be quiet Dark Power Pro 13 1300W Power Supply Review

As overclockers and system builders we are often looking at the highest capacity PSUs for our builds and often forget that adequate power comes in many different forms and largely depends on your system configuration.  Personally, I have always recommended an 850w PSU for any build going into a chassis.  Anything larger than that is often a waste of money given that most PC builds are nothing more than a motherboard and single graphics card. 

However, when you start pushing the limits of a typical build or love to do some extreme overclocking then you need to move up.  I have never run any PSU smaller than 1200w when overclocking and with how much power the Raptor Lake 13900K and RTX 4090 pull you need a PSU that can handle the load. 

The Dark Power 13 series of PSUs is available in five versions.  Standard Dark Power 13 units feature three power levels, 1000w, 850w and 750w.  When you move up to the Dark Power Pro 13 you get 1300w, like featured in this review and 1600w for the hardware enthusiast who knows what the have under the covers.

While 1300w seems excessive it is a sweet spot for a high-end build where you get plenty of power for your system and just the right combination of dress up parts to really make your build stand out.  For most other PSUs you not only buy the unit but then need to spend extra on cables and whatever power rail configuration you are given.

With the Dark Power Pro 13 from be quiet you are given 6 individual 12v power rails with different power limits depending on how the connection is used.  You can see this on the power label along with the total rated output.

A feature of the Dark Power Pro is the OCK connection allowing you to reconfigure the PSU from a multi rail PSU to a single rail.  This helps to reduce voltage ripple and increases power performance, especially when overclocking where you can often demand more power than what a single rail can deliver.

Overall, I am extremely impressed with the Dark Power Pro 13, the fully modular design has become a sudo standard across all power supplies and the number of connections you get is directly related to the power output of the PSU.  It also gives system builders more options for management when unused cables can be completely removed.  Normally, this is also an open invitation for swapping out the crap cables for individually sleeved versions but, the Dark Power Pro 13 has you covered with sleeved cables across the entire bundle (except for the two 12VHPWR)

I also like how every cable bundle has a different plug so there is no confusion to where a cable can and cannot be installed and the full-length wires on the PCI Express power cable is an extremely nice touch and just the thing most high-end builds are missing.

As expected, the Dark Power Pro 13 is quite large and a bit on the heavy side but the 80 Plus Titanium power rating ensures that you will get efficient and accurate power delivery and the frameless silent wings cooling fan ensures that it will be whisper quiet under any load.

Silent Operation
Overclocking Key, Switch or Jumper
Modular Design
1300w and 1600w Monsters
80+ Titanium
Individually Sleeved Wires
Brushed Aluminum Chassis

12VHPWR cables are not sleeved