Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 850W BN603 PSU Review

External Design of the Dark Power Pro 10 850W

Be Quiet’s Dark Power Pro 10 units surely do not look anything like basic power supplies, as the company obviously spent a lot of time and effort to make the series visually unique. Aside from the obvious proprietary fan cover which sports a distinctive design of parallel wires, Be Quiet! also installed a soft plastic frame at the front of the power supply and a rubber strip surrounds the rear of the chassis, both in order to limit metal-to-metal contact and absorb vibrations. Note that the non-standard chassis is several centimeters longer than typical ATX designs, measuring 7.5 inches deep, which could be a problem with small and HTPC cases.

Large metallic stickers with the unit’s model and 80Plus Platinum certification badge cover the sides of the Dark Power Pro 10 850W. The high quality stickers are perfectly applied inside an embossed area. Be Quiet! installed the warranty sticker on the side of the power supply instead of on a screw, as not a single screw is actually visible.

The sticker with the electrical specifications of this power supply can be found at the top of the chassis. Be Quiet! placed it facing the right side of the unit, so that it will be readable from the outside of a windowed computer case if the PSU has been installed below the motherboard tray.

A small sticker indicating the model’s series and wattage can be seen at the front side of the Dark Power Pro 10 power supply. This sticker along with the plastic frame are the only things which differentiate the front side of the Dark Power Pro 10 from that of the majority of modern power supplies.

Unlike the front side of the Dark Power Pro 10 850W power supply, the rear is nothing alike that of a common power supply. Be Quiet! replaced it with an aluminum plate, forming a frame for the connectors of the modular cables and an exit for the hardwired 24-pin ATX cable. The hole where the ATX cable comes out from is covered by a flexible rubber gasket, which creates a very high quality feel. There are fifteen connectors; four for the fan power cables, four for the PCIe cables, one for the CPU 12V cable, five for the SATA and Molex cables and finally one for the OCK bracket connector.

The OCK bracket is a simple switch which allows the user to choose between a four 12V rail OCP mode and a single 70A rail mode. For those who do not which to install the PCI bracket, the power supply defaults to its standard four rail mode without anything connected. If you still want to not use the bracket but go with a single rail mode, Be Quiet! includes a jumper which forces the unit to permanently operate under single 12V mode.