Be Quiet! Dark Power 13 - 1000W PSU Review - Certification & Efficiency

Certification

Be Quiet! offers the 13 series PSU now as a Titanium 80 Plus product certified by the 80PLUS organization. We already explained a little what that literally means. But what does such a certification entail? Well, 80 Plus is an optional certification program intended to promote efficient energy use in computer power supply units (PSUs). Launched in 2004 by Ecos Consulting, it certifies products that have more than 80% energy efficiency at 20%, 50% and 100% of rated load, and a power factor of 0.9 or greater at 100% load. That is, such PSUs will waste 20% or less electric energy as heat at the specified load levels, thus reducing electricity use and bills compared to less efficient PSUs.  The higher the rating, the less power you will consume.

80 Plus test type	115 V internal					230 V EU internal
Percentage of rated load	10%	20%	50%	100%	10%		20%	50%	100%
80Plus		80%	80%	80%			82%	85%	82%
80Plus Bronze		82%	85%	82%			85%	88%	85%
80Plus Silver		85%	88%	85%			87%	90%	87%
80Plus Gold		87%	90%	87%			90%	92%	89%
80Plus Platinum		90%	92%	89%			92%	94%	90%
80Plus Titanium	90%	92%	94%	90%	90%		94%	96%	94%

There certainly is plenty to choose from, we have Standard, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and thus Titanium certifications. A PSU that is certified 80 PLUS Titanium is more efficient than your regular unit. The Series 12 power supplies are certified by the 80PLUS organization to deliver a 96 energy efficiency at 50% load and still 90% efficiency when your PC is in idle. These days we suggest you get at least a 650 Watt PSU for any standard PC, but considering your PC / PSU is the most efficient and energy-friendly at half its load, it might be wiser to purchase a higher rated power supply. The 850W model tested thus is the most efficient at that region of 425 Watts, which is pretty spot-on for a modern powerful PC with a proper high-end graphics card. Listan released this power supply with the statement it will not only have a huge amount of power across all rails but does so with very little noise + the option to create one huge 12V rail - that is fairly unique.  

be quiet! Highlights from the Dark Power 13 Power Supply Series

• 80 PLUS Titanium efficiency (up to 95.8%)
• ATX 3.0 PSU with full support for PCIe 5.0 GPUs and GPUs with 6+2 pin connector
• Handles massive power excursions
• Improved and patented frameless Silent Wings fan for virtually inaudible operation
• Full mesh front with funnel shape air inlet upholds the high air circulation abilities
• Overclocking key switches between four 12V rails and one massive 12V rail
• Active Rectifier + full bridge LLC technology provides unmatched signal stability and extremely high efficiency at all loads
• One PCIe 5.0 12VHPWR 600W and 4 PCIe 6+2 connectors for overclocked high-end GPUs
• Modular cable management for maximum convenience
• 10-year manufacturer’s warranty

Warranty
The company will offer you a 10-year warranty.