be quiet! Pure Power 9 500w Review

Introduction

Manufacturer: be quiet!
Model: Pure Power 9 500W
UK Price: £68.99 on Amazon (At the time of review)
US Price: $89.90 on Amazon (At the time of review)

Today we take a look at the latest installment from be quiet! and their range of low noise power supplies, the Pure Power 9 500w. With be quiet! being a very reputable manufacturer of silent cooling and cases, we see them delve deep into the PSU market and hopefully, bring with it some awesome competition for other brands out there. But will be quiet! be the reigning champion of the power supply league or sit bottom with a sad face emoji? Let’s delve a little deeper into what the Pure Power 9 500w has on offer.

be quiet! is a brand owned by the German company Listan GmbH & Co. KG, who manufactures power supply units, CPU coolers, PC cases, and case fans. The main target groups for products in the be quiet! range are PC enthusiasts and gamers as well as smaller and larger PC integrators. The company’s headquarters is in Glinde, close to Hamburg. At present the firm also has branches in Poland, Taiwan and China. The products of be quiet! are directly sold from Glinde to distributors and resellers worldwide. However, the major market of the be quiet! brand is Europe.

Now we can crack on with the good stuff, taking a look at the product itself and paper based specification.

Specifications

The following specification has been provided by be quiet! and a more detailed version can be found under the “Technical Data” heading here.

• 500 Watts of continuous power and two 12V-rails ensure rock-solid voltage stability for powerful multi-GPU system
• 80PLUS^® Silver certification and up to 91% power conversion efficiency
• Exceptionally quiet operation achieved through an array of careful optimizations, including use of a silence-optimized 120mm be quiet! fan
• Stable operation in its class thanks to Active Clamp + SR power conversion technology
• Attractively sleeved cables simplify component installation, increase airflow and improve cooling
• Product conception, design and quality control in Germany
• 80PLUS^® Silver certification means very high operating efficiency for its class of up to 91%
• High efficiency means money savings, reduced waste heat, and overall quieter operation
• Standby drain of less than 0.11 watts
• Meets Energy Star 6.0 guidelines
• Fulfills ErP 2014 guidelines
• Zero Load design supports Intel’s Deep Power Down C6/C7 mode
• High-quality 120mm be quiet! fan is thermally controlled and optimally governed to strike the best balance between proper cooling and deep quietness
• Airflow-optimized fan blades reduce turbulence, allowing for best-of-class quiet functioning with excellent airflow
• High-efficiency design produces low operating temperatures

Closer Look

Now we will take a look at the product as a whole from the box to what’s inside, detailing what you will expect when purchasing the Pure Power 9 500w PSU by be quiet!.

The front of the box follows the typical be quiet! theme with an orange and grey on black style throughout. Detailing the 80 plus silver rating, power supply wattage with item details and a small image of the product, the look is simplistic yet effective.

The back of the box is where all the information and technical details can be found, from about be quiet! to the power supply itself and everything in between. We can see what cables are included along with their length, the exact specifications for the product and overall size to help you see if it will fit in your case.

In the box you will find documentation along with warranty, power supply and an assortment of cables from standard motherboard and CPU power to PCI-E and SATA power. More images for the specific cables can be found below.

The power supply is semi modular and features the ATX Main connector hard wired into the device, along with a nice shroud for the cabling to keep it neat and tidy. Additional power connectors for Molex, PCI-E based devices and SATA power are also included although they do not feature the shroud.

The top side of the power supply features a protective metal cage to house the 120mm fan that sports a be quiet! sticker and orange loop that goes very well with most cases regardless of it standing out on the PSU.

Additional details of the PSU, including certification and AC/DC input/output figures, can be found on one side of the device.

The opposing side features the typical power connector, ventilation exhaust for cooling and power button.

Finally, the I/O cable side face is on the remaining side which features connectors for the drives and PCIe cables.

Performance

Since we don’t currently have access to an ATE load tester, a multi-meter is used to show each of the power supplies performance on the 3.3v, 5v and 12v rails. Although we can’t do full load tests, we can provide relative information regarding variance and fluctuation of current and ripple on the rails which is integral and indicative of quality in a power supply.

To perform the above tests, the methodology will be as follows:

Intel i7 – 4770K
MSI Z97 Gaming 9 AC
Gigabyte Titan X
Corsair (4x4gb) 16GB DDR3 Vengeance Pro Series Red, PC3-19200 (2400), Non-ECC Unbuffered
2 x 480gb Sandisk SSD’s 
1 x 2tb Seagate barracuda HDD
Test sample be quiet! Pure Power 9 500w PSU

Voltages will be monitored via a multi-meter and the AC power draw will be monitored via a power monitor when drew from the wall. For the idle test, the system will be simply booted up and let to run into windows and after 5 minutes when the power draw has leveled out, the readings will be taken.

To load and apply power to the power supply, a combination of IBT and Furmark will be run to put as much strain on the power supply as possible. After 10 minutes the readings will be taken and to ensure maximum strain, the CPU will be overclocked to 4.5GHz. Depending on the power of the power supply, multiple graphics cards could be used in line with how comfortable I feel the power supply will cope with such load.

ATX themselves specify that a fluctuation and variable of 5% is acceptable so to number crunch it means that:

3.3V = 3.135V-3.465V is acceptable
5V = 4.75V-5.25V is acceptable
12V = 11.4V – 12.6V is acceptable.

Any readings outside of these figures will be an automatic fail.

Conclusion

Now we will begin to summarise our findings and time spent using the be quiet! Pure Power 9 500w PSU, moving on to an overall conclusion of the product itself.

While we do not currently have an ATE load tester at Play3r, we do try to do what testing we can when it comes to power supplies. So with the information provided for performance reasoning, we will be evaluating with the figures we received and will be unable to check for any little fluctuation between voltages whether idling or at load.

Overall, the construction of the be quiet! Pure Power 9 is rock solid and sports the simplistic matt black finish. The addition of the orange ring and be quiet! sticker may be very simplistic but highly effective to help the device stand out. The metal used is very sturdy, not easily flexible with something like a screwdriver like some cheaper PSU’s and all ports/connectors stay strong after a rough play so a clear winner for anyone wanting something rugged.

Performance and thermals kept up well with demand and while being power rated at 80 Plus Silver, expect a good run of life out of this little magic box.

I am a little sad to see no addition of the ever-demanded RGB LED lighting to allow for some more customization or even software to help monitor performance and with an RRP of £102.99 at launch, this isn’t exactly a cheap product. Another disappointing factor is the additional PCI-e and SATA power cables had no shroud or covers to match that already in use on the hardwired connectors to this semi-modular PSU. Those little touches do go a long way!

To conclude, if you are looking for an all-purpose PSU to sit in the bottom of your case or in a testbench while working on repairing single GPU systems then the be quiet! Pure Power 9 is an excellent, well built and tough device, very quiet too. But if you want something that shines and dazzles with cosmetics or features being at the higher end of your demand list then this is not for you. It has been designed and developed to provide the performance needed for typical consumers that want some trustworthy electronics to feed the horsepower gaming rigs they dig deep into their pockets to afford. With this said, we think the Pure Power 9 is an exceptional bit of kit and will be used in my own personal rug until an upgrade is required.

With all these factors added to the equation, we would like to award the be quiet! Pure Power 9 500w PSU our silver award. Thank you to be quiet! for sending this out to us for review and we look forward to seeing more from you soon!