Be Quiet! Dark Power 13 PSU full review

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The Be Quiet! Dark Power 13 1000W is the flagship in the new generation of power supplies from the German brand. This product comes with many new features typical of a premium range, starting with its 80 PLUS TITANIUM efficiency that ensures 95.2%.

It introduces the 12VHPWR ATX 3.0 connection with a capacity of 600W for Nvidia GPU and also its exclusive lambda Overclocking Key feature that unifies the 4 12V rails into one for extreme overclocking work. A reference in its segment for previous generations, now revalidated to give even more.

Design

The design of this Be Quiet! Dark Power 13 is still one of the most worked and aesthetic on the market for power supplies, but also one of the widest with 175 mm in length. Therefore, be careful with compact and low-end ATX cases, as space could be compromised with its presence. It is only available in black, at least for the moment, using two-part metal exterior covers joined together by hexagonal head screws and security pins.

The top face where the air intake for the fan occurs consists of a metal grille on a plastic frame, which in turn is integrated into the exterior plate. Its refined design gives it great aesthetic presence in cases where this area can be visible, however, a denser dust filter could contribute to less dirt entering the components. The bottom face has nothing to show.

One of the sides is used to place the sticker with information on the power rails and power supplied, along with safety specifications. Under it and at both ends, we have two screws that must be removed to access the interior, which is a fairly annoying location. On the other hand, we will have the brand’s distinctive chrome finish, which would be visible in cases with a window in the PSU cover.

The back is where we have access to the 3-pin power connection, with a manual power switch for the occasion, and making it clear that it works in America from 100V and in Europe up to 240V. The rest of this area has two types of grille pattern through which the hot air from the cooling system will be expelled.

Connections panel and cable management

The Be Quiet! Dark Power 13 shows an internal 100% modular panel as it could not be otherwise, with just the connections for the cables included, which will be more than sufficient for any current general consumer (PC) assembly.

The only peculiarity we will have compared to other panels is the 3-pin OCK port for the Overclocking Key system that we will explain later. All connections have the distinctive marks of use and the rail to which they belong, being very useful information to make an optimal distribution of capacities as long as we do not use the OCK function mentioned. We can see different headers than usual, for example 12 pins for PCIe or 10 pins for EPS, ensuring the exclusive use of their cables.

Be Quiet! Dark Power 13 1000W connectors panel

Detailing the characteristics of its cables, we start with the main novelty, the 12VHPWR ATX 3.0 compatible with PCIe 5.0, which uses gauge 16AWG for the 12 main conductors. The two EPS cables for CPU with 8-pin headers, one of them divided into 4+4, also use gauge 16AWG. The 6+2 pin PCIe cables are somewhat peculiar, as from the beginning of their connection they are divided into two headers, combining gauges 16AWG and 18AWG in the cables.

Another peculiar configuration is the one carried out in the cables for peripherals, as we have the usual 4-pin SATA headers, but in addition, we add a cable with only 3 SATA headers and another with 2 SATA headers + 2 MOLEX. It is normal to have prioritized SATA headers as MOLEX is hardly used currently, and a count of 13 is more than sufficient.

Finally, the 3-pin connection for Overclocking Key has, either a direct connection jumper, or a 600 mm extension that takes the switch with LED to interact with this mode manually to the expansion slot of the chassis.

Internal analysis of the Be Quiet! Dark Power 13 1000W

Access to the interior of this Be Quiet! Dark Power 13 is achieved by removing a total of 4 hexagonal head screws, 2 of them will be under the descriptive sticker, which we discovered after the fact, that it is easy to remove without breaking it. The process implies the loss of warranty by breaking the seal, whose figure is fixed at 10 years for all Thermaltake units.

Internal platform with the ability to modify its rails

The platform on which this Be Quiet! Dark Power 13 1000W is designed consists of an advanced Active Rectifier topology on the AC side + LLC full bridge + SR + DC-DC, adopting a wire-free design on the DC side. It is available in 750, 850, and 1000W variants, with an efficiency of no less than 95.2% and therefore 80 PLUS TITANIUM certification, the highest available.

On it, we have by default 4 available 12V rails, two of them at 32A and the other two at 40A generating 996W in total. On 12V1 we will have the SATA, HDD, FDD, and 24-pin ATX connections, on 12V2 the P8 connectors for CPU and on 12V3 and 12V4 together the 12VHPWR PCIe 5.0 and PCIe headers. Through a switch and the Overclocking Key technology, the configuration will become a single rail thanks to the active rectifier, improving stability and reducing the possibility of overvoltage. On the other hand, the cooling system is composed of a 140 mm fan with PWM control, which is responsible for maintaining the temperature inside the PSU at an optimal level.

Protections

The list of protections for this power supply includes OCP, OVP, OPP, OTP, SCP, SIP and UVP using a supervisor IC Weltrend WT7527RA circuit on the secondary side and placed on the large additional vertical PCB, responsible for detecting short circuits. The transient filter includes, as usual, MOV and NTC thermistor that are close to the power supply.

Even being a considerable-sized power supply, the Be Quiet! Dark Power 13 1000W has required up to 3 additional PCBs placed vertically on the main one for the distribution of rails, primary side and secondary side. The rectifier and filtering transistor bridge have passive aluminum finned heat sinks. To adopt the ATX 3.0 standard with PCIe 5.0 power specifications, the power supply must ensure a tolerance to high-intensity load peaks, which Be Quiet! does not specify, but must tolerate up to 3 times the consumption of the graphics card.

Capacitors

Being faithful to previous generations, this new series has 100% of its capacitors made in Japan at 105ºC, ensuring maximum reliability and warranty.

On the primary side, two Nippon Chemi-Con 105o capacitors of 420V and 470µF stand out, thus adding no less than 940 µF of capacity. On the secondary side, we have Chemi-Con filtering capacitors of 3300µF. 6 Infineon BSZ0901NS DC-DC converters with a nominal capacity of 145A around the synchronous rectifier uPI UP3861P are added.

Be Quiet! Dark Power 13 1000W fan

The patented fan is another of the highlights of this Be Quiet! Dark Power 13 1000W, consisting of a Be Quiet! Silent Wings 3 model of 135 mm and a lifespan of 100,000h. Its peculiarity is that it does not have a frame around the blades, but two pieces forming a funnel that maximizes the airflow to the parts. The system is fixed by 3 screws on the PCB area, saving a lot of space inside the power supply.

It has DC control supporting up to 2100 RPM, although the manufacturer has recorded in its data table a maximum of 1092 RPM @25.8 dBA with a 100% load on the power supply. It uses Fluid dynamic (FBD) based bearings in its 6-pole motor, a classic in the fans of the German manufacturer.

Final words and conclusion about Be Quiet! Dark Power 13 1000W

We finish the analysis of this power supply with which Be Quiet! takes another firm step to stay at the forefront in the segment. Its ability to change from a multi-rail to a single-rail system is practically unique, making the Overclocking Key function effective for those who perform extreme overclocks on CPUs. The only thing we can reproach is that it does not have a semi-passive mode for its fan, but we recognize that it is one of the quietest power supplies on the market.

The technique involves additional effort in the design of the platform, where this power supply shines thanks to its excellent construction, safety systems and 100% Japanese capacitors. The implementation of the PCIE5 connector with a capacity of 600W for the latest and most demanding Nvidia cards is added, specifying more than 95% energy efficiency.