INTRODUCTION

   With NVIDIA having already released the latest GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card and AMD rolling out their newest additions to their RDNA3 line of graphics cards (namely the Radeon RX 7700 XT and RX 7800 XT models) now is the time to grab an PCIe 5.0 & ATX 3.0 power supply unit. Now, I’m not going to lie to all of you, noone really "has" to buy an PCIe 5.0 & ATX 3.0 power supply unit, even more so if one already owns a high quality and performance model. Even though however noone must buy a new PCIe 5.0 & ATX 3.0 power supply unit the benefits of doing so are very clear and not only include power savings (higher efficiency levels) and better quality components (at least in most cases) but also improved specifications which make them ideal for all the latest graphics cards and motherboards (2xCPU/3xGPU excursion tolerance). The Straight Power 12 line of PCIe 5.0 & ATX 3.0 power supply units is the latest one by our friends over at be quiet! and today with me i have the flagship 1500W variant.

   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.

   As expected, the Straight Power 12 line includes fully modular models available in 5 different outputs (750/850/1000/1200/1500W) all of which feature the 80 PLUS Platinum certification (efficiency up to 94%) and are both PCIe 5.0 & ATX 3.0 compliant. As opposed to the rest of the line the 1500W variant which i have here with me comes ready with two +12VHPWR 600W power cables and sports a single powerful 12V rail (125A) capable of delivering 100% of the units’ total power output (1500W), peak power output of no less than 1671W (according to ATX 3.0 specs peak should now be up to 3KW for 100ms – this not something i can test however), four PCIe 6+2 connectors, high-speed Silent Wings 135mm fan, Full bridge LLC technology, 100% Japanese capacitors, wire-free DC interior side and individually sleeved cables. The latest Straight Power 12 is also secured by a full array of electrical protections including over-current (OCP), over-voltage (OVP), under-voltage (UVP), short-circuit (SCP), over-temperature (OTP), over-power (OPP) and Surge & Inrush (SIP). As always, be quiet! covers the brand new Straight Power 12 line with a very generous 10-year limited warranty.