We’ve always had a fondness for power supplies that offer variety when it comes to cabling, such as cables of different lengths and lots of options for SATA and Molex connectors. So when we saw the unprecedented assortment of cable options that be quiet! includes with the partially modular Dark Power Pro 10 750W, we geeked out a little.
Dark Power Pro 10 750W
be quiet! | www.bequiet.com
For instance, this PSU comes with three cables for CPU power, each with a distinct connector(s)—a 4-pin, a 4+4-pin, and one with both an 8-pin and 4+4-pin. You’ll only be able to connect one of the CPU power cables, but we appreciate that be quiet! gives you the flexibility to adapt the power supply to different builds. Similar mix-and-match options are available with the PCI-E, SATA, and Molex cables. For instance, there is a cable that offers a single SATA connector and one with a single Molex connector, as well as a cable that mixes SATA and Molex connectors. This way, you’ll be able to select the modular cables that are ideal for your build.
be quiet! designs this 750W power supply with four 12V rails (two 25A, two 30A).
You’re not tied to the four-rail setup, though, because the Dark Power Pro 10 has a physical switch that mounts to your case’s rear expansion slots and lets the PSU function as a 62A single-rail power supply. be quiet! indicates that the single-rail setup is ideal for overclockers. The multi-rail setup is safer, however, because each 12V rail is secured with its own overcurrent protection.
The Dark Power Pro 10 offers six 6+2-pin PCI-E connectors, which is enough to wire a triple SLI or CrossFire setup. Those with high-end GPUs will first need to consider their cards’ power requirements, though. be quiet! tells us that the Dark Power Pro 10 750W can comfortably handle two top-of- the-line GPUs. A good number of SATA (nine) and Molex (nine) connectors are available, too. The Dark Power Pro 10 750W offers a number of features aimed at reducing system noise. First, its 135mm SilentWings PWM fan uses an advanced fluid dynamic bearing that should lower operating noise.
The SilentWings fan is also decoupled from the PSU body, resulting in less vibration.
This PSU can also control the speed of four other system fans based on your case’s internal temperature.
We benchmarked the Dark Power Pro 10 750W in its default four-rail configuration using a test system equipped with an Intel Core i7-4960X, a GIGABYTE GA-X79-UP4, and a GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 780 GHz Edition (GV- N780GHZ-3DG). We took our power measurements when the system was simultaneously running POV-Ray Beta 3.7 (stresses all CPU cores) and Aliens vs.
Predator (stresses GPU). The Dark Power Pro 10 displayed a maximum wattage of 418W at a power factor of .992. The power factor is one of the higher we’ve seen in our testing, and the PSU was able to reproduce the impressive numbers each time we re-ran the stress tests.
The Dark Power Pro 10 750W delivered impressive results in our benchmark tests.
Best of all, be quiet! provides you with a ton of cabling options. A smart fan control system tops it all off. This is a PSU that screams quality.
Test system specs: Processor: Intel Core i7-4960X; Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-X79-UP4, GPU: GIGABYTE GV-N780GHZ-3GD; Memory: 16GB Patriot Viper Xtreme DDR3-1866; Storage: 240GB OCZ Vertex 3; OS: Windows 8 Enterprise (64-bit)