The Be Quiet! Straight Power 12 isn’t the first Be Quiet! power supply we have had in the offices. In fact, I’ve had a lot of experience with them, and are running a Dark Power in our main test bench because Be Quiets! priorities line up well with my own. They value quality, efficiency, and aim to keep noise to a minimum. Their Straight Power 12 lineup was announced back in June and it sits behind the Dark Power lines with a Platinum 80 Plus rating. This is a lineup targeted at users and builders who want efficiency and features but don’t need to go completely on the high end with the Dark Power lineup. Today I’m going to take a closer look at that Straight Power 12 1000 watt and see what it has going on.

Product Name: Be Quiet! Straight Power 12 1000W

Review Sample Provided by: Be Quiet!

Written by: Wes Compton

Amazon Affiliate Link: HERE

**Disclaimer**

LanOC Reviews only cover the features of power supplies due to not having the equipment to test them up to our standards. Because of this, you will not see a performance section, a final verdict, or awards. Therefore, we prefer to call this a preview rather than a review. Thank you for understanding; we keep our standards to the absolute highest for you, our reader.

Packaging

The outside of the Be Quiet! Straight Power 12 1000W sticks right with the same styling that all Be Quiet products have. The entire box is blacked out and down along the bottom they have the Straight Power 12 model name in the largest font. Below that it says “World Class Quiet and Efficiency” and the power supply wattage is at the bottom in bold with all of the text in bright white to contrast the black background. In the center is a picture of the power supply itself with the fan side and modular plugs shown. Then the top left corner has the 80 Plus Platinum badge and the top right has the be quiet logo in their white and orange. On the back of the box, they have a short section about be quiet and they have a logo highlighting that it does support the new PCIe 5.0 standard. There is a wattage breakdown and then there is a spot for a serial number sticker and the UPC in the bottom right corner. There isn’t too much information on what is inside really, the dimensions, a list of connections, and mentioning that this is an ATX power supply would all be helpful if you were shopping in retail and this was on the shelf. 

Once you cut the seal and open the lid on the Straight Power 12 I was surprised to find a full black cardboard panel that slides in at the top and bottom and covers everything up. Once you pull that out of the way the documentation is up on top. Under that, the Straight Power 12  is in the center and comes wrapped in a bubble wrap bag. The two sets of modular cable bundles are on each side under the cardboard divider and at the top, a second bubble wrap bag has a few other accessories. 

The documentation is specific to the Straight Power 12 and has pictures of two different models on the cover and lists out all of the wattages as well. That second bubble wrap bag then comes with the main power cable which has a NEMA 5-15P to C13 power cable, the standard cable you always see. There is a reclosable bag which has four black zip ties inside and also inside is a smaller baggie with black mounting screws for the Straight Power 12 as well.

Photos and Features

Before looking at the Straight Power 12 I did want to run through the Be Quiet! lineup a little more to give a better idea of where everything stands. The model names can be a little confusing so let's go over them. They have the Dark Power, Straight Power, and Pure Power product lines as their main enthusiast-focused ATX power supplies. They then have the System Power lineup and the SFX and TFX  Power lineups for specialty sizes. All of these then have a number at the end, that number is a revision number with the Dark Power line on 13, the Straight Power now on 12 but with the 11 line still available as well. Pure Power is at 12 and System Power is at 10. The System Power and Pure lineups are both not modular and more budget-friendly with the System Power being completely entry-level. System Power has some 80 Plus Bronze-rated power supplies for its lower wattages and Gold rated for the 750 and 850 wattages. The Pure Power lineup are all Gold rated. The old Straight Power 11 line was also Gold rated but with the Straight Power 12 line they are now all Platinum rated which fits better in between the Pure Power and Dark Power lines. Then the Dark Power is the highest with a Titanium 80 Plus rating.

For styling be quiet!’s power supplies are blacked out just like all of their other products. I am surprised however that with their cases and now some of their fan models being available in white as well that we haven’t seen any white power supply models from them to match. The Straight Power 12 1000W has a black housing and on the fan side has a very unique fan grill design that uses straight bars rather than the same round metal grill that a lot of power supplies have or a design cut into the metal housing that functions as a grill. This design keeps you from sticking your fingers into the fan but also helps you see the fan better than on most power supplies as well. It is also a little retro. Behind it the cat cutout isn’t round, it has an octagon shape with each corner being rounded. The fan itself is one of the areas where be quiet can really stand out against the competition. Be quiet fans are known for being quiet and having a premium construction, most power supplies get cheaper OEM fans but the Straight Power 12 1000W has a custom 135mm Silent Wings fan, well they list it as 135 mm but like with a 120mm fan which is the opening not the blade size this fan was closer to 129/130 mm. It has a fluid dynamic bearing and is a 6-pole motor design. The fan can run at up to 2100 RPM and they have it listed at 7.7 db at 10% and 20% load, 8 at 50% load, and 28.9 at 100% load.

The flip side of the Straight Power 12 1000W gives us a better look at the slightly textured black powder-coated finish. Beyond that, there isn’t anything else going on here at all. A lot of times this is where the information would be located but be quiet hasn’t done that here.

The information sticker is on the side of the Straight Power 12 1000W. This has your serial number on it, a breakdown of the wattages by voltage, and the regulatory logos. On the other side, the Straight Power 12 1000W has the be quiet branding stamped into the housing, it is upside down in our pictures because it is upside down compared to the sticker side. It is set up to be readable when the fan is facing down. I would prefer that both sides of the Straight Power 12 1000W have the same clean side in case you need to flip the fan up but we don’t see that as much these days with case layouts. The Straight Power 12 1000W is an ATX power supply so the only dimension that can change from power supply to power supply is the total length the Straight Power 12 1000W is 160 mm long, 10 mm longer than it is wider which is relatively compact for a 1000 watt power supply.

The inside facing end of the Straight Power 12 1000W has a warranty void if opened sticker for countries that is applicable in and this is also where all of the modular cables hook up. Other than one double stacked plug, they are side by side and not stacked. All of the video card connections are on the far left with two 12-pin PCIe connections and one 600-watt PCIe 5.0 connection which is the new 12VHPWR connection which is more compact and can handle more wattage over a single cable than the older 6 and 8-pin connections. Next up they have the drive connections. These are one row 5-pin connections and have the clip on the side of the plug which keeps them more compact whereas everything else has the the clip in the center up top. Next to those are two 8-pin P8 power connections for the CPU power. Then the last two combine power the motherboard 24-pin power connection with one 8-pin plug and one 20-pin plug.

The outward-facing end of the Straight Power 12 1000W has 2/3 of the surface with small hexagon holes cut out of the housing. This is where all of the air from the fan on the inside will blow out. On the solid part of the housing they then have a C14 power plug and next to that a power switch.

The Straight Power 12 does have modular cables, as I already mentioned when we took a look at the connections on the power supply. For the cables be quiet doesn’t include a storage bag but they do ship the cables in two bundles using reusable Velcro straps that you can later use to store any extra cables. For the video card power cables, the Straight Power 12 1000W has three cables with it. You have one 25-inch long 12HPWR cable which is designed to handle 600 watts. That, like the other cables is sleeved with a black sleeving. The other two cables are PCIe power cables and be quiet uses a unique design for their PCIe cables. In total each cable has four of the 6+2 connections but what they do differently is they avoid the daisy chain design that you see a lot of power supplies using. Each of the connections has its own full-length cables that run back to the 12-pin plug at the power supply. This avoids the voltage dips that you sometimes see from the daisy chain design, looks cleaner, and doesn’t run as much power through the cables.

For CPU power the Straight Power 12 1000W has two EPS or 8-pin CPU power cables and one does have the split 4+4 design in case you need to use the Straight Power 12 on a motherboard with an older P4 connection. These were longer at 29 inches long. The Motherboard 24-pin power is shorter at 25 inches long and while it does have the split connections at the power supply they did sleeve it with the black sleeving as well. 

Last up the Straight Power 12 1000W has three peripheral power cables. Two of those are only SATA power (the bottom two in the pictures below). One of those is 41 inches long with SATA power connections at 22,28,24, and 41 inches. The other SATA power cable is a little shorter with three SATA power connections at 23,28, and 34 inches. The third cable is my favorite, it has two SATA power connections at 22 and 27 inches on the cable, then two Molex connections at 33 and 39 inches. This is all you will need for most builds if you need any at all. These of course have black sleeving and the exposed wires are black as well and the connections are all black as well.

Overall

Let me first start by repeating that this isn’t one of our normal reviews like with most products. Testing power supply performance requires specialized hardware that we do not have. I still recommend that to get a full idea of how the be quiet! Straight Power 12 1000W performs you will also need to mix in some coverage from the few places that can do that. The Straight Power 11 was considered an A-Tier power supply and I’m not expecting the Straight Power 12 to be any different, but check first.

I mentioned in our coverage before, but in addition to having a good reputation for quality with their power supplies, be quiet is in a unique position because of their cooling experience to be able to integrate a higher quality fan than most power supplies can include while not effecting the price as much as well. So noise performance on their power supplies including the Straight Power 12 we have here is always a step above. The Straight Power 12 also fits in a great spot in the lineup. The Dark Power and Dark Power Pro power supplies are their flagships and are 80 Plus titanium rated, but that comes at a much more expensive price tag. The Straight Power 12 1000W isn’t cheap, but it does still get you top-tier quality and with an efficiency in the 80 Plus Platinum range it does bridge the gap. It also integrates the new PCIe 5.0 12VHPWR connection. It has an MSRP of $259.90 though which is more expensive than I would have expected. Phanteks and Corsair both have similarly optioned power supplies that are $199.99 + shipping and $239.99 respectively. The Dark Power 13 from be quiet! also competes highly with the Straight Power 12 1000W at $259 with the Dark Power just $30 more (289.90).

The Straight Power 12 1000W is there with be quiets unique but subtle styling and features, but they may need to adjust the pricing a little more to be competitive like the Dark Power 13 is when compared to the 80 Plus Titanium rated power supplies.

Live Pricing: HERE

Author Bio

Author: garfi3ldWebsite: http://lanoc.org

Editor-in-chief

You might call him obsessed or just a hardcore geek. Wes's obsession with gaming hardware and gadgets isn't anything new, he could be found taking things apart even as a child. When not poking around in PC's he can be found playing League of Legends, Awesomenauts, or Civilization 5 or watching a wide variety of TV shows and Movies. A car guy at heart, the same things that draw him into tweaking cars apply when building good looking fast computers. If you are interested in writing for Wes here at LanOC you can reach out to him directly using our contact form.