Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 650 W

Wow! That's the first thought that popped into my head upon seeing the Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro. This is a premium product and the packaging and presentation shows it. Sitting pretty in the middle of the box is the PSU itself, while all round it are neat boxes containing all the various modular cables and accessories. This might seem like something of an overreaction for a bit of black corrugated cardboard, but considering how modestly packaged the majority of the supplies on test are it makes for quite a nice change.

The unit itself continues the expensive theme with its gold fan grill and glossy gun-metal casing. It's not quite bling, but it might attract a very inquisitive magpie. Also, unlike some of the paint finishes on other models this felt like it would survive a bit of a battering as well.

Beyond the shiny first impression there's also other areas where the cost of this unit shines through. For a start there's what looks like a fan cable alongside the main motherboard cable. It's not actually for controlling the fan speed on the PSU, but rather for reporting to your motherboard (and thus whatever monitoring utilities you may use) what the fan speed is. It's a somewhat superfluous addition for most people, but it's a bit of fun.

Rather more useful is the removal of the auxiliary 12V cables. Instead of being permanently attached there are separate modular sockets and cables for either the four-pin or eight-pin connections. There's even an EPS cable for use with those motherboards that support it (mostly only server boards). All these more exotic cables also have large labels with explanations on them as to what they do. A big thumbs up all round.

Meanwhile there is a real motley collection of other cables to choose from. Starting with the simple stuff there are two 65cm 6+2 pin cables for your graphics cards, a 110cm cable with four SATA connectors on it, and another 110cm cable with four Molex connectors on it. We then have two 50cm cables each with a single SATA connector, a 110cm cable with two SATA and two Molex connectors along its length (in that order) and a floppy connector on the end, a 50cm cable with a single Molex on the end, and finishing things off a 65cm cable with a blue Molex connector on the end labelled 'MB'. This last one is for use with some motherboards that require an extra power source when using multiple graphics cards.

Actually, those weren't the last cables, the truly last cables are in fact a set of four case-fan cables, each of which has a Molex and traditional two pin fan connector on it. These each have their own dedicated connection on the PSU as well.

With that exhaustive list of cables out the way, it's down to testing and here the Dark Power Pro continued to impress. As we've come to expect with all these PSUs coming from reputable manufacturers, it had no problems staying within the ATX specification, but what really impressed was the efficiency that started out at 84.5 per cent and just got better, rising to 88 per cent at its peak. Combined with whisper quiet performance in our sound level tests (35dB idle, 38dB load) and you have an absolute corker of a PSU.

Verdict

You may pay a £20 or so premium for this model over less flashy 700W modular power supplies, but in our opinion it's worth it. Superb efficiency, whisper quiet operation, dedicated fan headers, and a great modular system: it has it all.