Be Quiet Dark Power Pro P8 1000w Review

Simulated Load Table & Ripple Results

Published: 29th April 2010 | Source: Be-Quiet | Price: £172.36 | Author: James Napier

Be Quiet P8 1000w ATX PSU

OK, so we've seen the graphs over on the previous page. Now here's the data that they were derived from.

Be Quiet! P8 1000w Load Results @ 50°C
	+3.3v	+5.0v	+12v	+5vSB	-12v	AC Watts / DC Watts	Efficiency	Intake / Exhaust	Δ Temp
Test1 (25%)	5.50A	5.50A	16.75A	1.00A	0.12A	282w / 255w	90.42%	50.5°C / 50.9°C	0.4°C
	3.33v	5.07v	12.06v	5.02v	-11.85v
Test2 (50%)	11.00A	11.00A	33.50A	2.00A	0.25A	350w / 508w	91.86%	50.1°C / 53.5°C	3.4°C
	3.28v	5.04v	12.00v	4.94v	-11.90v
Test3 (75%)	16.50A	16.50A	50.25A	3.00A	0.37A	835w / 758w	90.77%	51.0C / 55.9°C	4.9°C
	3.24v	5.01v	11.94v	4.86v	-11.99v
Test4 (100%)	22.00A	22.00A	67.00A	4.00A	0.50A	1124w / 1002w	89.14%	49.8°C / 56.0°C	6.2°C
	3.21v	4.98v	11.86v	4.80v	-12.02v
TestX1 (x-load)	22.00A	22.00A	1.00A	0.00A	0.00A	239w / 194w	81.17%	49.5°C / 50.0°C	0.5°C
	3.27v	5.04v	12.04v	5.09v	-12.32v
TestX2 (x-load)	1.00A	1.00A	67.00A	0.00A	0.00A	884w / 810w	91.62%	50.8°C / 58.8°C	8.0°C
	3.30v	5.04v	11.96v	5.08v	-12.53v
TMax1 (Max)	30.00A	30.00A	85.00A	4.00A	0.50A	1486w / 1276w	85.86%	48.5°C / 62.4°C	13.9°C
	3.20v	4.96v	11.86v	4.77v	-0.11v

To reiterate what's already been said over on the previous page, the Dark Power Pro P8 shows excellent voltage stability on the +12v and +5v rails across all loads including the cross-load and max load tests. The +3.3v rail is the only area where the unit is let down a little, but even then the voltages still remain fairly acceptable and well inside ATX specifications.

Another thing I've already mentioned is the results from the 'Max Load' test where the PSU showed that it was capable of holding 1276w continuous. Not only that, but if you look at the load on the +12v rail it held a massive 85A load - plenty enough for any kind of crazy over the top multi-GPU configuration.

Efficiency was also above expectations with the unit sticking to around 90% efficiency through Tests 1-4. Only in the first cross-load test did it drop down to 81%, but this is quite common for most PSU's when a heavy load is placed on the +3.3v & +5v rails with little on the +12v rails

Be Quiet! P8 1000w Scope Results @ 50c
	+3.3v	+5.0v	+12v
Test1 (25%)
Test2 (50%)
Test3 (75%)
Test4 (100%)
TestX1 (x-load)
TestX2 (x-load)
TMax1 (MAX)

EEK! No I didn't mix up the results from the +12v rail with those from a Seismograph in the middle of an earthquake! But yes, the ripple on the +12v rail is less than ideal with the results climing from 50mV in Test 1 to a maximum of 136mV in Test 4. Considering that ATX specifications state that ripple on this rail should be no more than 120mV it looks like Be Quiet have some work to do here. Of course, these levels aren't exactly dangerous - for example I've seen other well known brands hit over 250mV, but there are still plenty of other brands on the market that do a much better job.

The +3.3v and +5v rails on the other hand were quite acceptable, with the closest call being the +3.3v rail in Test 4 that came within 8mV of ATX's recommended 50mV limit.

Now let's try and form some kind of conclusion...