be quiet! Power Zone 1000W Modular Power Supply Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

Be Quiet’s Power Zone 1000W power supply is selling for £130 in the UK at Overclockers and $190 in North America at Amazon. This PSU comes with a 5 year manufacturers warranty.

Conclusion

Be Quiet’s Power Zone 1000W power supply offers exceptional value for money for anyone with a desire for a large amount of power and the benefits of a fully modular design. Compared to the competition the Power Zone 1000W offers an incredible amount of performance for its price point and would make a solid foundation for any 2 or 3 way GPU system. As we’ve come to expect from the Be Quiet brand the product feels well-rounded and high quality but I think there is still room for improvement. Be Quiet have been way to over-zealous with the fan profile, up to 2900 RPM is totally unnecessary: I would have liked to have seen a fan with a max RPM of around 1800RPM instead. I’m confused as to why they felt this was necessary: building their PSU from a modern 80 Plus Gold capable FSP platform there was never going to be much heat that needed dissipating. It is a little sad that a Be Quiet product is actually noisy, but we hope they’ll address this with future revisions. I also feel like Be Quiet need to pay more attention to their cables, they’ve put so much effort into making the power supply unit attractive and well-built and it seems like the cables were just an after-thought. The fact this PSU is fully modular is nice but there’s no excuse in this day and age for offering such garish cables on an enthusiast targeted product. Of course if you don’t have a side panel window or are indifferent the cables are a minor issue, but given the typical attention to detail we normally see from Be Quiet I am surprised by the over-sight.

Pros

• 80 Plus Gold performance, much better than its listed Bronze rating
• Excellent Power Factor Correction
• Fully Modular
• Superb voltage regulation
• Tight ripple suppression
• Competitive pricing
• 5 year warranty

Cons

• Noisy fan above 60% load
• Plastic edges make the unit feel cheap (and more likely to vibrate, whereas rubber would absorb vibration)
• Cables need improving – look a bit cheap and nasty

“Be Quiet’s Power Zone 1000W PSU offers incredible performance across the board: voltage regulation, efficiency, PFC and ripple suppression. This performance is even more impressive given the modest price point, extensive warranty and fully modular design. The Power Zone 1000W is a great value product, though there are still a few areas for improvement.”

Thank you to Be Quiet for providing this review sample.