Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 650W

Value and Conclusions

Be Quiet! told bit-tech that the RRP is supposed to be £99, however it seems to be retailing for a fraction less at just under £93. Is this a good price for "a 650W"? Well, yes actually, it doesn't seem that bad for a quality modular PSU.

We usually cite Corsair in this section as it generally undercuts everyone else (and subsequently makes every other manufacturer see red) but the HX620 is £80. This maybe a favourite of many but it's a couple of years old now - the efficiency is far lower and frankly the Dark Power Pro is much more user friendly.

The Cooler Master RealPower Pro 620W is also a lot cheaper, but again the cabling and package isn't quite as good. The same goes for the Thermaltake ToughPower QFan 650W that we reviewed a while back - again it's cheaper but the overall package and cable choice is better with the Dark Power Pro.

There are still those more expensive units like the Enermax Modu 82+ 625W which charges a fraction more at a nose under £100.

The value is determined by how much you want variety, efficiency, solid performance and a usage model that will fit your case. Oh, and a solid brand with a decent warranty. This brings us to our experiences with Be Quiet! to date and the niggling itch right beneath my liver I just can't seem to get rid of.


Be Quiet! ships this unit with a three year warranty - a time period matched by industry big guns like Enermax, Seasonic and Tagan, but those have reputations that already speak volumes. Other smaller players off five just to cement in your mind that they're good for it - that they wouldn't put a five year warranty on their units if they were going to have to pay to ship them all back in three. That wouldn't make financial sense. However, in all due respect, Be Quiet! not only sits with the small fry but it also doesn't exactly have a great reputation to date on previous products.

In addition to this, despite the three year warranties of Enermax and Nanopoint (Seasonic and Tagan) – if you should need to return a unit to these companies you only have to send it to a UK address as they all have UK offices and UK people you can call. In comparison, if you do have to return a PSU to Be Quiet! then you'll have to call a +49 German number - not that I mind speaking to the Germans, and it is English speaking - but it's still an international call. In addition to this, in years two and three of your warranty guess where you have to send back your power supply? Shipping a unit weighing a few kilos back into mainland Europe is hardly a small cost, not to mention the time involved.

The upside is that having used this P7 version of Dark Power Pro for some time, not only in testing but in a few systems too, our faith has largely been restored - finally Be Quiet! has ironed it out into what looks like an awesome product. We simply cannot fault the quality of the results and attention to detail that's been put into this one - it's spades ahead of what has gone before and people bought into the as then new Corsair PSU range two years ago, and that's turned out great. We feel this time Be Quiet! has got its eggs lined up properly and that the 650W at least is an investment worth making even though it's slightly more expensive. With that said though, we'd be mildly cautious about trying to squeeze higher wattages into the same space.

Final Thoughts

Overall it has to be said that Be Quiet! has made a fantastic product - it works, it has supreme efficiency, excellent quality outputs, lots of cable variation (which is perfect for a modular PSU) and is damn near silent to boot. We were really struggling to find things wrong with it because it's really not that expensive when you look at the whole package, and the only thing that grates us is the RMA to Germany - other companies offer better after-sales support.

Even though every company makes a bad product now and then, this time around Be Quiet! has made a good, nay, great one.

• Performance
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• 10/10

• Features
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• -
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• 8/10

• Value
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• -
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• 8/10

• Overall
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• -
• 9/10

What do these scores mean?