Dark Power Pro 600 Watt ATX Power Supply
Model:  BQTP6Pro600W(active PFC)
Manufacturer: Be Quiet!
Price: 135 USD/EUR
Info: website

Hello and welcome to yet another power supply review. How come we review so many PSU's these days ? Well .. roughly a year or two ago we already stated that stable and high-end power supplies would become just as important as any other primary components in your PC in terms of the performance and overall stability.

Face it, high-end gamers PCs these days need a good power supply unit (PSU). The power consumption that a PC can create these days is a little unheard of. Increased transistor counts for processors (GPU/CPU) versus higher clock frequencies and most of all do not ignore the "Dual & Quad" trend. We have multi-core CPUs, and instead of one graphics cards we now have the option to double up graphics power with cards in SLI or Crossfire mode. Such a PC during a gaming session can average at 400-500 Watts power consumption ... so now you can see why these little old grey 300 Watt PSU's we had 3 years ago are by far not sufficient anymore.

A PSU needs to manage the power demand in a very secure way otherwise it'll create instability throughout the system. That instability can result as crashes, freezes, underperforming software such as games that run poorly when the graphics card isn't fed enough power, and even resets or shut downs of the system completely. Pease do not underestimate the importance of the PSU.

Two years ago another trend picked up which we did not foresee ... we, the consumers, all created a demand for modified PCs. The dull beige painted PCs had to go. We want nicely shaped cooled and preferably lit PCs with side windows so we could actually look at the inside of the PC. Really cool to look at .. but that created another issue. We now had the beautiful looking cases where you could look inside, but that resulted in pulling the hairs out of your head as there were yellow, red, and black wires coming from the PSU everywhere.

So the power supply received another function, aesthetics .. it needs to look nice. By organizing cables and by giving you the option to actually modify the wires you want to use, another problem was solved. We call it cable management these days.

The two reasons mentioned above from a consumer point of view have been by far the most important development for PSUs, namely stable high output quality power distribution and the option for modability, using only the wires what you need. Almost ANY manufacturer has picked up on this trend and is has become a very big market for sure.

But yet another factor rises that we now need to weigh in. Sound levels coming from your PSU. The high rated PSU's typically have two fans and a lot of manufacturers did not pay attention to all the noise a PC makes these days. So the third factor was utilizing silent high-performance fans preferably with smart-fan technology (variable fan speeds based on heat).

You will notice that all supplied connectors are nicely wrapped in a black colored foil/plastic and are detachable. It is looking good for sure. It's advanced cable management that facilitates the installation and gives you the option to only use the required cables.