Viewing page 1 of 6 pages.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Next
|
Product
|
bequiet! Dark Power Pro
10 550W
(Model BQT P10-550W)
ATX/EPS12V power supply |
|
Manufacturer
|
bequiet! |
|
Street Price
|
£90, €110 |
SPCR's first encounter with this high end BeQuiet power supply occurred at
Computex Taiwan in June 2012. My shorthand notes read, "Wow... sexy!"
and "designed to be seen." The Dark Power Pro 10 series is all that
and more: It is designed to appeal to the demanding computer hound looking for
innovation as well as high performance and precision in a power supply. They
boasts very high efficiency and a host of unusual features.
There are six models in the Dark Power Pro 10 lineup — 550W, 650W, 750W,
850W, 1000W, and 1200W. I thought I'd heard in my chat with BeQuiet reps at
Computex that they were all based on the Seasonic high efficiency X series,
with 80 PLUS Gold or Platinum efficiency, but later, I learned that this is
only true of the higher power models. The 550W, 650W and 750W models are made
by Fortron-Source Power (or affiliate SPI), and rated 80 PLUS Gold. I really don't see the point of PSU models differentiated by only 100W. In my
book, the 650W and 850W models are superfluous. The model under examination
here is the 550W, which is likely to be of greatest interest for SPCR audiences.
bequiet! is a German company which claims to be the top selling PSU brand in
that country. The brand is not well distributed outside of the EU, however.
Even nearly six months after stating that they would be entering the US market
"very soon", there is no sign of the brand in any US consumer search
engines. Hence the prices cited atop, in British pounds and in Euro dollars,
based on web searches. By today's exchange rates, the 550W model is selling
for around $130. This is roughly on par with the UK/EU selling price of the
Seasonic X-560, which is a pretty close comparable, although it sells in the
US for about 10% less.
I've tested a bequiet! PSU before, the Dark
Power Pro 430, back in 2006. That was pretty quiet in its day. We also
covered a heatsink from this company recently, the Dark
Rock 2.
So, let's start with a gander at this beauty.
It's a big retail package. Yes, that's an 850W sample in the background.
Very well packaged and presented in shock-resistant closed cell foam.
This photo doesn't do it full justice; it really looks good. The fan guard
is a series of straight wires that gives the PSU its unique look. Rubberized
bumpers adorn both back and front. The one on the back serves the real
function of damping vibrations that might go from the internal fan to
the PC case. The 135mm fan has grooves on each of the seven blades.
The output side of the PSU has a single attached cable with the main ATX
connector to the motherboard, four PCIe power outlets, five drive outputs,
an AUX12V output, a special 12V line switch connector (OCK), and four
headers for fans to be controlled by the internal fan controller. |
| Help support this site, buy from one of our affiliate retailers! |
|
