be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM 1000W

[testman78]

Introduction

be quiet! periodically updates its range of power-supply units (PSUs) to incorporate new features and technology. It has been a year since the popular Pure Power 11 FM came in, and be quiet! believes there is enough new to warrant a range update. Over the last year we have reviewed the be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM 750W power supply and today we take our first look at the new 11 FM 1000 watt unit within the Pure Power range. This is the first of the new 1000 watt power supplies from be quiet! to break in under the €$160 price point while still offering a 80 PLUS Gold certified. Not everyone needs 1000w of power, of course, but when you do, it’s likely that you’re also the kind of system builder who demands the best performance from your components. At be quiet!, Pure Power stands for peerless dependability and a comprehensive feature set at a competitive price point. The new additions to the Pure Power 11 FM series is no exception: The Pure Power 11 FM 1000w power supply series exclusively using fully modular instead of fixed cables, only cables that serve a purpose are installed, resulting in a smoother airflow, lower temperatures, and easier handling inside the case.



As you can see, that two independent 12 V rails for signal stability are more than enough to power an extreme workstation or gaming system with enthusiast overclocks and multiple graphics cards. Pure Power 11 FM 1000w is equipped with six PCI-Express connectors, LLC + SR + DC/DC technology for advanced stability and voltage regulation. As usual, all modern protection circuits (including UVP, OVP, SCP, OPP, OCP, and OTP) are integrated.




Packaging & Contents

At front of the box there is a photo of the product, with the semi-modular panel shown. The series description is highlighted in large fonts and below it we find the unit’s capacity. The small 80 PLUS Gold badge is near the top-left corner.



At the rear be quiet! gives information showing the power specifications tabl and the various certifications that the product has achieved. There are also a couple of stickers with one of them listing the serial number.



We cannot say that the protection inside the box is the best possible, since only a little bubble wrap is used. We would like to see packing foam used instead.



Product manual and fixing screws.




You will also receive tie-wraps and a plug cable.




As for the wiring of this 1000-watt model, you have it in the image below.
1x 55cm 24-pin ATX connector (one cable)
2x 60cm 4+4 pin and 8 pin EPS12V connectors (two cables)
4x 50cm + 15cm 6+2 pin PCIe connectors (two cables)
8x 50cm+15cm+15cm+15cm SATA connectors (two cables)
2x Molex connectors + 2x SATA + 1x Floppy 50cm + 15cm + 15cm + 15cm + 15cm (one cable).



Plenty of connectors are included for any modern high-end PC, including two 8-pin EPS connectors for modern motherboards and up to 6 8-pin PCI-Express connectors for good compatibility with not only high-end GPUs, but also high-end configurations of various graphics cards. be quiet! made a smart choice here around the PCIe power connectors. Instead of using two connectors per cable, it uses a single 6+2 pin per cable. This makes it easier to manage away, while having the benefits of a single connector per cable to the GPU. This gives it a lower vdroop and because of that, a bit more headroom for spikes. With that said, the cables show it to be aimed for enthousiast systems. The power suppy is equipped with black flat cables and a black-sheathed 55 cm long, 20 + 45-pin ATX power cable. The CPU 8 pin (4+4) is the longest cable at 60 cm. Board and video cards are 16 AWG. The rest of the wires are 18 AWG.




A Closer Look Outside

The be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM 1000W power supply follows the appearance design of the PURE POWER series. The whole enclose has a lovely powder metal texture to it. The power supply has an overall size of 160 x 150 x 86mm, which can be compatible with different sizes of chassis. be quiet! has given the be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM 1000W a fan grille, which has 17 parallel bars. A 120 mm fan is installed behind the fan grille, which is immediately noticeable with its distinctive fan blades. From this angle we see the fan having a white rim ring.



A look at the bottom of the power supply.



On the right side of the case we can find a be quiet! Embossed logo.



On the left side we have the whole surface covered with the specs and power delivery sticker. The rated power of the power supply is 1000W. The product has passed 80 PLUS gold certification. The dual 12V output reaches 1000W, which can meet the power supply requirements of flagship platforms such as RTX 3090. be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM 1000W is designed to operate on AC mains with a voltage in the range of 100-240V. They are a total of 83.3 Amps spread over two 12v rails with a maximum load of 46A for the first and 42A for the second. The load capacity of the standby power line is 15 W.



Exhaust heat is allowed to leave at the back of the power supply through the honeycomb mesh opening. What you will find here is a vertically aligned male connector for power input on the western edge along with an on/off switch next to it. As with all active PFC power supplies, the be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM 1000W has automatic full range 100V to 240V AC line voltage selection, so the user does not have to worry about manually selecting input voltage.



At the front we can see the connections for the modular cables. The modular panel has nine sockets. The arrangement is easily accessible and clearly labeled. The connectors are gold plated to improve conductivity.




A Closer Look Inside

To remove the top cover, simply unscrew four screws, one of which is hidden by the warranty seal. This operation obviously invalidates the coverage offered by the manufacturer, which is why we do not recommend carrying it out for the first 5 years of the power supply's life. This is a powerful unit, so there’s a lot of hardware to contend with in here. This is a HEC design for be quiet!, and the build quality is very high indeed. The layout seems well thought out for surface cooling too. be quiet! make the point that they have invested a lot of time into ensuring these units do not exhibit any ‘coil whine’. This can be caused by poor winding of a transformer or coil. Also the conducting and insulating layers of a capacitor can vibrate excessively if the components are not wound properly. These vibrations can lead to audible noise that many people class as ‘coil whine’. The be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM 1000W power supply adopts an active PFC+LLC resonance+DC-DC solution to ensure the product's efficient and stable output under different loads. The upper parts of the large internal heatsinks have developed fins to facilitate heat removal by air currents. The aluminum of the radiators is blackened, which also gives a small increase in heat dissipation.



The AC receptacle hosts two Y caps. The other parts of the EMI filter are located on the main PCB, including four Y and two X caps, two CM chokes and a small MOV.



The secondary EMI filter circuit of the power supply is complete. The main capacitors are two 400V, 470 microfarad Teapo capacitors rated for 105C. They are connected in parallel and their total capacitance is 940 microfarads. I’m expecting this PSU will pull well beyond its 1000w rating with relative ease.



Champion manufactures the PFC controller (CM6500UNX), which is installed on the main PCB's solder side.



The supervisor IC is a Weltrend WT7527, supporting all essential protection features but OTP (Over Temperature Protection).



Soldering quality is satisfactory.



The 120mm rifle bearing fan (BQ QF2-12025HS) comes from be quiet! of course. A model that is capable of reaching 2000 RPM. Note that up to 60% load the fan will operate at constant speed until it reaches its maximum speed at 100% load.




Instrumentation used


Below we report the instrumentation used in the test phase for the be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM 1000W.



PowerKiller 2.0. Test bench designed for power supplies up to 2185W.
Stingray DS1M12 USB Oscilloscope
PCE-PA 6000 Wattmeter
Range 1W ~ 6kW
Accuracy ± 1.5%
Multimeters
3 x HT81
1 x ABB Metrawatt M2004
1 x Eldes ELD9102
1 x Kyoritsu Kew Model 2001
1 x EDI T053
Scythe Kama Wireless Thermometer
Center 325 sound level meter


Voltage Regulation

Line +3,3V.



Average Voltage 3.273 volts.
Deviation from the ideal value (3.33 volts)= -1.71%.

Line +5V.



Average Voltage 4.955 volts.
Deviation from the ideal value (5,0 volts)= -0.90%.

Line +12V.



Average Voltage 11.936 volts.
Deviation from the ideal value (12,0 volts)= -0.53%.

The drop in the output voltage as the load increases remains normal for good quality analog power supplies, but the average value is lower due to starting voltages already at the limit with the reference value. In any case, all three lines maintain values in all load conditions that are largely within the specifications required by the ATX standard.


Efficiency

The 80Plus Gold certification is confirmed by our test with a fair margin. The achievement of this level of efficiency, although now outclassed by the Platinum or even Titanium models, is still a high quality index that will result in prolonged use in an appreciable saving in the bill. Suffice it to say, in fact, that with a high-end station and a consumption of about 500W we will need to absorb only 542W from the electricity grid.




Ripple


The latest ATX 12 volt version 2.3 specifications state that ripple from peak to peak must be no higher than 50 millivolts for the 3.3 volt and 5 volt rails, while the 12 volt rail is allowed up to 120 millivolts peak to peak to stay within specifications. Millivolt figures are stated to the closest increment of 5 given their variability.
3.3 volt @ 100%



5 volt @ 100%



12 volt @ 100%



Just like we saw with the voltage regulation, the ripple performance is spectacular, easily some of the best scores we’ve seen and a sure sign that this unit can offer up clean and stable power delivery.


Cross Load

Line +3,3V.





Maximum Vdrop 0.06 volt (1.80%).

Line +5V.





Maximum Vdrop 0.05 volt (1.00%).

Line +12V.





Maximum Vdrop 0.25 volt (2.07%).

The excellent design and the robust components used show their fruits here. The three voltages of interest contain the deviation within 2% from the starting value up to the maximum supply.


APFC & OverLoad

The power factor control system (APFC) is also excellent for the be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM 1000W, achieving complete absence of phase shift at full load. We remind you that the reduction of the phase shift between the voltage wave and the current wave, operated thanks to the combined action of the inductor and the input capacitors, allows to minimize the apparent power which is of no use, but negatively affects the electricity detected by the meter.



As usual, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the protection systems and to verify the robustness of the power supply, we tried to push it beyond the specifications to its limit.



Despite the substantial overload, the output voltages remain within the limits imposed by the ATX standard, a sign of the correct sizing of the components and the effective functioning of the protection systems that interrupt the supply before the parameters go too far out of range.The efficiency also in this particular condition remains around 90% with about 1320W absorbed by the electricity network. As always, we recommend choosing the power supply without taking into account its overload potential, which we verify with the sole purpose of proving the robustness of the electronics used and the effectiveness of the protection systems.


Temperature

The large fan works well to expel heat out the rear of the chassis. The overall results are very good indeed.




Noise

The fan does not make much noise until the last 200 watts of power delivery. At full load its fairly active, but its hardly likely an end user will be running this supply at 1000 watt conditions continuously (100%). At 800 watt load, the fan is spinning moderately and will likely be masked by several case fans in a system build.




Final Thoughts

The new be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM 1000W perform as well as their predecessors (CWT OEM), while even improving (HEC OEM) on them in some key areas. Having a high-quality PSU pays dividends build upon build. We'd recommend a fully-modular design touting at least 80 PLUS Gold Efficiency, rock-solid voltage regulation and ripple suppression, all wrapped up in a chassis housing a high-quality fan. be quiet! aces each of those metrics with the Pure Power 11 FM 1000W. The components used, always of excellent quality(although some of the competition uses Japanese caps instead of mainstream Teapo caps), have been updated with even more robust elements and guarantee highly respectable electrical performance. The variation of the output voltages remains confined within 2% over the entire operating range, but even more astonishing and worthy of a very different range is the degree of cleanliness observed on the three lines of interest. Ripple suppression falls a little short of the Titanium and Platinum units and efficiency is obviously reduced to tie in with the less stringent 80 Plus Gold certification. The lower warranty period compared to other offerings in this category doesn't look good. That said, I had to list the five-year warranty as a negative since the competition provides longer ones. Given the 105°C bulk caps, I would have give this PSU a longer warranty. Most likely, both of these parts will easily outlive the provided warranty unless you push the PSU hard at over 45°C for prolonged periods of time.



Another killer power supply from be quiet!. Competition in the 1000W Gold category is fierce. It delivers big performance that’s going to give their competition a serious run for their money.