INTRODUCTION

   The recent introduction of the latest GeForce RTX30XX graphics cards by NVIDIA and the upcoming reveal of AMD's very own Radeon RX6XXX models has clearly boosted power supply unit sales all over the globe. Unlike previous releases however these seem to have steered people towards high output, quality and performance models which as you know is exactly what I’ve always favoured and recommended through all my reviews. However, if you're an enthusiast or a professional and you plan on using more than just one of those cards (and/or your multi-core overclocked CPU draws lots of power) you will obviously lack the number of choices regular consumers and gamers have. Don't worry however since this is where be quiet! comes in with their brand new Dark Power Pro 12 1500W model.

   be quiet! is a premium brand of power supplies, PC cases and cooling solutions for desktop PCs. The products of be quiet! offer legendary quiet operation and first-class performance thanks the passion for quality and precision. Attention to detail is the key to perfection. Which is why our very own experts lead product conception, design and quality control from our headquarters in Germany. be quiet! sticks to its name: More than 15 years’ experience in the field of noise reduction and silence make be quiet! products probably the most silent ones on the market.

   The brand new and fully digital Dark Power Pro 12 1500W is as expected the flagship model in the entire line of power supply units by be quiet! (an 1200W variant is also available) and according to its specifications sheet it's clearly among the best money can buy today. It features the 80 Plus Titanium certification (up to 94.9% electrical efficiency), active PFC, DC to DC topology, fully-modular design (future-proof since later on you can just swap cables if a new plug gets introduced), individually sleeved cables, peak power output of roughly 1670W, six powerful +12V rails (4x40A & 2x45A) capable of delivering the units entire output (can be switched to a single massive 125A +12V rail), strong minor rails with a total output of 173.5W, wire-free interior, high-speed frameless 135mm Silent Wings fan and high-quality Japanese manufactured capacitors. That's not the end of the list however since the Dark Power Pro 12 1500W is also ErP and Energy Star v7.0 compliant and sports a full array of electrical protections including over-current (OCP), over-voltage (OVP), under-voltage (UVP), short-circuit (SCP), over-temperature (OTP) and over-power (OPP). As always be quiet! can also be relied upon in terms of support since they cover the Dark Power Pro 12 models with a limited 10-year warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The PSU arrived inside a large black box that has the product name printed at the front and a product picture with the company logo and the power output on a moving piece of cardboard.

Both the serial numbers and barcodes along with the electrical table printed on that piece of cardboard are what we see at the rear.

This is an extremely premium product and so even the interior of the box reminds us of this.

Along with the Dark Power Pro 12 1500W unit, its modular cables and its power cord you're also getting the multi to single rail PCI switch, several holders for the sleeved cables, 5 cable ties, 10 mounting screws (two sets of 5), 10 cable straps and the user manual.

THE DARK POWER PRO 12 1500W EXTERIOR

By using individually sleeved cables it's not only easier to route them but they also take less space thus improving case airflow.

The multi to single rail switch could come in handy for people with ultra-high end graphics cards and extreme overlocks.

Measuring 200mm in length, 150mm in width and 86mm in height the Dark Power Pro 12 1500W is among the largest models to ever grace the lab.

Almost the entire top (or bottom, depends how you see it) of the enclosure is perforated thus allowing for optimal airflow levels.

The electrical table along with the 80 Plus Titanium certification logo is located on the left side.

Just the product line and company name can be seen on the opposite side.

The Dark Power Pro 12 1500W comes ready with 6 drive ports, 5 PCIe ports, 4 mainboard ports (including the 24pin port) and the multi to single rail port (all are both different in shape and tagged).

At the rear we see the on/off power switch, power port and the usual perforated grill.

THE DARK POWER PRO 12 1500W INTERIOR

Interior layout is very clean thanks to the lack of wires and according to the small print this is manufactured by CWT (Channel Well Technologies).

This time over be quiet! has used a frameless 135mm Silent Wings fan which can go all the way up to 2600RPM to produce up to 31.5dBA of noise.

All three primary capacitors are manufactured by the Japanese Nippon Chemi-Con and are certified for use up to 105 degrees Celsius.

Secondary capacitors include models by both Nippon Chemi-Con and Nichicon (all are rated for use up to 105 degrees).

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

     Using a dedicated measurement instrument such as a Chroma or a SunMoon to test power supply units is without doubt the most ideal and accurate way (not to mention the fastest) to do that currently. However, it's certainly not the only way there is and so pretty much anyone can test a power supply unit just by using a test rig. Certainly, limitations do apply and so you can't really push a 1000W power supply to its limits if your system only uses 500W at peak loads and that's why over the years we saved certain hardware components for the purpose of building a dedicated PSU test rig. True it may not be as accurate as the above mentioned solutions but it comes really close and is in fact much closer to real world usage. So as always, we ran several games with maximum graphic options enabled at a resolution of 2560x1600 in order to stress every hardware component and increase the overall power demands of the system. The Passmark BurnIn Test was also used to overstress the components in an effort to provide the most accurate results possible. As a final test we also used the latest OCCT 4.4 software and its dedicated PSU testing suite since it can really bring a power supply to its knees after inside a few minutes.

   Rail stability was checked/measured with the CPUID Hardware monitor and a Metex multimeter which also recorded the system load in idle and in load. As always try to remember that the power consumption numbers listed in the graph are the highest (Peak) ones recorded during the entire duration of the tests and not the average ones. Noise levels coming from the fan were recorded using the high precision HD600 ExTech Sound dBA Meter from the rear of the unit and at a range of no more than 5-10cm. Readings under load are recorded the exact moment we manually switch the fans of all graphics cards from full speed to almost zero, that way the fan of the power supply does not have enough time to slow its RPM and so by doing this we get very accurate noise level readings. Needless to say in order to get 100% accurate readings you need to have a noise isolated room for that exact purpose, something which is quite impossible unless you are working inside a real lab (some people use very small noise insulated boxes but due to their size both heat and noise exceed normal levels and so the results can't really be considered to be 100% accurate, nor realistic for that matter). Also do take into account that since all noise measurements take place from just 5-10cm away the final noise levels to reach your ears will be considerably less.

* After almost 8 years of testing PSU’s the Intel Core i7-920 CPU of this rig failed and so we replaced it with a Xeon X5660 (we also swapped the GA-X58A-UD7 for the G1. Assassin).

TEST RESULTS

CONCLUSION

   The brand new Dark Power Pro 12 1500W has it all, excellent build quality, the top electrical efficiency certification available currently (80 Plus Titanium), powerful multi +12V rails (or a single massive +12V rail), output (roughly 1700W peak), looks and a very generous 10 year limited warranty. Unfortunately, since my test bench can’t go over 1100W even under heavy load my noise level tests may not be 100% accurate so do expect slightly higher numbers if you happen to climb over that amount (still noise levels shouldn’t be an issue under any scenario). All that’s really left is price so let’s see just what be quiet! asks for their latest flagship.

   The Dark Power Pro 12 1500W Power Supply Unit by our friends over at be quiet! currently retails for USD449.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 417.10Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) a price tag which is actually not extremely high for an 1500W unit, especially since there’s but a few such models available in the market today. At the same time the Dark Power Pro 12 1500W is also not what anyone would call affordable but considering that it’s aimed towards people with graphics cards that cost at least twice as much (and in all probability systems that cost many times as much) it doesn’t need to be. Overall, as mentioned already the Dark Power Pro 12 1500W has it all and since it’s without doubt among the top 3 models in the market today it certainly deserves the Platinum Award.

PROS

- Excellent Build Quality
- Solid Rail Stability
- 80 Plus Titanium Certified
- Electrical Protections (OCP/OVP/SSP/OPP/UVP/OTP)
- Low Noise Levels
- Fully Digital
- Frameless Silent Wings 135mm Fan
- Multi & Single Rail Mode (40/45A & 125A)
- 10 Year Limited Warranty
- Design

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Available Outputs (1200/1500W)