INTRODUCTION

   Whenever a new standard gets introduced in the electronics industry the time required for compatible products to make their appearance is surprisingly short. The latest example is no other than the introduction of the ATX v3.0 standard for power supply units which brings about numerous improvements over its predecessor (including +12VHPWR PCIe connectors, up to 2 times total power excursion, 3 times GPU power excursion, 5 times higher slew rates for transient loads on the +12V rail and up to 200% the units rated power output for up to 100ms) and thus is considered an serious upgrade, especially for people with PCIe 5.0 motherboards and graphics cards. The Dark Power 13 was the very first PSU line by be quiet! to support the latest ATX v3.0 standard but since not all consumers are looking for a high-end model last month, they also released the Pure Power 12 M line the 1KW variant of which landed on my desk shortly after.

   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 12 M power supply units by be quiet! are part of their mid-end line and currently include 550/650/750/850/1000W output models all of which support both the latest ATX v3.0 and PCIe v5.0 standards, are fully modular and feature the 80 Plus Gold certification (up to 93.2% electrical efficiency). In regards to the 1KW unit i have here with me today it comes ready with a single 12VHPWR power connector (600W), two strong +12V rails (46/42A) capable of delivering 100% of the units’ total power output (1000W) and a peak power output of no less than 1138W (of course according to the new ATX 3.0 specification peak should now be up to 2KW for up to 100ms - this however is something I’m unable to test with such high wattage models). As for other features well Be quiet! this time around has used high-quality Taiwanese capacitors certified for use up to 105 degrees Celsius and has provided the Pure Power 12 M line with 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). Of course, as with past models be quiet! covers their entire Pure Power 12 M line with a welcome 10-year limited warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

As with past models at the front of the black box we find a large product picture, the company logo and the power output.

The electrical table is printed at the rear of the box alongside several certifications.

Inside the box the PSU is placed inside a bubble wrap and under a piece of cardboard.

Along with the Pure Power 12 M 1000W unit, its modular cables and its power cord inside the box you'll also find 5 cable ties, 5 mounting screws and the user manual.

THE PURE POWER 12 M 1000W EXTERIOR

Even though be quiet! has used sleeved motherboard power cables all else are low profile (slim) ones.

The Pure Power 12 M 1000W follows the typical ATX factor and measures 160mm in length, 150mm in width and 86mm in height.

For interior cooling be quiet! has used an 120mm intake fan placed under a nice looking grille.

On the left side of the housing, we find the company logo whereas on the right we find a sticker with the electrical table on it.

At the front of the Pure Power 12 M 1000W we find 10 modular ports which are both different in size and tagged.

Moving at the rear we find the power port and the on/off power switch.

THE PURE POWER 12 M 1000W INTERIOR

Once again be quiet! has used the 120mm BQ QF2-12025-HS fan (2000RPM) to keep temperatures in check.

Even though i forgot to check the OEM number of this unit the interior layout and components do point to HEC (will double check and correct this if I’m wrong).

Both primary capacitors are manufactured by the Taiwanese ELITE (Chinsan Electronic) and are certified for use up to 105 degrees Celsius.

Secondary capacitors are manufactured by the Taiwanese Teapo Electronic (Jamicon Teapo) and are also 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

   Be quiet! released their very first power supply unit roughly 2 decades ago and the rest as they say is history. I really can’t think of a single power supply unit under the be quiet! brand name to have ever arrived in the lab that didn’t perform extremely well and well, the Pure Power 12 M 1000W is no exception. Rail stability is very good across the board, noise levels even at full load are lower than similar output models (although not inaudible) and as for build quality even though the Taiwanese capacitors may not have quite the same “prestige” as Japanese ones (durability shouldn't be an issue however) and thus some people may prefer to look at another unit, they are still manufactured by two very well established companies in the field. On top of all of the above add the wide selection of models (550/650/750/850/1000W) and the 10-year limited warranty and the Pure Power 12 M line is a solid choice especially for people with PCIe 5.0 systems.

   After roughly a month in the global market the Pure Power 12 M 1000W power supply unit by be quiet! retails for USD164.90 inside the USA (Newegg.com) and for 181.92Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de), a price which is more or less what you’d expect for an 1KW ATX 3.0 & PCIe 5.0 compatible model. So, at the end of the day there’s really not much more I can say about the Pure Power 12 M 1000W model, performance and features are both there and even though availability outside the EU could indeed be better and the Taiwanese capacitors may honestly not agree with everyone everything else is more than enough for the Golden Award.

PROS

- Very Good Build Quality
- Solid Rail Stability
- ATX 3.0 & PCIe 5.0
- 80 Plus Gold Certified
- Electrical Protections (OCP/OVP/SSP/OPP/UVP/OTP)
- Dual Strong +12V Rails (46A/42A)
- 10 Year Limited Warranty

CONS

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