INTRODUCTION

   The numerous benefits of having a good power supply unit in your system have been mentioned in my reviews more times than i can possibly count but even so it seems that many people out there still place this specific hardware component last when building a new system. Unfortunately, the examples i have for this are many (not only from friends and family members but also all of you who contact me to share your experiences) and most of the times these result in people changing their minds not too long afterwards. Be quiet! has been one of a handful of PSU manufacturers to release new models on a regular basis and today with me i have the top-of-the-line 750W model of their latest Pure Power 11 FM line.

   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 Pure Power 11 FM line of power supply units by be quiet! is currently available in 550/650/750W models all of which sport the 80 Plus Gold efficiency certification (up to 93.9% electrical efficiency).The Pure Power 11 FM variant which i have here with me can deliver up to 750W of continuous power (888W peak) and features a fully-modular design with low-profile cables, strong +12V rails (36A/42A) which can deliver the units entire power output, active PFC, advanced stability and voltage regulation (thanks to its LLC, SR and DC-to-DC technologies), ATX v2.52 support and several electrical protections including OVP (over-voltage), UVP (under-voltage), SCP (short-circuit), OPP (over-power), OCP (over-current) and OTP (over-temperature). The Pure Power 11 FM is part of the “essential” line of products by be quiet! so it may not be quite as good as their dark power series but it should still be more than enough for the majority of users out there.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The box has a large product picture at the front right beneath the company logo and the 80 Plus Gold certification and just over the included output model.

At the rear we find the units electrical table, several certification logos, the serial numbers and barcodes and of course a 2D barcode which points potential buyers to product information.

Inside the box we see that the PSU is wrapped inside a bubble wrap whereas the rest of the bundle is placed under a piece of cardboard.

Along with the Pure Power 11 FM 750W unit, its low-profile modular cables and its power cord you're only getting 4 mounting screws and the user manual.

THE PURE POWER 11 FM 750W EXTERIOR

Be quiet! used a round braided power cable for the motherboard (24pin) and flat low-profile power cables for the graphics cards and SATA devices.

The chassis of the Pure Power 11 FM 750W measures 165mm in width, 150mm in length and 86mm in height.

A Silent Wings 120mm fan is placed at the top beneath a nice looking grill.

The company logo can be seen on the left side of the chassis while on the right side we find a large sticker containing the electrical specifications table.

All 9 modular connectors are tagged and different in size/shape.

At the rear we find the typical honeycomb perforation, power on/off button and the power port.

THE PURE POWER 11 FM 750W INTERIOR

The Silent Wings 120mm rifle-bearing fan used can reach speeds of up to 1800RPM.

Based on the design and codes of the interior this is an CWT unit (Channel Well Technologies).

The primary capacitors are manufactured by TEAPO and are certified for up to 85 degrees Celsius.

Secondary capacitors are also manufactured by TEAPO and are certified for use up to 105 degrees Celsius.

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 well over 10 years of testing PSUs 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 Pure Power 11 FM 750W by be quiet! performed very well during all tests, that includes both rail stability (not exactly rock solid for these load levels but very good regardless) and noise levels (doesn’t have a zero-RPM mode but up to 300-400W load it’s actually almost inaudible). Build quality is also very good all across the board, yes, the primary TEAPO capacitors may not inspire quite the same level of confidence as their Japanese counterparts but with a 5-year limited warranty you really shouldn’t worry about that (not to mention that CWT is among the leading manufacturers in the market today). One thing you may need to pay attention at is the two +12V rails since they may not be the ideal choice for high/ultra-high end graphics cards (although it is unfathomable to me that people who spend that much on a graphics card would choose to not get one of the Dark Power models instead).

   The Pure Power 11 FM line of 80 Plus Gold certified power supply units was officially launched just hours ago with the 750W variant (L11-FM-750W) retailing for around USD114.90 inside the USA (MSRP only – the entire line is not available at the time of this review) and for 117.86Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). So, unless 750W is just not enough to cover your needs (in which case one of the Dark Power models would be a far better fit) the brand new Pure Power 11 FM 750W power supply unit by be quiet! has your back and for everything it offers it gets the Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Very Good Rail Stability
- 80 Plus Gold Certified
- Fully Modular
- Electrical Protections
- Peak Output (888W)
- 5 Year Limited Warranty

CONS

- Current Availability (USA)
- TEAPO Capacitors (For Some)