BeQuiet Dark Power Pro P10 550W PSU Review

1. Introduction2. BeQuiet Dark Power Pro P10 550W (Bundle & Cables)3. BeQuiet Dark Power Pro P10 550W (External)4. BeQuiet Dark Power Pro P10 550W (Internal)5. BeQuiet Dark Power Pro P10 550W (Super High Res Gallery)6. Testing Methodology and Results7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

BeQuiet! are one of a handful of companies who continually release the highest grade products, their fans for instance are arguably the best on the market. Today we are looking at the upcoming Dark Power Pro P10 550w power supply which will hit a sweet spot around £100 when it reaches the United Kingdom in a few weeks time.

The new P10 range are Platinum and Gold certified to deliver maximum efficiency.

BeQuiet! have experienced a high level of success with the Dark Pro power supplies in the past. The company are actually classified as the best selling manufacturer of power supplies in Germany, six years running, according to market data from GfK.

BeQuiet! have always had a primary focus on keeping the noise emissions as low as possible. The latest P10 designs use a new power conversion topology which delivers 80 Plus Platinum and Gold certification, currently the highest standard for efficiency.

All these supplies are ErP 2013 ready meaning the standby power drain should be below 0.3 watts.

They are releasing six Dark Power Pro P10 supplies between 550 Watts and 1200 Watts.

The new P10 range of power supplies also feature an ‘overclocking switch' which allows the user to change between a single and quad rail configuration. BeQuiet! are using a large 135mm SilentWings 2 fan in the new range. This is a custom made fluid dynamic bearing model with a 300,000 hour lifespan.

BeQuiet! packaging is minimalistic and very attractive. An image of the power supply is set in the middle of a black background, drawing complete focus to the product alone. The 550W model is 80 Plus Gold Certified.

The power supply is shipped protected between sculpted foam panels. The cabling is supplied within a separate box with literature, screws and power cable stored in another section.

Above, the user manual, cable tidies, power cable, overclocking key and cable box. Sadly BeQuiet! don't supply a felt pouch for cable storage, but the little box can be stored inside the main shipping box with any extra cables.

The image above left highlights all the modular cabling, which is high grade sleeved. The power supply isn't a pure modular design so there is a single hardwired cable as can be seen in the image above right. There are also four fan cables which can be connected to the power supply to directly control chassis fans.

The diagram above details all the cabling and relevant lengths. There are four 6+2 pin PCIe power cables, ideal for a low powered Crossfire or SLI configuration.

The BeQuiet Dark Power Pro P10 550W is an attractively designed power supply, finished in a heavy duty paint which isn't easy to mark. The build quality is exceptionally high, all the side panels utilise rubber elements to help reduce vibration when installed into a chassis.

The 135mm SilentWings 2 fan is an airflow optimised fan blade design which is said to reduce turbulence and noise emissions. It is mounted behind a black grill which is attractively designed.

One side of the power supply is honeycomb vented to improve air flow. There is a power switch and connector at the side.

The modular panel is neatly laid out, with the hard wired cable residing at the other side. The PCIe cable connectors are all positioned in a row along the top of the chassis, with the peripheral connectors running underneath.

The Pro P10 has four fan connectors to directly control chassis fans from the unit, a nice touch. The Overclocking Key (above) also plugs into the white port on the modular panel. A flip of the switch on the Overclocking key switches from the default four rail factory setting to a high performance single rail mode.

Above, the overview of the BeQuiet! Dark Power Pro P10 550W power supply. It can deliver up to 45A on the combined 12v+ rail.

The 135mm SilentWings 2 fan. This fan is a fluid dynamic bearing model with copper core. The fan is decoupled from the case which helps reduce vibrations and subsequent noise. This fan is rated to 1,500rpm with 0.22A of current. It demands 2.64W and produces a maximum of 62.74 CFM.

The design of the Dark Power Pro P10 550W is exceptionally clean with multiple rows of small black heatsinks separating the components. This supply is a new power conversion circuitry topology design. This particular model in the range is half bridge LLC resonant converter with DC to DC voltage stepdown.

The daughter PCB contains a control IC for the protection circuitry. The EMC/EMI filter is set to ensure immunity from radiation and conducted emissions.

The DC to DC daughter PCB handles the conversion to 3.3V and 5V from the 12V DC. Next to the main transformer is the OPP control coil for current detection.

The primary capacitors are rated 220uF, 450V. All capacitors in the unit are Japanese high grade, 105c rated. The power supply has OCP (over current protection), UVP (Undervoltage protection), OVP (Overvoltage protection), SCP (Short Circuit safeguard), OTP (Temperature Safeguard) and OPP (overload protection).

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source.

Additional technical assistance: Peter McFarland and Jeremy Price.

Correctly testing power supplies is a complex procedure and KitGuru have configured a test bench which can deliver up to a 2,000 watt DC load. Due to public requests we have changed our temperature settings recently – previously we rated with ambient temperatures at 25C, we have increased ambient temperatures by 10c (to 35c) in our environment to greater reflect warmer internal chassis conditions.

We use combinations of the following hardware:
• SunMoon SM-268
• CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs)
• CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4)
• Extech Power Analyzer
• Extech MultiMaster MM570 digital multimeter
• SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa)
• Digital oscilloscope (20M S/s with 12 Bit ADC)
• Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA

We combine all +12V output for the results below.

DC Output Load Regulation
Combined DC Load	+3.3V		+5V		+12V		+5VSB
	A	V	A	V	A	V	A	V
110W	1.19	3.39	1.17	5.09	8.01	12.17	0.50	5.05
220W	2.08	3.37	2.06	5.05	16.12	12.12	0.50	5.04
340W	3.03	3.33	3.04	5.03	25.11	12.07	1.00	5.04
445W	4.13	3.32	4.07	5.01	33.21	12.04	1.50	5.03
550W	5.11	3.28	5.02	4.98	41.02	12.01	2.50	5.02

Load regulation is very impressive, holding steady on all rails, right up to full load.

BeQuiet Dark Power Pro P10 550W	Maximum Load
	624W

The power supply delivered 624watts of power before it would shut down, safely.

Next we want to try Cross Loading. This basically means loads which are not balanced. If a PC for instance needs 500W on the +12V outputs but something like 30W via the combined 3.3V and +5V outputs then the voltage regulation can fluctuate badly.

Cross Load Testing	+3.3V		+5V		+12V		-12V		+5VSB
	A	V	A	V	A	V	A	V	A	V
493W	1.0	3.38	1.0	5.07	40.5	11.99	0.2	-12.07	0.50	5.02
153W	15.0	3.30	15.0	5.00	2.0	12.17	0.2	-12.15	0.50	5.03

The power supply is well designed, it coped well with our demanding Cross Load tests. When hit with 40A on the +12V rail it held close to a reference result at 11.99V. Other rails delivered good results.

We then used an oscilloscope to measure AC ripple and noise present on the DC outputs. We set the oscilloscope time base to check for AC ripple at both high and low ends of the spectrum. ATX12V V2.2 specification for DC output ripple and noise is defined in the ATX 12V power supply design guide.

ATX12V Ver 2.2 Noise/Ripple Tolerance
Output	Ripple (mV p-p)
+3.3V	50
+5V	50
+12V1	120
+12V2	120
-12V	120
+5VSB	50

Obviously when measuring AC noise and ripple on the DC outputs the cleaner (less recorded) means we have a better end result. We measured this AC signal amplitude to see how closely the unit complied with the ATX standard.

AC Ripple (mV p-p)
DC Load	+3.3V	+5V	+12V	5VSB
110W	5	10	15	10
220W	10	10	20	15
340W	15	10	25	15
445W	15	15	35	20
550W	20	20	45	20

Noise suppression is very good, peaking at 45mV on the +12V under full load, well within tolerance specifications.

Efficiency (%)
110W	88.21
220W	89.57
340W	92.32
445W	91.31
550W	89.16

Efficiency is excellent, peaking over 92 percent at around 50 percent load. At full load this drops to 89 percent efficiency.

We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.

Today to test the Power Supply we have taken it into our acoustics room environment and have set our SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) one meter away from the unit. We have no other fans running so we can effectively measure just the noise from the unit itself. That said, measuring lower than 28dBa proves very difficult, unless in strict laboratory conditions.

As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels.

KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 Player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum

Noise (dBA)
110W	28.0
220W	28.0
340W	28.0
445W	28.0
550W	28.0

The above isn't a mistake, the fan rated below our lowest accurate measuring point at all times – 28 dBa. Even with our ear close to the power supply it was basically impossible to tell it was spinning at all. The fan speed was well below 700 rpm at all times, even at full load. Incredible results.

Temperature (c)
	Intake	Exhaust
110W	36	39
220W	38	43
340W	41	49
445W	44	53
550W	46	58

The high efficiency of the unit allows the fan to spin very slowly at all times. Temperatures rise to a 12c above ambient intake at full load – when factoring in the almost silent performance this is truly excellent.

Maximum load	Efficiency
624W	87.4

Pushing the PSU above its rated limits generates an efficiency level of around 87.4%. This is not a viable ‘real world’ situation, but its interesting nonetheless.

BeQuiet! will be launching their new range of Dark Power Pro P10 power supplies in the middle of next month and the 550W model we reviewed today is a very capable design with no inherent weaknesses.

The BeQuiet Dark Power Pro P10 550W delivers stable load regulation and dealt well with our cross load stress test, maintaining stable delivery across all the output rails. Our testing also highlighted excellent efficiency results, peaking around 92 percent at 50 percent load.

The SilentWings 2 fans are a fantastic no compromise design, and we had a hard time measuring any noise from the dBa meter, even when the supply was placed under full load. We documented under 700 rpm from the SilentWings 2 fan even when the power supply was stressed to deliver a 550 watt load for 15 minutes.

Noise suppression is good, although not the best we have seen in recent months. We measured 45mW at full load from the +12V output which is well within the rated tolerance levels. +3.3V and +5V peaked around 20mV at full load.

The main selling point for us is the company focus on maintaining the lowest possible noise levels, at all times. Even with my ear close to the chassis, it was basically impossible to tell that the fan was running.

BeQuiet!'s proprietary fan design has always attracted a specialist audience who don't want to deal with irritating noise emissions. This means the power supply is suitable for HTPC fanatics and an audience building a new high specification 24/7 server for the home, or office environment.

Just before finishing the review, we slotted this power supply into a Z77 gaming system with overclocked 3770k and two HD7770 graphics cards in Crossfire. It was perfectly stable and silent throughout a gaming session over the course of an afternoon.

The BeQuiet Dark Power Pro P10 550W supply is not yet released, but you should be able to pick it up Mid June 2012 for around £100. Aria have it on pre-order now for £99.95. It is certainly not a low cost power supply, but it is a quality design from top to bottom.

Pros:

• almost silent.
• good efficiency.
• looks great.
• chassis has rubber mounts to stop vibration.
• modular design.
• solid power delivery.

Cons:

• At £100 there are more powerful supplies available.

Kitguru says: Another quality design from BeQuiet! Ideal for a high end media center or server system.

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