While the power needs of modern computers are slowly but surely rising, not much has changed with current switch-mode power supplies. Even power supplies from 10 years ago are still effective and powerful, often just lacking in full modularity – the term used to describe Plug in the power for the cables you want and that’s it, unlike your old cables that had a bunch of red, yellow, and black cables going in and out, even though you only needed a few of them. The ATX standard is 20 years old, so if it’s built to the specification it will fit – but it’s worth noting that the standard has remained unchanged for twenty years.
With the advent of the Nvidia RTX 40 series, there’s no holding back on a holistic upgrade, and while there are a few other things to note, the main one is that the graphics cards have a specific 600-watt output, eliminating the need for weird three-connector adapters Cable requirements, mainly for high-end Nvidia GPUs, unlike their AMD counterparts, can draw more power than modern laptops. Therefore, the PCIe 5.0 12VHPWR connector is the main attraction as it uses a 12+4-pin connector instead of three separate 8-pin connectors.
There are some additional updates like changes to the 12V power rail, better efficiency at low loads, and faster system wake/boot, but honestly, for 99% of users, with a 5.0 watt connection The PCIe 600 connector of the processor is the main feature. Having said that, modern CPUs are becoming more and more demanding, with the latest Intel CPUs consuming around 300 watts at maximum load, whereas we at Gamereactor typically only detect around 50-60 watts being used by the motherboard over the rest of the computer , we know some readers experience 100+ watts – meaning if you have a factory overclocked RTX 4090, it can easily pull 580+ watts from the power supply, and you’d already need over 1kW of power for your ultra-high-end rig today powered by. This is actual power usage, and given that your power supply unit is never 100% efficient, you will be drawing more power than you would from a wall socket.
On top of that, power spikes were a big issue with previous generations of Nvidia RTX 3090 cards, as these spikes required up to 3x the nominal power, which meant your PSU had to allow up to 1800 watts, albeit for very short periods of time. Typically less than 100 microseconds.
In short, this is why we need extreme, over-the-top, oversized, high-quality power supplies that are very expensive. But let’s be honest, it’s always been that way, and anyone who bought a 1kw PSU over a decade ago will remember the pain of paying roughly twice as much for a power supply as a good mid-range graphics card. With that in mind, today’s asking prices aren’t that scary.
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We had the chance to try Be Quiet! The smallest of the Dark Power Pro 13 range, although small may not be the right word as it is rated at 1300 watts and weighs almost 2.5kg, it does have all the best Be Quiet! Required. It is fully digitally controlled, has an efficiency of 94.4%, and is Titanium 80 Plus certified. While the cheaper series like Pure Power and Straight Power also feature many of the same technologies, and in the case of Straight Power are also available in Full Bridge mode (dual transistor mode), Dark Power Pro is just slightly better and has slightly better specs A little, even down to using a 6 pole fan motor and a 135mm Be Quiet! Silent Wings fan to the point of hydrodynamic bearings.
It is worth noting that the three previously mentioned series all have the same level of user protection, whether in terms of temperature, overcurrent, overpower, overvoltage or undervoltage, surge and surge.
Dark Power Pro 13 visually stands apart from other Be Quiet! The product is slightly different as it features an impressive 6x 12V power rails and there’s even an overclocking key to combine multiple 12V power rails into one. There’s some really nice stuff too, like sleeved cables, extra cables, no less than six 6+2-pin sockets and up to 16 SATA connections. And the build quality of this thing is extreme. My only issue is the external power cord. The sockets are matched which means you can’t plug in any cable you like, you need to use Be Quiet! The cables are provided, and like me the cables are a little messy, which could spell disaster in the future.
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There’s no doubt this is a premium product, aimed at hardcore gamers who might want to overclock, and honestly, given the choice, most of us would. The whole box and packaging is really nice and even the coating on the aluminum chassis of the unit is well done. It comes with a 10-year warranty, which is pretty impressive. Same goes for the price, my local reseller “only” wants a little over 400 euros. To be honest, I expected the price to be at least 150 euros more. Yes, it’s the same price as the RTX 4060, but it’s still cheap for an overclocked, high-end PSU with all the features available.
The layout of the cable outputs actually does need some compliments, unlike most other cables they are well spaced and very clearly labeled. To my surprise, there are two PCIe 5.0 connectors, each with a dedicated 12V power rail that delivers 55A of continuous current, and additionally, each output is labeled with the corresponding 12V power rail number. However, the manual should always be consulted to avoid PSU load imbalance. Also, overclocking the PSU using all 12V rails, I don’t recommend it for daily use, it is designed to avoid using the protection mechanism during heavy overclocking, which is very useful as you can avoid overloading a single 12V rail, but for For everyday use, you want all the protection you can get.
Internally, filtering is accomplished by eight capacitors and two inductors along with a dual bridge rectifier configuration. Passive components include three huge “Japanese” capacitors, yes, two from Ki Mi Gong Japan and a higher capacity capacitor from Nippon Express, both 400 volts.
We managed to get some high-level loads, even reaching the 1300-watt mark, as the fans were completely silent until then. Heat wasn’t an issue either, thanks in part to the large radiator, and we never saw temperatures go above 37 degrees. While I didn’t manage to break it during testing, I also didn’t manage to max out the overcurrent protection, simply because my household circuit breaker doesn’t offer that much.
So, should you buy one? Well, even at this wattage, even from Be Quiet! There are cheaper options to start with, but at this level of performance the price isn’t that terrible, the build quality is excellent and the overclock button is very handy if you’re serious about overclocking.
