The Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 1500W PSU Review: Big Power
by E. Fylladitakis on January 10, 2022 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- PSUs
- be quiet!
- 1500W
- 80Plus Titanium
Cold Test Results (~22°C Ambient)
For the testing of PSUs, we are using high precision electronic loads with a maximum power draw of 2700 Watts, a Rigol DS5042M 40 MHz oscilloscope, an Extech 380803 power analyzer, two high precision UNI-T UT-325 digital thermometers, an Extech HD600 SPL meter, a self-designed hotbox and various other bits and parts. For a thorough explanation of our testing methodology and more details on our equipment, please refer to our How We Test PSUs - 2014 Pipeline post.
The “Overclocking mode” of the PSU that combines all virtual 12 V rails into a single 12 V rail was active throughout our testing, with the exception of the preliminary OCP tests that we perform routinely, which the Dark Power Pro 12 passed without issues.
The efficiency of the Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1500W PSU is very high but not as high as we would have liked it to be. Although it meets the 80Plus Titanium certification requirements while the unit is powered from a 115 VAC source, it does so only only barely, with an average nominal load range (20% to 100% of the unit's capacity) efficiency of just 92.3%. When powered from a 230 VAC source, in our testing the Dark Power Pro 12 1500W PSU does not even get near the 80Plus Titanium certification requirements.
As the load increases beyond 1000 Watts, the thermal control circuitry will start increasing the speed of the fan at an exponential rate. That is a very reasonable design approach, as a gaming PC drawing more than 1000 Watts isn't going to be able to remain quiet anyhow. Especially as the noise from the fans of power-hungry components will most definitely overshadow the single 135 mm fan of the PSU.
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Calin - Tuesday, January 11, 2022 - link
40dB of noise inside an "under-the-desk" case seems extravagantly quiet. It is comparable to an RTX 3080Ti, and lower than the AMD Wraith at max.Maybe you looked at "hot = 45 Celsius = 113 Fahrenheit" levels? 52 decibels is indeed the level of sound of a headphone.
dqniel - Wednesday, January 12, 2022 - link
42+ dB at one meter away is absolutely not "extravagantly quiet". It's quite loud if you're after a silent computer build.dqniel - Wednesday, January 12, 2022 - link
Also, I don't know where you got that 52dB is the sound of a headphone, but you're wrong. Headphones frequently get up to around 130dB (obviously very unsafe) and so artificial safety limits to 85dB and/or 100dB are often implemented.drajitshnew - Tuesday, January 11, 2022 - link
considering that they already have 2 transformers why not make it into a 750+ 750W power supply. They already have capacitors that provide a hold up for 1500 watts.that would give higher efficiency for part load.
The_Assimilator - Tuesday, January 11, 2022 - link
Very strange decision to design and produce a 1kW+ PSU in today's market.dqniel - Wednesday, January 12, 2022 - link
You mean the market where more and more people are using power-hungry GPUs for computation? And the market where CPUs' power limits keep getting higher and higher?firefoxx04 - Friday, January 14, 2022 - link
How is that strange? Plenty of people run 2+ GPUs with high core count CPUs. I agree that this PSU probably has no place in a gaming build, but gamers are not most of the market.Cellar Door - Tuesday, January 11, 2022 - link
Isn't it a terrible idea to invest into a high end PSU right now - considering that ATX 5.0 spec calls for a 16pin PCIEX power connector for the upcoming generation of GPUs..12+4sense pins that will allow the PSU to handle 3x the rated GPU max power draw spikes. So 1800watts for a 600watts top of the line RTX 4000.
Oxford Guy - Wednesday, January 12, 2022 - link
Having an ATX 5 spec is a terrible idea.Let’s stick with tiny GPU fans that blast a case full of hot air going the wrong direction.
Genius!
Bobsy - Tuesday, January 11, 2022 - link
Another excellent review from Fyll! Cheers!