be quiet! Dark Power Pro 13 1600W

[testman78]

Introduction

The subject of today's review could only be the new top of the range from be quiet!, the Dark Power Pro 13 1600W. Here, clearly, with these block, we aim at the top of the top, the Rolls of the power supplies. On the one hand, we find quite crazy power, indeed, blocks of 1300W and 1600W, it does not run the streets. Then, we also have the best in terms of performance with 80+ Titanium certified power supplies. The new Dark Power Pro 13 1600W unit which meets the strict ATX v3.0 requirements, meaning that it can deliver up to 3200W for short periods to cope with the increased energy demands of the current and upcoming GPU generations. The fact is that there aren’t many choices featuring ATX v3.0 compatibility at 1600W because it is tough to build a platform able to withstand 3200W loads, even for short periods. The Dark Power Pro 13 1600W comes with two 12VHPWR connectors, set to 600W each, allowing it to handle powerful workstations, equipped with a pair of RTX 4090s.



Before continuing with our analysis, we leave you with the table with a comparison between the rating data of all the Dark Power Pro 13 models currently available. The new flagship PSU line, consisting of only two members with capacities of 1300 W and 1600 W. Both use a platform provided by Channel Well Technology (CWT) and are 80 PLUS Titanium certified. There is nothing higher than 80 PLUS Titanium in the efficiency stakes, which means at least 90 percent efficiency at 10 percent load, rising up to a whopping 96 percent at 50 percent. There can clearly be very little wastage in converting mains AC power to computer 12V power, and only a handful of supplies are able to ramp up electrical excellence to this level. Otherwise, internally, the blocks are based on Full bridge + LLC topologies with a fully digital control behind. They retain the fully modular management of cables with the presence of a sheathing strand by strand.





Packaging & Contents

As always we start with the simple stuff, the packaging so you know what to look for in the stores. The box is huge, which isn't surprising for such a large PSU. be quiet! stay true to tradition – the box artwork is mean and menacing with the only colour being the be quiet! orange accented logo. Looking at the box’s front, it displays an image of the PSU, with be quiet! on the top-right corner. Under the image, you’ll find the name of the unit and 1600W present.



Flipping the package, there are more details related to the product that you can use as a reference. These include the unit’s electrical table, a couple of logos, barcodes, serial numbers, and a 2D barcode. The latter directs you to the product details. The box in the new model clearly state that this unit is ATX v3.0 and PCIe 5.0 compatible.



The box is ‘layered' inside.Opening up the main box and the PSU greets us, which is wrapped in a fabric sleeve and placed in a dense foam to protect the unit during transport. To the right, we have another box lid, which is where we will find the cable and accessory sets.



Here we have the PSU chassis itself, which comes in a fabric style sleeve.



You get plenty of accessories, including Velcro straps, zip ties, a bunch of cable combs for the individually cables, and two sets of fixing bolts.



There is the overclocking key, or keys, to be more precise, since there is also a plain jumper, which does the same job as the overclocking switch, but without the option to return to multiple rails. To do so, you have to access the PSU's rear panel and remove the jumper.



The last part of the accessories for the Dark Power Pro 13 is the manual, which covers the 1300W and 1600W models. The manual is multi-language and covers the safety, cautions, and basics of the PSU.



A large number of cables accompanies the PSU. This is expected, of course, given the huge capacity. You get a ton of cables and connectors with the Dark Power Pro 13 1600W, including two EPS and a lot of PCIe options plus two PCIe 5.0 cables. There are enough SATA connectors for even a data-storage server, and the 4-pin Molex connectors are more than enough as well.




The cabling is assorted as below:




All cables are long enough, but I would like to see an even longer ATX cable of 650 mm or more. The peripheral connectors are adequately far apart at 150 mm. Finally, there are no in-cable caps, and the EPS and PCIe connectors use thicker 16AWG gauges.




All of the cables are black, with black connectors and individually braided sheath wires. This makes for a premium feel and aesthetic, and something I think should be a requirement of any top of the line PSU.





A Closer Look Outside

The exterior design is excellent and screams of high quality. The casing is aluminum, which brings a little something extra. The be quiet! Dark Power Pro 13 1600W is visually imposing, featuring a unique layered chassis. The exterior is almost entirely black, with very smooth brushed surfaces and sharp edges. The dimensions are 86mm x 200 mm x 150 mm. The chassis is very long, measuring 200 mm deep, which makes it incompatible with a large number of smaller cases, but this shouldn't be an issue for the kind of large computers where you'll need (and be able to cool) 1kW to begin with. The bottom side of the chassis is almost perfectly clean (blank brushed metal), with the small exception of the warranty sticker.



Almost the whole top-most area of the be quiet! Dark Power Pro 13 1600W PSU is practically made from a mesh cover. It’s actually a good thing since it allows the PSU to get optimal levels of airflow. Chrome fonts form the series and company logos on one side of the unit.



Flipping the PSU a quarter turn, we see that the spec label is printed on the side. Here is also where we see the serial number label along with several certifications and regulatory icons. These include an electrical table and the 80 PLUS Titanium certification. Here we see that the break down of the amperages per rail is displayed, and well, this PSU can carry a pretty heavy load. As on previous generations of the Dark Power range, our Dark Power Pro 13 can switch between two operating modes in the management of 12 V rails. However, we have the option of switching the power supply to a “single rail” mode. The brand offers a bracket equipped with a switch to switch from one mode to another. When activating the “Overclocking” mode, the digital control gathers all the power of the supply on a single 12 V rail.



At the rear, all sockets feature descriptions, and the virtual 12 V rails that feed them with power are also depicted to ensure the modular cables are connected correctly. In a multi-rail +12 V PSU, connecting all the cables correctly is vital as OCP may inadvertently trigger under high loads otherwise. You can avoid this issue altogether by enabling overclocking mode, where all virtual +12 V rails are merged into one by disabling OCP on this rail. be quiet! even labels every output so you can balance the load to different rails if you are loading up enough components to really push the PSU capabilities. On the left side of the block (well at the bottom of the power supply cover), we have the 6 connectors dedicated to peripheral cables. These are followed by the two sockets of the ATX (“MB”) cable. Next, in the bottom row, are two CPU sockets (“P8″). On the right side, we have the 3 classic PCIe sockets, one of which combines the two 12V rails allocated to them. We end with the two PCIe 5.0 sockets (12VHPWR). It is these last two sockets that differentiate a Dark Power Pro 13 from the Dark Power Pro 12. There is also the small 3-pin “OCK” connector. As soon as you connect (power off) the jumper, you switch to “single rail” mode. You can also connect the 3-pin socket of the optional “Overclocking” bracket (included in the bundle). So you can switch from one mode to another without having to open the PC box. This switch can only be done when the PC is off.



On the other side of the PSU, you’ll see the on/off power switch, mesh grille, and the power port. The multi-to-single rail switch is the best choice for those who use ultra high-end graphics cards. Plus, it’s also perfect for those who do extreme overclocking. The mesh grille keep large objects from reaching inside and shorting the high-power internal components.




A Closer Look Inside

This be quiet! Dark Power Pro 13 1600W PSU review won’t be complete if we don’t look into the product’s interior. By dismantling the power supply, we are doing away with the 10-year guarantee. Indeed, the seal crumbles as soon as we start to peel it off. We slide the mesh grille that filters the air inlet at the fan level.



The fan that equips the power supply comes in “spare parts”.



Indeed, it can be seen that the frame of the fan remains independent of the blades. It is divided into two parts fixed to the walls of the block. The cooling fan uses a frameless design, which helps in producing more airflow. According to be quiet! this design also allows for lower noise output.



The fan is a be quiet! Silent Wings 3 model at 135mm. It is a 6-pole FDB fan with a maximum RPM of 2600RPM.



be quiet! employs several OEMs for the design and production of their PSUs. The OEM behind the creation of the Dark Power Pro 13 is Channel-Well Technologies, or CWT. Many experienced enthusiasts might have guessed that sooner by the presence of the multiple virtual 12V lines, a design tactic frequently employed on their platforms. The large heatsink is responsible for dissipating the heat emitted by the MOSFETs that participate in the PFC (Power Factor Corrector) module. The latter is of an interleaved design which minimizes input/output current ripple and reduces conduction losses while maximizing efficiency. Cooled by this smaller sized heatsink we have the two bridge rectifiers.



Soldering quality is good, as expected in such an expensive product.




The transient/EMI filter has more than enough parts to do a good job. Still, we noticed several high EMI spurs during the EMC pre-compliance test that we conducted.




The transient filter is complete, and to save energy, it includes a discharge IC for the bleeding resistors of the X caps.



The two bridge rectifiers can handle up to 50 A of current.



The APFC converter is an interleaved design, which minimizes input/output current ripple and lowers conduction losses, thus increasing efficiency and doubling the effective switching frequency.



Two On Semiconductor NCP81071 ICs drive the PFC FETs.



The bulk caps have a combined capacity of 1830 uF.



Four Alpha & Omega AOTF29S50 FETs are the main switching FETs.



A pair of Silicon Labs Si8233BD driver ICs handle them.



The digital controllers handles the interleaved PFC converter and unit's protection features.



Instead of a single large transformers, two parallel ones are used. This design offers higher efficiency since the load is equally distributed on the transformers.



Twelve On Semiconductor FETs generate the +12 V rail.



The DC-DC converters that generate the minor rails are controlled by an analog IC provided by Anpec. Moreover, six FETs in total are used by both converters.



Most electrolytic caps are of high quality. A large number of polymer caps are also used.





Besides the digital controllers, CWT used two Weltrend ICs for the PSU's protection features.



This daughter board hosts the circuit that generates the 5VSB circuit, which is also controlled by an analog IC.



To restrict ripple on all rails, several polymer caps have been installed on the modular board.




Instrumentation used


Sleek, stylish, and professional. The be quiet! Dark Power 13 looks to be a fantastic design both internally and externally. There is though, and of course, the small matter of how this actually performs when operating. So, without further a do, let’s get this strapped onto our test bench and see how it does!Below we report the instrumentation used in the test phase for the Dark Power 13.



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
Multi-Channel Datalogging Digital Thermometer PCE-T 1200
Center 325 sound level meter


Voltage Regulation

Voltage regulation tests are performed by connecting all power lines to our PowerKiller simulating the behavior of the power supply with loads comparable to those of a real location.
Line +3,3V



Average voltage 3.256 volts
Deviation from the ideal value (3.33 volts) = -2.22%

Line +5V



Average voltage 5.006 volts
Deviation from ideal value (5.0 volts) = 0.13%

Line +12V



Average voltage 11.986 volts
Deviation from ideal value (12.0 volts) = -0.11%

As expected, the voltages remain around the nominal value with very limited deviations over the entire operating range.

Test 12VHPWR

With the be quiet! Dark Power Pro 13 1600W we inaugurate a new test, with which we will verify the capabilities of the 12VHPWR cable.
Summarizing the information in our possession we have:

600W is the maximum power declared for the supplied cable.
850W is the power we drew from single 12VHPWR cable with still optimum voltage.

Since the 12VHPWR cable supplied by be quiet! comes from two PCI-e 8pin ports and not from a dedicated connector, there is no specific limiter, so we could have asked for even more power and for a long time (connector tightness permitting) without the power supply noticed nothing.




Efficiency

The efficiency found during our tests on the be quiet! Dark Power Pro 13 1600W confirms the well-deserved 80plus Titanium certification. At 50% of the load we will "waste" just 30W compared to the 800W made available by the power supply.




Ripple

Given that a low ripple noise output is one of the key features listed for the be quiet! Dark Power Pro 13 1600W PSU, it was, of course, exceptionally important to check this to see if the claim is valid. And the short version is, it 100% definitely is!





Given that the required EU maximum score is 50, you can clearly see from the results provided that this power supply comes absolutely nowhere near that figure. In fact, on the whole, the scores provided are undoubtedly among some of the most consistently low we have ever encountered and, overall, this means that this PSU has been designed to deliver its performance in a clean manner.




Cross Load

Line +3,3V





Maximum Vdrop 0,07 volt (2,10%)

Line +5V





Maximum Vdrop 0,06 volt (1,17%)

Line +12V





Maximum Vdrop 0,21 volt (1,73%)

The Cross Load test session, which aims to verify the stability of the voltage supplied on the individual lines, is archived with excellent results. The 12V line has a voltage drop of just 210mV over a range of 1600W! However, the lower voltages remain around the excellent threshold of 2%. Needless to say, with so much power, it's really hard to get better than the digitally controlled models. The Dark Power Pro 13 1600W confirms, once again, the goodness of be quiet! projects.


APFC

The power factor control system (APFC) performs its duty well, giving its best over 50% of maximum power. Not the best value ever but, still, very respectable.



As for the overload test, we would like to reiterate that it is not wise to let an out-of-spec power supply work, but from what we see be quiet! has been particularly conservative in declaring the potential of this power supply.



The power supply stopped just above the 2000W supplied with a power surplus of 26%. With a power absorbed by the mains of 2220W, the efficiency has however remained at extremely high levels (91%). Despite the heavy overload, the voltages remained within the values set by the ATX standard, with the 3.3V voltage very close to the minimum limit, thanks to a starting value equal to the reference value. At this point, there are no doubts about the exceptional solidity of the new be quiet! Dark Power Pro 13 1600W. It must also be said that the intervention speed of the protection system is proportional to the speed with which the rated power is exceeded, simulating rapid spikes, the PSU stalled just above 1750W. As always, we reiterate that the overload test is performed by us for the sole purpose of ascertaining the goodness of the internal circuitry and protection systems, which is why we recommend choosing the power supply based on the real needs of your workstation without relying to its ability to work off specification.


Temperature

We didn't measure high temperatures inside the PSU during this test. The highly efficient platform minimizes energy losses. The Dark Power Pro 13 1600W took every bit of the 1600W+ load we threw at it and didn't even break a sweat with internals staying under 60C with ease.




Noise

The acoustic impact test, aimed at defining the noise values that the power supply generates during its operation, is the only test that we are usually forced to "simulate". In fact, our test bench requires adequate cooling in order to be able to absorb hundreds of watts of power, which does not go well with the need to eliminate any external source of noise in order to be able to evaluate the one produced exclusively by the power supply. For this reason, the test is usually conducted by powering the fan externally and simulating the rotation speeds at the load, if indicated by the manufacturer, or simply the noise level over the fan's operating range if the association is not available. We remind you that the value perceived by our hearing as close to silence is 30dB and that increments of 10dB correspond to a perception of doubling of the noise level.The correspondences of these values are easily observable on the noise scales available on the net. Ambient noise 27.9 dBA.



The fan used on the Dark Power Pro 13 1600W has characteristics similar to those previously seen on other be quiet! models. The unit is extremely versatile and allows and offers a consistent flow of air already at low rotation speeds, although it can theoretically reach over 2,000 RPM if necessary. The Silent Wings 3 135mm fan, even under heavy load, was never audible, and when it did ramp up, it was not something I could hear even close to as loud as the render cards we had loaded up.


Final Thoughts

With the growth in consumption of the latest high-end hardware, the strong resurgence of over kW power supplies was, regretfully, inevitable. be quiet's response to the changing needs of the market was not long in coming and two authentic heavyweights were presented. The be quiet! Dark Power Pro 1600W is a high-performance power supply, among the best in the very high wattage category. It uses a new CWT platform of high build quality, one capable of dealing with harsh conditions well. The unit utilizes the latest Intel 3.0 ATX specification and PCIe Gen 5.0 GPU power connector. It comes also with tons of connectors. Only two of these are EPS connectors, however, which seems to be the new trend, and since be quiet! also builds cases, cable configuration is excellent—this PSU won't have any compatibility issues with large full-tower cases. The Dark Power Pro 13 1600W has large dimensions, measuring 200mm in depth, so you must check if your chassis can accommodate it before you get it. That said, most normal dimension ATX chassis will be compatible. The fully modular cable design will make the installation easy despite the large footprint. This is a high-end and expensive PSU, which is clearly shown by the exterior design and the quality finish. Moreover, the bundle is rich, including, among others, Velcro straps, zip ties, and cable combs. There are plenty of cables in the box, catering for even the most demanding systems on the market today. The be quiet! cables are high quality braided design and they should appeal to a wide audience in regards to appearance. Technically, the system passed all tests with flying colours. Load regulation is class leading, and there were no issues when dealing with demanding cross load test situations. The transient response and ripple suppression are good as well. This is an efficient platform. The Dark Power Pro 1600W is fully compatible with the new specifications up to 1000W of supply, this is because the power supply is required to be able to supply 200% of the power for at least 100uS with a Duty Cycle of 10%. In a nutshell, the Dark Power Pro 1600W can easily handle peak power consumption of 2000W, well beyond the real needs of any high-end workstation. If there was someone who needed ATX 3.0 certification on a 1600W we would really like to understand what they think of absorbing 3200W with. Besides top performance, the Dark Power Pro 1600W is also silent. We’d typically expect to see control and monitoring capabilities through software at this segment of the market. So that’s one thing to bear in mind. The adoption of high grade 105C rated Japanese Nippon Chemi Con capacitors is reassuring to see, and as it is backed by the be quiet! 10 year warranty – this should give a prospective customer peace of mind well into the future. This is a huge warranty that promises users that their PSU should be good enough to last several system upgrade cycles without any issues. That's the level of confidence that be quiet! has in their PSUs. Think of how many times you will likely upgrade your PC over the next 10 years, and know all of those upgrades are unlikely to require a PSU change.



Engineering a best-in-breed PSU is an expensive business because chasing that last one or two percent of efficiency requires investment in new platforms and chassis. It's price is high (429,90 €), but I should probably stop including “expensive” in the cons list of such products because achieving such high build quality requires costly parts. The same goes for the development circle and the testing phases before the product goes into mass production. All these add to the cost. When you pay close to 1000€ for a mid-level graphics card, you should not whine for a top PSU with a 400-500€ tag. After all, you don’t buy a new PSU as often as a graphics card or a CPU and mainboard combo. The flagship of the Dark Power Pro 13 line with 1600W maximum power output is a Outstanding power supply—built like a tank. It oozes quality. This is the kind of PSU you'd include in a dream build.