February 15th, 2011

Be Quiet Dark Power Pro 850w

Results

Be Quiet Dark Power 850w

As far as rails go, the Be Quiet Dark Power faired very well indeed, beating out some higher wattage units by a few points on the 3.3v rail, and in fact has the most stable, and close to ideal 5v rail yet. Unfortunately the 12v rail isn’t so tight with it being .1v out at load, and .05v out under idle state. However, this far from makes it the worst PSU we have tested, and gives it a middle man place in the rails test.

	PF Standby	PF Idle	PF Load	Watt Standby	Watt Idle	Watt Load
Qpower 1050w	0.19	0.9	0.96	6	308	521
XSpice Croon 750w	0.17	0.85	0.93	7	284	513
Commander 750w	0.19	0.94	0.96	6	276	472
Silver Power SP 500w	0.33	0.96	0.95	center">4	285	492
Ikonik Vulcan 1200w	0.14	0.91	0.97	2	274	472
Coolermaster UCP 1100w	0.15	0.89	0.94	6	277	486
Commander 1200w	0.18	0.92	0.95	7	280	475
Be Quiet Dark Power 850w	0.18	0.92	0.95	7	280	475

In regards to PF rating, the Be Quiet does pretty well beating out the monstrously expensive Coolermaster UCP at both idle and load, and staying level with one of our favourite units in a long time, the Silver Power SP500w.

As far as wattage goes it’s one of the best we’ve ever tested, only being beaten out by the astoundingly good, InWin Commander units, and the Ikonik Vulkan.

Noise

When it comes to noise the BeQuiet Dark Power lives up to it’s manufacturer’s name (almost as if it was a threat) and is one of the quietest units I have ever tested. Even placing your ear directly next to the fan it’s hard to pick up anything more than a whisper from the slow spinning fan. The silence enthusiasts among you would be more than happy with this one.

Cost

The price I was given from BeQuiet was £120 for the Dark Power, which for it’s wattage seems a little expensive. However, it does have added features like modular cabling and the noob friendly labling could make this a valid reason to up the price.