BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 430W CM PSU Review

1. Introduction2. BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 430W CM PSU (Bundle & Cables)3. BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 430W CM PSU (Exterior)4. BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 430W CM PSU (Internal)5. BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 430W CM PSU (Super High Res Gallery)6. Testing Methodology and Results7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

BeQuiet power supplies have been scoring well this year in our reviews and today we look at the Pure Power L8 430W CM unit. A low cost, power modular design which has achieved 80 Plus Bronze Certification. Is this an ideal option for a high grade media center or general gaming machine?

The BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 430W is a semi modular design. The ‘CM' stands for ‘Cable Management', which is a fancy way of saying ‘Modular'. There are some cables hardwired into the unit, so it is not a pure modular design. Right now this unit is available in the United Kingdom for only £52 inc vat, so it won't break the bank.

Product overview:

• Exceptionally quiet operation achieved through an array of careful optimizations, including use of a custom-designed, quiet-optimized 120mm Fan
• 430 Watts of continuous power provide massive power reserves for those times your PC really needs it all
• Cable management with long cable reach simplifies component installation and reduces annoying clutter, increasing airflow and improving cooling
• 80PLUS Bronze certification and up to 88% power conversion efficiency let you do more work with the same power and reduce your power bills
• AMD CrossfireX certification readiness allow you to build powerful Multi-GPU systems with confidence
• German product conception, design and quality control

The BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 430W CM ships in a nicely designed box which features an artistic image of the power supply in the middle.

The bundle includes a user manual, regional specific power cable, cable ties and mounting screws.

Above left, the modular, sleeved cables. The image above right shows the hardwired cables.

Cable	Connectors
MB 20+4 pin	x1
CPU 4+4 pin	x1
PCI E 8 pin (6 pin +2)	x1
PCI E 6 pin	x1
SATA	x4
MOLEX	x3
FDD (floppy)	x1

For a 430W power supply we don't have any problems with the amount of cables supplied with this unit. The BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 430W CM is designed to power a wide range of systems and is capable of handling a decent single GPU gaming rig as well.

It is a shame they didn't include two 6 pin + 2 PCI E power cables, but if you are aiming at the ultra high end range of graphics cards then we recommend moving up the BeQuiet! range a little anyway.

The BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 430W CM is finished to the high standards we expect from the company and the paintwork is hard to scratch, although we found it did attract fingerprints quite easily due to the shiny gloss finish.

A large 120mm fan takes centerstage at the top of the power supply, behind a black grill with orange trim. This helps to reduce vibrational related noise as well.

One side of the power supply is vented to help circulate air, although this is not vented the full width of the chassis. At the side is a power connector and button.

The other side is home to the modular connector panel and the hardwired cables. These cables are all sleeved and we notice that BeQuiet! have included a rubber protector around the hard wired cables.

There are only 5 connectors, all of which are colour coded and labelled for ease of installation.

BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 430W CM
DC Output	+3.3V	+5V	+12V1	+12V2	-12V	+5Vsb
Max Output	24A	15A	22A	20A	0.3A	3A
Total Power	120W		33A – 396W		3.6W	15W
	430W

The power supply can deliver 22A on +12V1 and 20A on +12V2, for a total of 33A, or 396W of the total output.

The BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 430W CM includes a 120mm SilentWings L8 fan, model number BQT T12025-MS-16. This is rated to a maximum speed of 1,600rpm up to 20.1dBa.

BeQuiet! partnered up with Seasonic on their high end power supplies this year, but this unit is a HEC/Compucase design. The overall build quality is quite good and there are several large heatsinks to help keep temperatures under control. Soldering quality is also very good.

Behind the AC receptacle is a small PCB which is home to some of the transient filtering stage components – a single X and two Y capacitors. There is also the ‘on/off switch' here.

The main PCB houses three chokes, another X / two Y capacitors and an MOV.

The primary stage capacitor is a Teapo unit rated 400V 270uF @ 85c. Secondary capacitors are also by Teapo, but rated to 105c which will help long term as they are predominately bunched in airflow restricted areas of the PCB close to the cabling.  A modular PCB also houses some of the capacitors.

The IC on the board supports OCP for two +12V rails and all the other protections. (over voltage, under voltage, short circuit, over temperature, over power).

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

DC Output Load Regulation
Combined DC Load	+3.3V		+5V		+12V		+5VSB		-12V
	A	V	A	V	A	V	A	V	A	V
88W	2.11	3.32	1.98	5.11	5.93	12.19	1.28	5.05	0.20	-12.04
200W	5.92	3.26	4.89	5.08	12.07	12.14	1.28	5.03	0.25	-12.05
340W	9.62	3.21	8.82	5.03	23.21	12.02	1.28	5.00	0.30	-12.06
430W	9.61	3.19	8.85	4.93	30.12	11.87	1.28	4.97	0.40	-12.08

BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 430W CM	Maximum Load
	512W

We pulled 512W from the unit before it would switch off. The overcircuit protection system worked fine and it shut off safely. Load regulation isn't the best we have seen, with quite a fluctuation on the +12V and +3.3V output. That said, nothing fails outside the rated safety parameters, so no problems here.

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
385W	2.0	3.31	2.0	5.09	30.0	11.92	0.20	-12.06	0.50	4.97
170W	18.0	3.19	12.0	4.90	4.0	12.18	0.20	-12.04	0.50	4.98

The BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 430W CM handled the Cross loading tests reasonably well, although we have seen better results in recent months.

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
88W	5	10	10	5
200W	10	15	15	10
340W	10	15	25	15
430W	10	20	35	20

Ripple results are excellent, peaking at only 35mV at full load. All output rails are well within rated tolerance levels, which is good to see.

Efficiency (%)
88W	84.34
200W	88.32
340W	87.23
430W	85.66

The supply reaches over 88% efficiency at 50 percent load, and this falls to just under 86% efficiency at full load. Good results for a 80 Plus Bronze certified product.

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.

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 Refridgerator
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)
88W	<28.0
200W	<28.0
340W	<28.0
430W	30.9

The BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 430W CM is a very quiet power supply which is barely audible, even at 400W load. The maximum noise emission we recorded was 30.9 dBa meaning this power supply is almost silent regardless of load.

Temperature (c)
	Intake	Exhaust
88W	35	38
200W	38	43
340W	43	48
430W	46	54

The large SilentWings fan helps to generate high levels of airflow across the components inside the chassis, with 8c above ambient registered at full load.

Maximum load	Efficiency
512W	84.6

Pushing the PSU above its rated limits generates an efficiency level of around 84.6%. This is not a viable ‘real world’ situation, but its interesting nonetheless.

The BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 430W CM is a good power supply that will suit an audience building a low cost media system. As we expect from BeQuiet! the supply is beautifully finished and the choice of SilentWings fan ensures that noise levels are kept to a minimum, even under heavy load.

We managed to push this supply to deliver 512W before it would shut down safely. Load regulation is not the strong point of this unit, although it was stable enough, even under intensive cross loading demands.

Ripple suppression is surprisingly good, and we would class this unit as outstanding in this regard. Efficiency is also very impressive, peaking at over 88 percent in our tests.

In the real world, we tested this unit with a Core i7 3770K system, overclocked to 4.5ghz, with a HD7870 and 16GB of DDR3 memory. It was rock solid throughout a couple of days stress testing. It is unlikely that a media center would be using overclocked components at this level, so again we reiterate the usefulness of the product under these circumstances.

While there are many quality power supplies in the sub 500W category, the Pure Power L8 430W CM is priced at £54.30 inc vat in the United Kingdom, meaning it is a high value for money option for people on a tight budget. Sure, you can pick up a power supply for under £30, but there are certain risks involved in doing so.

Even with the rather loose voltage regulation concerns we mentioned, the unit didn't exhibit any real world problems. At such a reasonable price this supply is difficult to ignore, especially as it is basically silent even under heavy load.

Pros:

• Excellent build quality.
• fantastic ripple suppression.
• almost silent.
• competitively priced.

Cons:

• loose voltage regulation.
• not a pure modular design.

Kitguru says: A good power supply for the price.

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