Epilogue
The be quiet! Dark Power 14 is a flagship Titanium series designed for users who need silent operation and the highest possible efficiency. The strongest member of the line, with 1200W max power, offers tight enough load regulation at 12V, excellent ripple suppression, good transient response at 12V and 5V, high power factor readings, and high efficiency across all load ranges. Moreover, it is equipped with an efficient 5VSB rail. On the other hand, the 3.3V rail needs tuning to improve transient response and tighten load regulation. Someone can argue here, though, that this rail is not heavily utilized anymore, so why pay extra attention? I can reply to this that at such high price points, everything needs to be top-notch. Vampire power should also be lower. Another thing I noticed is that at high loads (above 950W), the fan speed profile suddenly becomes wild, especially compared to the one at lower loads.
- be quiet! Dark Power 14 1200W ATX v3.1 PSU Review
- be quiet! Dark Power 14 1000W ATX v3.1 PSU Review
- be quiet! Dark Power 14 850W ATX v3.1 PSU Review
The unit’s overall performance is competitive, but there are lower-priced offerings with equally high performance. It all depends on the efficiency levels you are after and the output noise levels you are comfortable with. Typically, highly efficient Titanium platforms can be dead silent at light and moderate loads due to minimized energy losses.
What I need to emphasize is that the protection features in this PSU are correctly set and the only downside in this sensitive section is the lack of fan failure protection, which unfortunately is the case for the majority of desktop PSUs nowadays.
All in all, the be quiet! Dark Power 14 offers high overall performance and silent operation at light and moderate loads (up to around 950W). The multi-12V rail setup provides increased protection, but personally, I find a single 12V rail less susceptible to graphics card power-spike issues. Thankfully, there is an OCK button that lets you convert this PSU to a single 12V rail, which is what I suggest if you plan to run an energy-hungry graphics card.
Before investing in a new power supply, read my article on the Best ATX v3.x PSUs to compare all alternative PSU offerings. You help me a lot by using my affiliate links, which don’t increase the price of the product. I receive a commission from Amazon every time you do it, which can make a significant difference for me, especially now that I am working independently, exclusively for my media, rather than for someone else.
- Delivered full power at 46°C
- ATX v3.1 and PCIe CEM 5.1 compliant
- Cybenetics Titanium rated
- Silent operation at light and moderate loads (<950W)
- High overall performance
- Properly set OCP and OPP triggering points
- High build quality
- High enough efficiency on all load ranges
- High enough PF readings
- Tight enough load regulation at 12V and 5V
- Good transient response at 12V and 5V
- Good ripple suppression
- Efficient 5VSB rail
- Alternative Low Power Mode (ALPM) compatible
- 135mm Fluid Dynamic Bearing fan of high quality
- 2x 12+4-pin PCIe connector set at 600W (overkill for a 1200W unit, though)
- Mediocre transient response and load regulation at 3.3V
- No fan failure protection
I have the 1200w Dark power 14, Amazing psu and completely silent too all round.
The addition of a semi-passive fan mode switch was much requested for Be Quiet to implement to there psus and the Dark power 14 delivers that, now the fan doesn’t have to constantly run for complete silence at most normal loads.
My only gripe is the cables could be more flexible but that is a non issue to the performance being so excellent. I just have to wait till I can buy some replacement cables for the psu.
Which components does the aluminium radiator actually touch?
so this PSU was use main caps TK or Rubycon, on the sheet was listed Rubycon but in the photos says it was TK or BeQuiet gonna change their main caps config on a retail product so you just listed in a datasheet usinf Rubycon main caps ?
My mistake sorry. It has TK caps. I don’t know why I left Rubycon in the part analysis. Fixed that.
Since Spain is my home market i want to ask if you know anything about this power supply from a local Brand called UNYKAch. They claim it is cybernetics gold certified but couldn’t find anything about it in the database. https://unykach.com/es/consumo/fuentes-de-alimentacion/fuentes-de-alimentacion-atx/fuente-de-alimentacion-atx-atilius-3-1-750w-gold-uk213750/
Hi! They sent samples for testing to Cybenetics, but they are not tested yet.
Good to know.
Thanks for the review! We’ll see in the 850W,1000W reviews the Pure Power 13 M numbers together but if the lower wattage models are in line with this one then in some areas the Pure Power 13 M is actually better so hard to justify spending this much more for this one. Which one would you pick? Be Quiet is on the right path thats for sure and should be on buyers list performance wise but reliability matters more since we don’t want to burn down the house haha, but you can read horror stories about every brand so who knows which to pick. Hopefully my 2019 Seasonic Focus Gold will hold on for a while.
Even the cables don’t seem to be much more premium, the cables with the Pure Power 13 M are rather stiff some say, would be nice if other than the overall cable quality you would mention flexibility aspect of them, often overlooked quality.
Oh, good timing for this review ;-). Managed to order this psu, for 250€ @Alternate.
It will replace my older BQ DP 12 850W, for more future proof.