet!Dark Power Pro 1200W
Cooler: Thermaltake BigTyp VP/JETART Nano Diamond/Lubic

 

[windwithme]

Operation System Setting:
CPU 500X8.5=>4250Mhz
DARM DDR3 2000 CL8 7-6-20 1T
In OCCT test, the dual CPU will be in full usage.

The CPU voltage curve is a flat and straight line.

3.3V
The voltage is between 3.2 and 3.22V. Voltage change % is about 0.625%.

5V
The voltage is between 4.85 and 4.87V. Voltage change % is about 0.4%.

12V
The voltage is between 11.71 and 11.78 V. Voltage change % is about 0.6%.

The Voltage numbers above are tested by motherboards. Different motherboards will show little difference in the 3.3V/5V/12V test.
I wonft say this voltage numbers are most correct. If you want to get the real voltage number, please use the electronic measurement.
OCCT only can take the high-load operation, the variance from the voltage rise or drop only for reference.

According to this test platform, here is the result:
I use the results from Power Angle as reference.
Enter the operation system condition (269W)

Use OCCT test with dual core CPU in full load (351W)
In previous test, I use Q9950 OC 3.7G + 9800GTX, quad cores in full load. The result is 309W.
Even adding high level VGA and quad cores, in OCCT test, the result is always below 420W.
For a higher Waltz PSU, OCCT test could not show its biggest performance.

3DMARK2005-489W
3DMARK2005 is the most waltz-consuming 3DMARK software, so we use this software to match with 4870X2 for performance test.

OCCT + 3DMARK2006-523W

The result for the OS platform with 3DMARK2005

Test Conclusion of be quiet! Dark Power Pro 1200W

Advantages:
1.High quality package and clear instruction manual
2.High Efficiency Certification, such as Active PFC and 80 PLUS. Wires are long and thick enough with small instruction tag.
3.With 6 PCI-E/ 11 SATA Connectors. Sufficient support for 3 Way VGA or Server with multiple HDD.
4.Great voltage performance in 3.3V/5V/12V test.
5.PSU temperature is low in operation. Equip with 14cm fan to lower the operation noise.
6.18 months for free renew. 3 years door-to door shipping, and 5 years warranty.

Disadvantages:
1.The small tags on wires drop easily.
2.Need to enhance its distribution channels in Asia

Performance ššššššššš™
Components šššššššš™™
Outlook šššššššš™™
C/P ratio ššššššš™™™

14cm FDB-fan could adjust its speed according to temperature and power consume.
From 0 to 100% power consuming, the noise goes from 18 to 30 dB.
Seeing the extremely quiet fan, I really admire this brand name.

Some people might think higher Waltz PSU will consume more power.
Actually, this is wrong. Power consume depends on your PC and peripheral.
High Waltz PSU only provides higher power quota for usage, but wonft consume more electricity.
If your PC only consumes 350W, for this Dark Power Pro 1200W, it will only provide 350W to your PC.
When you need higher power, it could support you till 1200W.
Especially this high-level PSU with 80 PLUS and Active PFC certification, it could save more electricity by its high efficiency.

Now be quiet! develops more products in its two series.
From its brand requirement in quality and quietness, we could have one more choice in the high-level PSU.
Moreover, it does provide a really complete warranty. If be quiet! could make the price more friendly, its revenue will raise a lot.

 

[Waynos_Face]

Nice review again mate,

Am considering an 850W for my next build.

 

[Abarbarian]

Nice review. Love the name Dark Power.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Quality stuff don't come cheap

£217.34 plus postage at Scan