bequiet! Pure Power L8 400W Review

1. Introduction2. BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 400W (Bundle & Cables)3. BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 400W (Exterior)4. BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 400W (Internal)5. BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 400W (Super High Res Gallery)6. Testing Methodology & Results7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

BeQuiet! don't use the same model of fan in their power supplies, each unit incorporates a fan specific for the power output, to ensure the lowest possible noise levels while maintaining a safe thermal curve under load.

The Pure Power L8 400W features the BQT T12025-MS-16 fan which operates at a maximum speed of 1,600 rpm. This 12V, 2.4W fan can push a maximum of 46.65 CFM. This 120mm fan has a specially finished surface texture to reduce air turbulences.

BeQuiet! say that every fan blade in their units is individually checked for micro unbalancing. If the need arises, each blade is tared out with tiny weighs to ensure balanced, lower noise performance.

The BeQuiet! Pure Power L8 is a cleanly designed power supply with several rows of black painted heatsinks in place to aid with cooling proficiency. This design topology is a Double Forward implementation, used for cost efficiency.

The soldering quality inside this supply is quite clean throughout.



This unit is using a mixture of Teapo capacitors, with the primary capacitor rated 420V, 220uF @ 85C. We wouldn't expect to see a 105C primary stage capacitor in a budget oriented model such as this, although some of the secondary capacitors are 105c rated. This will help long term as they are predominately bunched in airflow restricted areas of the PCB, close to the hardwired cables. The Pure Power unit offers OCP, OPP, OVP, UVP and SCP and Over Temperature Protection (OTP) for both +12V rails. The IC is located on a separate PCB which means the design has more space to accommodate bigger transforming components.

Behind the AC receptacle is a small PCB which is home to some of the transient filtering stage components. There is also the ‘on/off switch’ here.

The supply is using a modularised EMI solution board. The EMI stage is soldered into a separate PCB. BeQuiet! claim this unit achieves ErP 2013 standards with a power drain of 0.15W when in standby (it needs to be 0.25W or less for this certification).

The cables are fully sleeved into the chassis and tied into place for added security. There is a rubber grommet around the metal as well, to ensure long term fraying is not a concern.

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