Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 650W

Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 650W

Manufacturer: Be Quiet!
UK Price (as reviewed): £92.77 (inc. VAT)

Introduction

I was recently surprised to learn that Be Quiet! had been making power supplies for six years already. The German company has been pretty focused on its home market to date, but are now expanding into Europe a lot more. Be Quiet! is part of the same parent company, Listan, who also owns Revoltek too and yeah, the naming isn't something that crosses boarders that well or our German friends have taken satire to a whole new level.

Upon asking we found out that currently Be Quiet! is doing well in Spain, Poland and France and are now attempting to crack the UK and Scandinavian markets. As for crossing waters – our States-side friends will have to wait a little longer.

In typical fashion, Be Quiet! has a modular and non-modular range of power supplies: the Dark Power Pro satisfies the former and the Straight Power the latter.

I don't want to start off on a negative note but I feel the need to list our experiences with Be Quiet! to date - we did receive two "early sample" PSUs last year of a new Dark Power range the company was then trying to launch. Within minutes of turning those on, both of them had popped spectacularly. This, and other similar events we can only assume, effectively sent Be Quiet! back to the drawing board.

This year it's come back with not only a completely revised model but a new manufacturer too - instead of Top Power, Be Quiet! is using FSP and the P7 model featured today has been winning awards across the continent. With this in mind, we decided to revisit the Dark Power range to see what kind of mystical powers Be Quiet! has used to make a shiny box that's apparently so great – could it really have come from zero to hero in such a short space of time?


The box is surprisingly large for a mere power supply, although the detail and information covering the back highlights the right need to know essentials. Inside the size immediately becomes apparent - Be Quiet! has put a lot of effort into getting it right with the compartmentalisation. While we'd prefer it if the PSU had better protection to make sure it survives transportation - currently it's style over safety - the little boxes with all the cables and extras tied together are great.


In the box there are not only the usual case screws but thumb screws are thrown in as well. In addition there are several cable ties, as well as Velcro ties used to wrap all the extra cables that are of course reusable. Finally there's the usual power cable and multi-language manual that includes plenty of detail about all the Dark Power Pro models from 450W to 1,200W.