Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 650W PSU Review

Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 650W Review Conclusion

Be Quiet! is planning what many European companies have tried in the past, to infiltrate the north American consumer market; a quite bold move, considering that most companies before them have failed to reach fruitful results. Be Quiet! however is not fooling around; the company already has a strong lineup of high quality and interesting products, as well as a good base market in Europe and Asia, therefore their odds of success are not bad. Today we had a look at their high performance power supply series and we have to admit that we found the craftsmanship and design superior to that of most comparable products available today. Aesthetically, the Dark Power Pro 10 has numerous little features and improvements which, although they are not important when examined individually, all of them combined turn an otherwise generic and uninteresting power supply to a classy and luxurious design. When it comes to performance, aside from it being one of the most quiet power supplies that money can currently buy, it also offers superb electrical performance with excellent ripple filtering, voltage regulation and very high efficiency (80Plus Platinum levels for US/Canada consumers and anyone else behind a 110V A/C grid).

The Dark Power Pro 10 650W power supply does have nearly all that it takes to draw the attention of enthusiasts and gamers; it is visually attractive and unique, built like a tank and its overall performance is astonishing. On the other hand however, the MSRP prices which the manufacturer supplied to us are exceedingly high, to the point that the 650W version of the Dark Power Pro 10 will be in the same pricing range with 800-1000W products from other manufacturers if the actual retail price is not significantly lower.

be quiet! DARK POWER PRO 10 550W	$149.00
be quiet! DARK POWER PRO 10 650W	$169.00
be quiet! DARK POWER PRO 10 750W	$189.00
be quiet! DARK POWER PRO 10 850W	$229.00
be quiet! DARK POWER PRO 10 1000W	$249.00
be quiet! DARK POWER PRO 10 1200W	$309.00

While Be Quiet! declares that the 650W unit should be retailing for $169, for $173 one can today buy a Corsair HX850 or go down to $104 and get an Antec 650W Platinum. The Antec PSU may not be a modular power supply but has the same power output, nearly half the price tag and, ironically, also uses a Fortron-Source design. No matter how well made the Dark Power Pro 10 unit is and how great it looks, competing will be extremely difficult if the retail prices are not significantly lower than those suggested by the manufacturer. Fortunately, retail prices usually are anything between 10% and 40% lower than the MSRP price and even a 10% lower price would turn the 650W version of the Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 range into a very competitive product.

Legit Bottom Line: We found the Dark Power Pro 10 650W to be a product of superb quality, combining an excellent overall performance with a great external design. The only true enemy of Be Quiet! Dark Pro series may prove to be the retail price which, if street pricing isn’t significantly lower than the MSRP tag, competition will surely be troublesome.