be quiet! Straight Power 12 ATX 3.1 (ursprünglich ATX 3.0)

Das be quiet Straight Power 12 (1.000 Watt) kann nicht nur mit einer hochwertigen Verarbeitung punkten, sondern auch mit seinem leisen Betrieb – vor allem bei hoher Last. Dazu verfügt das Netzteil über eine hohe Effizienz nach 80 Plus Platinum Zertifizierung und ist mit einem nativen 12VHPWR-Stecker ausgestattet.

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.

Das Straight Power 12 Netzteil erfüllt seinen Namen, da es wirklich leise ist – sowohl im Leerlauf als auch unter Volllast.

Today we're looking at he Be quiet! Straight Power 12 750W PSU, a high-tier offering in Be quiet!'s PSU portfolio that exemplifies the brand's approach to product design. The Straight Power 12 series is engineered to deliver top performance and whisper-quiet operation, appealing to users who seek the optimal mix of power efficiency and sound level, without compromising on reliability and premium quality. The 750 Watt model that we are reviewing today is the weakest unit of the series, yet still enough to effortlessly power a modern gaming system with a mid-tier GPU.

Die bekannte Netzteilserie Straight Power von be quiet! ist letztes Jahr in der Revision 12 auf den Markt gekommen. Laut be quiet! sind der leise Betrieb, die Effizienz und die hohe Leistungsfähigkeit herauszuheben, wobei auch die volle ATX-3.0-Unterstützung zu erwähnen ist. Mit diesen Features sind die Straight Power 12 gut gerüstet und wir haben daher einen Blick auf das mit 1.200 W zweitstärkste Modell dieser Serie geworfen.

Die uns vorliegende Version des be quiet! Straight Power 12 ist ab 160,18 € gelistet. Dabei kommt das Netzteil mit der zweitbesten 80 PLUS Zertifizierung. Es verfügt über viele Anschlüsse, sodass hier quasi keine Wünsche unerfüllt bleiben. Durch den 12VHPWR- Anschluss ist es auch bereit für alle aktuellen Grafikkarten. Im Betrieb ist es für uns auch unter Last, nicht aus dem System herauszuhören.

If you are building a mid-range gaming PC, this is likely more power than you’ll ever need. However, if you are a professional user, an overclocker, or someone building a flagship rig with components like the RTX 5090, or even workstation cards, then the be quiet! Straight Power 12 1500W is one of the best choices on the market. It combines massive power with whisper-quiet operation and top-tier efficiency. At an MSRP of £349.99, it is an investment, but given the 10-year warranty and the sheer quality on display, it is an investment that is well worth making for the high-end enthusiast.

Just like with previous reviews I feel I need to point out the obvious and so once again since my test rig can’t draw much over 1KW whenever I test power supply units with higher outputs my results may not be 100% accurate (even if I had a SunMoon/Chroma tester that wouldn’t change much). This of course applies only for systems that can actually manage to squeeze more power than my test rig does. That being said even then rail stability shouldn't be affected much (if at all), what will be affected however are noise levels and so for example in the case of the Straight Power 12 1500W if you do manage to draw its full output, I expect that noise levels will undoubtedly climb to over 50dBA (from just 5-10cm away that is). With that out of the way rail stability is very good, the Silent Wings 135mm fan is pretty much inaudible from 1 meter away (at least up to 1024W) and as for build quality well it’s exactly what you’d expect from a unit by be quiet! and their OEM partners (again, probably FSP in this case). On top of that you’re getting two 12VHPWR 600W connectors which means you’re set for all of the upcoming GeForce RTX models by NVIDIA (and Radeon RX models since AMD will probably use the same connector eventually). The Straight Power 12 line of power supply units by be quiet! was unveiled roughly 2 months ago but it was only recently that these models became available in the market and so currently the 1500W variant retails for USD379.90 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 338.70Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). Again, this may not seem as quite affordable for the majority of people but it’s worth point out that models with well over 1KW of power output are mostly for people who may like to overclock the living daylights out of their CPU and GPU (or people who just have lots to spend on a new system, also who knows, future graphics cards may feature multi-link once more). Cost aside the latest Straight Power 12 1500W PSU by be quiet! scores high on everything and for that it deserves the Platinum Award.

With the Straight Power 12 1500W being £100 cheaper than the DARK POWER 13 1600W, PC builders get a near 30% discount by dropping their PSU power providing capacity by 100 watts, dropping their PSU efficiency a smidge, and dropping some features that most users will regard as unnecessary. This factor will make the Straight Power 12 1500W a no brainer for most buyers, especially if they want to push more of their budget into other areas of their high-powered workstation.