I noticed something interesting; I asked on the /r/bequietofficial subreddit but did not get an official response. Could this be a typo by be quiet, marketing sandbagging to upsell $$$ PSUs, or a silent hardware revision?
The product in question is the PURE Power 13 M 1000W, model # L13-M-1000W, released two months ago.
Cybenetics Tests: <a href=" removed link " target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cybenetics Test - be quiet! Pure Power 13 M 1000W
- Model: L13-M-1000W
- Test date: May 30, 2025
- Efficiency: Cybenetics Platinum
- Noise: Cybenetics A++
CLEAResult Tests: <a href=" removed link ">Be Quiet L13-M-1000W | 80 PLUS® Certified PSUs | CLEAResult
- Model: L13-M-1000W
- Report date: April 15, 2025
- Efficiency: 80+ Platinum
But most unexpectedly, be quiet has downgraded both in its marketing & advertisements:
- Model: L13-M-1000W
- Release date: June 12, 2025
- Efficiency: Cybenetics Gold, 80+ Gold (<a href=" removed link " target="_blank" rel="noopener">be quiet product page)
- Noise: Cybenetics A+ (advertising; seen on hwbusters.com)
Both are technically downgrades from its test results. Yes, the model numbers precisely align. I initially assumed it was a silent hardware revision or be quiet sent a "golden sample" for testing certification to Cybenetics or CLEAResult. But now I doubt that because bequiet's own internal 230V tests show this "Gold" PSU being notably more efficient than its "Platinum" PSUs:
<img src=" removed link " />
Brands are allowed to downgrade certification ratings. This is not the first time that a brand does that. Corsair also does it. What is prohibited is to "upgrade" cert ratings
Thank you so kindly for your reply, Aris.
I never expected it, but I appreciate the confirmation. And of course, very glad they are not allowed to "upgrade" haha! Thank you for pointing me to Corsair. George's explanation shared Corsair was primarily motivated by variance / QC. That is, if only 80% units hit Platinum, the PSU should still be marketed as Gold, though most customers will get better than what they paid for.
I've emailed be quiet if they have anything more to add and will update accordingly here.
be quiet, in contrast to Corsair, shares its own efficiency data on the website, which showed an improvement over its Platinum models nearly across the board, so they seem at least confident in their data (but maybe not as cautious on QC as Corsair, then).
@230V efficiency, per be quiet (apologies, broken link in my OP):
Pure Power 13 M 1000W ("Gold"):
2% load: 72.6%
10% load: 91.2%
20% load: 93.9%
50% load: 94.4%
100% load: 92.5%
Straight Power 12 1000W ("Platinum"):
2% load: 65.0%
10% load: 90.5%
20% load: 93.1%
50% load: 93.9%
100% load: 91.9%
Power Zone 2 1000W ("Platinum"):
2% load: 66.9%
10% load: 89.8%
20% load: 93.0%
50% load: 94.0%
100% load: 92.6%
This data aligns with Cybenetics, which shows the Pure Power 13 M slightly more efficient.
