be quiet! Dark Power 13
750W Titanium ATX3.0 PSU

We start each article, where we present a power supply, with a disclaimer that we can’t tag this as a full review since we don’t own a load tester.

be quiet! has manufactured power supplies since 2007 so it has a lot of experience and models under its belt. Today we are looking at its top tier “Dark Power 13” lineup which comprises of 3 wattage variants (750, 850 and 1000W). These are fully ATX3.0 and PCIe 5.0 compatible and possess the maximum 80 PLUS Titanium efficiency rating alongside a 10 years long warranty.

Our sample is the 750W unit which offers plenty of connectivity (4x 6+2 PCI-E, 2x 8 CPU and 1x 12VHPWR) and even has a unique feature in the form of an “overclocking key” which basically combines the four 12V rails into one with higher power output, ideal for overclocked processors or graphics cards.

Be Quiet! is a premium brand manufacturer of power supplies and cooling solutions for your desktop PC. With numerous awards under their belt and considered the best German power supply manufacturer from Germany since 2006 – was awarded nine times in a row as “Manufacturer of the Year” in the power supply category by the readers of the well-known German hardware magazine PC Games Hardware. In the category “fans”, be quiet! earned the first rank for five consecutive times and belongs to the Top 3 CPU cooler brands for more than three years in a row. The community of Hardwareluxx also voted be quiet! as “Manufacturer of the Year” in the PSU category for four consecutive years.

Prices and Availability

Its MSRP of $209.90 / €214.90 / £209.99 makes it one of the most expensive 750W units on the market right now but let’s see if it’s worth it.

Highlights and Specification

*Courtesy of their website.

No Compromise Silence and Performance – The be quiet! Dark Power 13 750W offers 80 PLUS® Titanium efficiency, virtually inaudible operation, and ATX 3.0 compliance for next-gen GPU compatibility.

* 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
* Improved 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
* Modular cable management for maximum convenience
* 10-year manufacturer’s warranty

Visual Inspection and Installation

We have the classic branding and packaging theme from be quiet!, with the darker tones.

The Dark Power 13 750W unit features a quad rail design but they can be switched to form one masive 12V rail, thanks to its overclocking key.

The box is fairly big for a 150mm long ATX PSU but now we see why. There is plenty of protection for the power supply while all of the accessories reside in this premium box.

You get plenty of cables including the 600W 12VHPWR PCIe 5.0 connector.

Here is a perfect breakdown of each cable and length.

Now this is the aforementioned overclocking key. Basically this lets you combine the power delivery from a multi rail to one single 12V rail. It gives you this convenient single slot PCI-E adapter and even an alternative, with this small jumper. Both have the same slot on the PSU. Mind you, make sure you activate/deactivate the single rail mode only with the power supply off!.

Now let’s zoom in more on the connectors. As you can see, it’s premium all around with flexible wires and full sleeving.

The Dark Power 13 750W PSU is 150mm long, only 10mm over the 140mm standard ATX size, so this will fit in any compatible case.

There is ample cutouts for exhasting the heat. You get an ON/OFF switch but no hybrid fan button.

Underneath that sexy mesh, there is a 135mm frame-less fluid dynamic bearing Silent Wings fan. It’s a 6-pole rotor and will spin up to 2100 RPM.

The PSU ports are here and the OC coupling is right under the motherboard one. be quiet! even shows how the rails are distributed which is a nice touch.

Everything emanates of premium quality and that’s expected since it has an all-Japanese cap design, Titanium certification, 10 years warranty, full modular design, wire free PCB internal design and with all the bells an whistles in terms of topology (an active rectifier and full bridge LLC technology).

Installation time. Pick your desired cables and depending on your enclosure, insert them in the PSU.

It’s a snug and secure fit.

Even with this HDD cage in place, the cables are flexible enough to bent be re-routed as you require.

Wire management was a breeze in this case (review soon to follow) and the PSU cables are flexbile enough to make these elegant loops.

Testing methodology

• The be quiet! Dark Power 13 750W Titanium rated will be tested at idle, then in a gaming scenario and finally at full system load in stress test
• The CPU & GPU will be mildly overclocked to 3.8 MHz @ 1.30v and Power limit 110, Core +100 and Memory +400 MHz respectivly.
• In order to verify the efficiency of the PSU, the power draw of the system was measured at the wall socket then the voltages were taken on the rails using a multimeter
• As the main torture test, we will employ a CPU & GPU 2-minute run in AIDA64
• Room temperature was recorded at ~23°C
• For the noise output, a specific test was performed with a close up mic placement
• All of the side panels will be attached

Testing platform:

– CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700
– CPU Cooler: Alpenföhn Brocken 4 120mm Single Tower
– RAM: 16GB DDR4 Crucial LPX Vengeance 3200 MHz CL16
– Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX B450-F Gaming II ATX @ BIOS 5102
– Boot SSD: Samung 840 PRO 256GB MLC SATA III SSD
– Video card: MSI GTX 970 4G OC
– Case: be quiet! Pure Base 500 FX ARGB Tower ATX

Software:

– OS: Windows 10 Pro x64 Version 22H2
– NVIDIA Drivers – 536.40
– CPU-Z v1.95 – To verify the CPU’s and RAM’s statistics
– Core Temp v1.18 & HW Monitor v1.51 – To see the temperatures in real time
– AIDA64 Extreme v6.60 – Memory analysis and Benchmark suite
– MSI Afterburner v4.64 – To record the FPS and load/temperatures
– Cinebench R23 – Great overall CPU benchmark tool
– 3D/Game(s) – Rise of the Tomb Raider, set at 1080p, high quality settings, no V-Sync

Installation, Testing, Results and Analysis

As mentioned, the PSU unit will be tested in 3 different scenarios, idle, gaming scenario to simulate a real life usage and finally a torture test with the GPU & CPU at max load, in OC settings. The testing system peaked at around 391W, which is roughly 52% load from the total 750W available and thus we proceeded to measured the efficiency ratings and voltage oscillation. Since both the CPU and GPU are overclocked, without an adaptive voltage for the CPU, this is why we have such high idle figures.

As you can see the unit at 52% load is bang on regarding its advertised Titanium certification. Unfortunately we didn’t have on hand an RTX GPU that features the 12VHPWR port to test out that cable and the thus the OC single rail mode, but we will revise in the future if the situation changes.

Regarding noise, we encountered an unusual humming sound, akin to that of a compressor in a mini fridge. This sound is perceptible both during idle and under load. Numerous users, including those with replacement units, have reported similar occurrences. This noise concern is relatively minor, as it is typically masked by other fans within your ATX case. However, it’s worth noting, particularly if you’re considering a fanless build.

Conclusion

The new Dark Power 13 unit from be quiet! could potentially claim the title of the finest 750W ATX3.0 power supply available today, if not for an unusual fan noise issue. Few units of comparable wattage offer the exceptional combination of Titanium efficiency and a decade-long warranty. Additionally, the unit excels in aspects ranging from build quality and choice of connectors to the innovative rail switching feature. It is very close to a comprehensive package.

The good:

+ Ample power for high end builds
+ Titanium certification
+ ATX 3.0 and PCIe 5.0 ready
+ The full 600W 12VHPWR
+ Plenty of fully sleeved connectors (2x P8, 4x 6+2 PCIe, 1x 12VHPWR)
+ Excellent build quality with all Japanese internals
+ Fully Modular
+ Epic 10 Years Warranty
+ Clever way to switch between multi or single rail mode

The bad:

– The fan doesn’t have a hybrid ON/OFF mode
– Furthermore the fan has a weird acoustic hum to it
– Expensive

Glob3trotters “Performance” Award – 4.5 out of 5

Many thanks to be quiet! for supplying us with this unit!