be quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1500W Power Supply Review

be quiet! has a strong offering in the super high-end PSU category, the Dark Power Pro 12 with 1500W max power. It achieves high overall performance, and it remains quiet, even under severe operating conditions. It isn't as efficient, though, as the Corsair AX1600i, something expected since it doesn't use at totem-pole PFC converter. Moreover, its overall performance is notably lower than Corsair's top offering. The Dark Power 12 1500 might take the performance lead from the EVGA SuperNOVA 1600 T2, which has proven its bullet-proof design, though, though the mining era, but it doesn't pose a severe threat to the Corsair AX1600i, so it cannot be included in our best power supplies list in the high-Wattage category. 

The new flagship line from be quiet! is named Dark Power Pro 12 and lists two members, with 1200W and 1500W max power. Both are made by CWT and use a new platform that features digital control for most of its circuits. According to be quiet! these units can achieve up to 94.9% efficiency, which sounds impressive. They don't state the input voltage, though, but we can safely assume that it is 230V, because such high-efficiency levels with 115V are super hard to achieve. 

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Product Photos

Both Dark Power Pro 12 units are 80 PLUS Titanium certified, with the 1500W model also featuring a Cybenetics ETA-A+ efficiency rating, which is even tougher to achieve. Moreover, Cybenetics rated the Dark Power Pro 12 1500W as LAMBDA-A-, which means that it is very quiet for such a powerful power supply. Nonetheless, its stronger competitor, the Corsair AX1600i, achieves an even better noise rating (LAMBDA-A).

There are several innovations in this product. For starters, its fan utilizes a frameless design for increased airflow and lower noise output. Moreover, according to be quiet! the fan speed profile is digitally controlled. Finally, there are six +12V virtual rails in total, combined into one if you use an overclocking key (jumper). Lastly, the individually sleeved cables are an added luxury, which will be highly welcomed by most users. 

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Product Photos

Specifications

Power Specifications

Cables and Connectors

A large number of cables accompanies the PSU. This is expected, of course, given the huge capacity. All cables are super long and individually sleeved, with adequate distance between them. 

Besides two EPS connectors, you also get ten PCIe ones, so you can easily build the gaming system of your dreams or a powerful workstation.

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Cable Photos

If you decide not to use the overclocking key jumper, which combined all 12V rails in one, you should pay attention to the scheme shown above. It explains the power distribution of the 12V rail among the PSU's sockets. 

If you need up to two PCIe connectors, use connector A. If you need more, use the connectors marked as B and leave A last. If you follow the above instructions, you will have balanced power distribution.

Component Analysis

We strongly encourage you to have a look at our PSUs 101 article, which provides valuable information about PSUs and their operation, allowing you to better understand the components we're about to discuss.

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Overall Photos

Although CWT used digital controllers to control the APFC converter along with the primary switching FETs and the +12V regulation circuit, still the minor rails and the 5VSB circuit use analog controllers. Moreover, this platform isn't as advanced as in the Corsair AX1600i and the Wentai Aidan-T1616 units. There is no Bridgeless totem-pole PFC and GaN MODFETs, a state-of-the-art combination that allows for up to 99% efficiency in the APFC converter. 

If you want to learn more about the totem-pole PFC converter, take a look at the review of the AX1600i. 

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Transient filter

The transient/EMI filter has more than enough parts to do a good job. Still, we noticed several high EMI spurs during the EMC pre-compliance test that we conducted. 

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Bridge rectifiers

There are two powerful bridge rectifiers. Combined, they can handle up to 50 Amperes of current. 

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APFC converter

The power supply uses an interleaved PFC converter, meaning that two APFC converters operate in parallel with a phase difference between them. This minimizes input/output current ripple and lowers conduction losses, increasing efficiency, and doubling the effective switching frequency. 

Since there was no space on the APFC heat sink, two FETs had to be left out. This is why CWT used two beefy and two standard FETs in this converter. It is a great shame, though, that they didn't choose a bridgeless totem-pole PFC converter, which would offer up to 3% higher efficiency. The digital control that this PSU has is ideal for this kind of PFC converter. 

The bulk caps have a high capacity, 1830uF in total. So we expect a pretty long hold-up time, although this also has to do with the programming of the main PWM controller.

A pair of driver ICs handle all four FETs of the PFC converter. 

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Main FETs and primary transformer

The four primary switching FETs are arranged into a full-bridge topology. Typically, an LLC resonant converter is also used, to boost efficiency through the lossless switching of the primary FETs. Lastly, the IC drivers that handle the primary FETs are two Si8233BD, provided by Silicon Labs. 

Since there was no room for one large, main transformer, CWT had to use two smaller ones. 

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Digital Controllers

Texas Instruments provides the pair of digital controllers. Their model number is UCD3138A, and this is not the first time we see this type of MCU. One of them handles the APFC converter, and the other one the primary switching FETs and the 12V regulation circuit. One of these MCUs also takes care of the system's protection features, cooperating with the two analog supervisor ICs.

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12V FETs and VRMs

Twelve On Semiconductor NTMFS5C612N FETs regulate the 12V rail. They are installed on vertical boards, which are right beside the main transformers, to minimize voltage drops and energy losses. 

The DC-DC converters that generate the minor rails are installed on the same daughter-board. In total, six FETs are used, and a single PWM controller. There is no digital control for these rails, unfortunately. 

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Filtering caps

Not many electrolytic caps are used,  but most of the caps that CWT used are of high quality. Ripple filtering relies mostly on polymer caps, and there is a massive number of those, 40 to be more specific. 

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Modular board front

Many polymer caps are installed on the modular board, along bus-bars that handle power transfers. 

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Supervisor ICs

One of the supervisor ICs is installed on the center of the modular PCB, while the other one is on the solder side of the main PCB. Weltrend provides both supervisor ICs. 

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5VSB circuit

The 5VSB rail is regulated by the circuit shown in the photos above. It uses analog controllers, as the minor rails. CWT has higher efficiency 5VSB circuits in its portfolio, so we wonder why it didn't use one of these in such a high-end PSU. 

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Soldering quality

Soldering quality is good, as expected in such an expensive product. 

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Cooling fan

The cooling fan uses a frameless design, which helps in producing more airflow. According to be quiet! this design also allows for lower noise output. 

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