Dark Power Pro 1000 Watt PSU review

Let's dive into some dark matter, the Dark-Power Pro.

Listan released this power supply with the statement that it will not only have a huge amount of power across all rails, but does so with very little noise. The PSU, under the SKU name 'BQT P6 PRO-1000', as explained has terrific aesthetics which we'll show you later on in our photo-shoot. A 1000 Watts ready for Quad GFX solutions and multi-core (server) systems. The PSU itself is build in accordance with ATX12V Version 2.2 and EPS12V Version 2.91, including 8-pin 12V connection specification.

If we look closer at the voltage rails for a minute, we see there's nothing to complain about. There's enough overall juice for anything, yet focus on the important 12 Volts rails. Now get this: There's a total of six +12V circuits. You get to play around with five PCIe connectors for your graphics cards (2x PCI-E 2.0 6+2-pin & 3x PCI-E 1.0 6-pin). These six separate 12V circuits each are rated with a 20A maximum peak load to ensure the stable distribution of the power requirements of your high-end gear.

To get you a broader overview, one GeForce 8800 GTX draws 9A.

Cabling ... good gosh. You can connect whatever you want, it's near crazy how much cabling you'll receive. You'll receive grand total of 20 cable strands, of which 18 are removable. The photo's on the next pages will make you laugh! It's a lot of cabling, and thus options (which is great).

Two 6+2-pin PCI-E II connectors and three 6-pin PCI-E connectors are provided for SLI and Crossfire graphics cards, possibly with Physics support. In addition, there is a P8 connector and up to twelve SATA connectors for the connection of external peripheral devices.

ECASO - We noticed some new smart cooling features in the Enermax infinity review already, cool to have. When you shutdown the PSU it's fan will remain active for another 3 minutes making sure the components are cooled down (ECASO technology). This also applies to the additional three fans you can connect to the PSU.

Some notable features:

• high efficiency rate of up to 80%
• active PFC with PF of up to 0.99
• stabilization and improvement of the output currents.
• manufactured strictly according to RoHS guidelines

It's modular alright:

• flexible cable management (up to 20 cable strands, 18 of them removable)
• high quality processing, with nylon weave cable sheath
• greatest compatibility with available mainboard technologies
• Six separate 12V circuits
• the use of SLI, CrossFire systems and Quad SLI ready!
• P8 connection for dual server mainboards
• 12 x SATA connections
• Ready for the next generation of graphic cards

Technical data:

• 1000 W Power
• ATX12V Version 2.2
• 24 Pin Mainboard Connector with adapter to 20 Pin
• 5x PCI-Express Connectors (two 8-pin ready)
• 12x SATA Connections
• 11x 4 Pin Connectors (HDD)
• 1x 4 Pin Connectors (FDD)
• 1x 120mm Silent fan
• Active PFC with PF up to 0,99
• P4 and P8 Connector
• 3x 3 Pin Molex fan Connectors
• Specification: +3,3V: 24A, +5V: 28A, +12V1: 20A, +12V2: 20A, +12V3: 20A, +12V4: 20A, +12V5: 20A, +12V6: 20A, -12V: 1A, +5VSB: 6A

Yep, all that power offering modular design, five PCIe connectors and bunch of other stuff, it's really an impressive power supply.

Power Efficiency
Judging from the specs the power efficiency of the Dark power Pro 1000W is nothing to be ashamed about either as it is rated at +80% overall efficiency with a load of 50%. Measured at 230V (which we use here in Europe).

But what does that mean? The Power Efficiency of a power supply?

First and foremost; the higher the better, efficiency is good. When power is drawn from your wall socket and travels into your power supply, not all of it is transformed into electricity that your computer consumes. A rather large part of that current will get lost as there is heat that is dissipating in the capacitors or leakage in circuits and other insufficiencies. So it boils down to this: If your computer requires 500 watts of power, a power supply will draw more than that from your electric company. Here's an example:

If you have a generic power supply with an average 70% efficiency a 350 power draw (350/70x100) watt load would mean it is drawing 500 watts of current from your wall socket while your PC only uses 350 watts, interesting eh?

Let's do that math again with the Infinity, yet this time with a 80% power efficiency in mind: 350/80x100= 437 Watt. So that's saving 63 Watts over a 70% efficient product. If you have your PC powered on a lot , think about this theory and what it can save you in the long term. The higher the efficiency the less power loss, the less money you have to pay. And hey ... it's good for mother nature as well.

So next to being a really capable and efficient PSU.

Active PFC
This model has a very nice feature called Active PFC. To put it in simple terms, Active PFC PSUs are more expensive and, from a power consumption point of view, more efficient. Power Factor Correction (PFC) allows power distribution to operate at its highest efficiency. There are two types of PFC, Active PFC and Passive PFC. This PSU has Active PFC. Active PFC uses a circuit to correct power factor, Active PFC is able to generate a theoretical power factor of over 95%. Active Power Factor Correction also markedly diminishes total harmonics, automatically corrects for AC input voltage, and is capable of a full range of input voltage. Since Active PFC is the more complex method of Power Factor Correction, it is definitely more expensive to produce an Active PFC power supply.

Warranty
You'll notice it straight from looking at the box if you purchase it, the PSU has a 3 year warranty which is an reasonable amount of warranty and 1 year more than legally required. If you are German you are in luck (it's a German manufacturer) you get 1 year of free on-location replacement service: At the front door of the end customer within 48 hours (in Germany only).

Alright ... Dual CPU, Quad Core, Triple Graphics + 18 Drive ready. Let's have a look at the photo shoot followed by some testing.