be quiet! Straight Power 11 1000W Power Supply Review

Today we take a look at one of the latest power supplies from be quiet! - the Straight Power 11. This family includes models ranging in capacity from 450W to 1000W - and we look at the flagship model today. It is an 80 Plus Gold, fully modular power supply and has just been released in the United Kingdom. One of the main selling points for a be quiet! power supply is the adoption of their SilentWings 3 fans - they are simply the quietest fans on the market, and probably my favourite. They push plenty of air, and do so without making much noise. Many of the new models of power supplies we are reviewing are 80 Plus Platinum and Titanium certified, but the Straight Power 11 is only 80 Plus Gold Certified. Gold Certification is perfectly acceptable and the bonus is that the price points are more competitive. Another selling point is based around the fact that this new FSP platform design doesn't use any power transfer cables internally. This will aid airflow, reducing internal temperatures and potentially help reduce fan speeds. A SilentWings 3 fan is already quiet, but a slower spinning one under load is even better. be quiet! Straight Power 11 Features: Virtually inaudible SilentWings® 3 135mm fan Funnel-shaped fan opening of the PSU case for high airflow intake Wire-free inside the PSU on the DC side for enhanced cooling and longevity Full cable management for maximum build flexibility 80PLUS® Gold efficiency (up to 93%) Powerful multi-GPU support with six PCI-Express connectors Japanese 105°C-rated capacitors ensure stability and reliability ErP and Energy Star 6.1 ready 5-year manufacturer’s warranty Review photography handled in house at KitGuru with a Leica S series medium format camera and S series prime lens. Please do not use any of the images within this review without express permission. be quiet! have been using similar box artwork for many years. If it ain't broke don't fix it we say. The capacity is clearly labelled, along with the 80 Plus Gold Certification and the modular cable design. The rear of the box offers some details in German and English, along with diagrams of the cabling and overall power output. Inside the box, the power supply is protected underneath some cardboard inside bubble wrap. The modular cables rest on either side of the unit, and a regional specific power cable is also supplied. Above, the literature, mounting screws, cable ties, modular cables and regional power cable. Our review samples ship from Europe so we aren't supplied with a UK power cable. It is interesting to note that the cables are all sleeved, rather than the more popular ribbon style, often chosen for ease of routing. I have nothing against sleeved cables myself. be quiet! include an HDD to FDD converter cable. As the table above shows, the 1000W unit has extra PCIe cables for multi GPU configurations. Good to see such long cables too. Connectors - 1 x 20+4-Pin ATX12V/EPS12V - 1 x 4+4-Pin ATX12V/EPS12V - 1 x 8-Pin ATX12V/EPS12V - 6x 6+2-Pin-PCIe - 11 x SATA - 8 x 4-Pin-Molex - 1 x Floppy The Straight Power 11 1000W is a very nicely finished power supply and the paint work is deep and resistant to minor scratches that can sometimes occur with rough handling during a system build. The dimensions without cables are (L x W x D), (mm): 170 x 150 x 86. The lovely Silentwings 3 fan is hidden behind a metal grill, we will take a look at it closer when we open the unit later in the review. We like the appearance of the be quiet! metal grill - its very dramatic. One end of the power supply has a vent, along with a power connector and switch. The logo is also subtlety displayed here. The modular bay is neatly laid out with lettering above each row to aid with the building phase. All the connectors are different sizes however so its impossible to plug the cables into the wrong connector. Pay attention to that 'warranty void if removed' sticker. I will ignore it completely however for you. be quiet! Straight Power 11 1000W PSU DC Output +3.3V +5V 12V1 12V2 12V3 12V4 -12V +5Vsb Max Output 25A 25A 22A 22A 30A 30A 0.5A 3A Total Power 150W 83.3A - 999.6W 6W 15W 1000 Watts We can see the +12V output delivers 83A under full load conditions. Both +3.3V and +5V rails can handle up to 25A. be quiet! are using one of their own proprietary SilentWings 3 fans - Model Number BQ SIW3-13525-HF-26. It is rated 12V, 0.56A with a maximum speed of 2,600 rpm. SilentWings 3 fans use a 6 pole motor design to reduce vibration and power consumption. They are fluid dynamic bearing fans to help ensure a life span of 300,000 hours. If you pay close attention you will see the fan frame has funnel shaped air inlets to produce high air pressure. They normally ship with a three year manufacturers warranty but his fan will fall under the 5 year warranty term of the power supply itself. If you can't see the image gallery below then whitelist us in your ad blocker as they can interfere with our display code. This FSP design has no internal wiring ensures high airflow capabilities which will reduce temperatures. It uses a fully modular cable design and the LLC resonant converter on the primary side reduces energy losses significantly. All of the capacitors are high grade 105c Japanese grade which is good to see. On the primary side we can see two Nichicon 105C caps, rated 420V 470uF each for a total of 940uF. On the secondary side a synchronous design is implemented with a couple of DC-DC converters for the minor rails. The electrolytic caps are also Japanese branded. Caps on the secondary stage are supplied by Chemi Con. We are pleased to report that all protection features are in place. There are four +12V rails which slightly ruins the overall design for me, as I prefer a strong single +12V rail. Soldering quality seems high enough throughout, and the modular PCB is a Rev: 12 design 3BD0273212GP. Correctly testing power supplies is a complex procedure and KitGuru have configured a test bench which can deliver up to a 2,000 watt DC load. We test ambient temperatures at 35c in our environment to greater reflect warmer internal chassis conditions. We use combinations of the following hardware: • SunMoon SM-268 • CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs) • CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4) • Extech Power Analyzer • Extech MultiMaster MM570 digital multimeter • SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) • Digital oscilloscope (20M S/s with 12 Bit ADC) • Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA DC Output Load Regulation Combined DC Load +3.3V +5V +12V +5VSB -12V A V A V A V A V A V 100W 0.88 3.35 0.90 5.00 7.35 12.02 0.50 5.03 0.20 -12.02 200W 1.60 3.35 1.65 5.00 15.10 12.02 1.00 5.02 0.20 -12.02 500W 3.20 3.35 3.25 4.99 38.60 11.97 1.50 5.01 0.20 -12.01 750W 4.05 3.34 4.15 4.98 58.50 11.95 2.00 5.01 0.30 -12.02 1000W 5.45 3.33 5.50 4.96 78.09 11.92 2.50 5.01 0.30 -12.01 The load regulation of this power supply is solid, holding well within industry rated tolerance levels. be quiet! Straight Power 11 1000W Maximum Load 1082W We managed to get another 82W from the power supply before the protection circuitry kicked in! The supply was undamaged and it was ready to fire up again when we were a little more sensible with the load. Next we want to try Cross Loading. This basically means loads which are not balanced. If a PC for instance needs 500W on the +12V outputs but something like 30W via the combined 3.3V and +5V outputs then the voltage regulation can fluctuate badly. Cross Load Testing +3.3V +5V +12V -12V +5VSB A V A V A V A V A V 885W 2.0 3.35 2.0 5.00 72.0 11.94 0.2 -12.00 0.50 5.02 240W 20.0 3.30 24.0 4.87 2.0 12.02 0.2 -12.02 0.50 5.02 The unit survived the cross load test without any issue, although we noticed the +5V rail dropped from 5.00 to 4.87 when hit with 24A. We then used an oscilloscope to measure AC ripple and noise present on the DC outputs. We set the oscilloscope time base to check for AC ripple at both high and low ends of the spectrum. ATX12V V2.2 specification for DC output ripple and noise is defined in the ATX 12V power supply design guide. ATX12V Ver 2.2 Noise/Ripple Tolerance Output Ripple (mV p-p) +3.3V 50 +5V 50 +12V1 120 +12V2 120 -12V 120 +5VSB 50 Obviously when measuring AC noise and ripple on the DC outputs the cleaner (less recorded) means we have a better end result. We measured this AC signal amplitude to see how closely the unit complied with the ATX standard. AC Ripple (mV p-p) DC Load +3.3V +5V +12V 5VSB 100W 5 10 10 5 250W 5 10 15 5 500W 10 15 25 5 750W 10 20 35 5 1000W 10 20 40 5 Ripple suppression from this unit is fairly good, peaking at 10mV and 20mV on the +3.3V and +5V rails respectively. The maximum noise from the +12V is 40mV at full load which is well within the industry rated specifications. Efficiency (%) 100W 88.73 250W 90.75 500W 92.21 750W 91.67 1000W 89.61 The efficiency results are excellent, peaking at 92.2% at close to 50%. This drops to around 89% efficiency at full load. Good results for an 80 Plus Gold rated unit. We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635. Today to test the Power Supply we have taken it into our acoustics room environment and have set our SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) one meter away from the unit. We have no other fans running so we can effectively measure just the noise from the unit itself. As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels. KitGuru noise guide 10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves 20-25dBA – Whisper 30dBA – High Quality Computer fan 40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator 50dBA – Normal Conversation 60dBA – Laughter 70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer 80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal 90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower 100dBA – MP3 Player at maximum output 110dBA – Orchestra 120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine 130dBA – Threshold of Pain 140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range) 160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum Noise (dBA) 100W <28.0 250W <28.0 500W 29.3 750W 31.8 1000W 33.4 The be quiet! SilentWings 3 fans are spectacular fan designs and one of the best on the market. I even rate them higher than some of the Noctua fans I have tested in recent years. The noise levels from this supply are class leading and if owning a quiet power supply is paramount to your purchase decision then the be quiet! Straight Power 11 1000W bears serious consideration. The pitch of these fans is also very unobtrusive which is clearly linked to the design of the funnel shaped fan inlets. Temperature (c) Intake Exhaust 100W 35 39 250W 35 45 500W 38 53 750W 43 59 1000W 46 65 The fan profile is very unaggressive at lower load situations. At around 700 watts load we noticed it ramping up - then incrementally as the load levels continued to rise. At full load, the temperature held at 65c in our environment, which is a good result. Maximum load Efficiency 1082W 89.4 Pushing the PSU above its rated limits generates an efficiency level of around 89.4%. This is not a viable ‘real world’ situation, but its interesting nonetheless. The be quiet! Straight Power 11 1000W is a fine power supply, with the new Enhance design showing its worth in many key areas. Obviously the primary focus from be quiet! is on the SilentWings 3 fan - and I am pleased to report that it delivers a very pleasant low noise experience even when heavily loaded. The exterior is finished to the high standards we would expect from be quiet! The paint work is deep and resistant to minor scratches and we love their grill design - its very industrial and futuristic. The start of the show lies under the grill - the SIlentWings 3 fan is fantastic. The Enhance design delivers clean, stable power with load regulation and cross loading tests verifying it will cope with transient changes and high power delivery for extended periods of time. The supply delivered just over 1080 watts before safely shutting down. Ripple suppression is perfectly fine, and it was good to note that the design is utilising 105c Japanese Capacitors from Nichicon and Nippon Chemi-Con. Long term reliability seems a safe bet. I am however surprised be quiet! are only offering a 5 year warranty. In recent years manufacturers have been pushing this forward - Corsair and Seasonic are offering 10 and 12 year warranties respectively with their ranges. A real concern is the price point currently in the United Kingdom. AT £204.95 inc vat HERE its £20 more expensive that the Corsair RM1000X 80+Gold unit HERE and Silverstone make a Platinum grade 1000W power supply for only £185 HERE. If bequiet! could drop the price by £20-£25, it would really help drive sales because as it stands I can't help but feel this is an 80 Plus Gold unit priced more like a 80 Plus Platinum supply. Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE. Pros: Built to the highest standards. Fully modular quiet as a mouse. class leading fan. solid load regulation. good ripple suppression. 105c Nichicon and Nippon Chemi-Con caps. Cons: Its priced more like a Platinum power supply. 5 year warranty seems very tight in today's market, id like to see this increased to 7 years+ Kitguru says: The be quiet! Straight Power 11 1000W is a stellar power supply built to the highest standards. It is currently overpriced in the United Kingdom however.