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Power supplies are more crucial and better than ever before. As the heart of any gaming or professional PC, choosing the right PSU can dramatically influence your system’s performance and reliability.
If you’re looking for the best performance and value in your next PC build, we’ve picked the top power supply units that balance wattage, efficiency, and design.
So let’s get started!
Number 3. MSI MAG A650BN – Best Budget PSU
If you’re looking for a PSU with room to power a power hungry PC on a tight budget, then the MSI MAG A650BN is the best option right now. In a market where most budget options include 500-watt PSUs, MSI decided to disrupt the market with a unit that offers 650 Watts of continuous power in an awesome-looking package.
The design of the A650BN is unique and different from what we see in a budget PSU. It has an all-black compact body with accented groves and markings that don’t distract or look offputting. In my opinion, the design is a standout feature because almost all budget PSUs look similar. Even the cables are all-black with a unified sleeving which makes it look clean and helps make budget PC builds look more premium compared to cheaper units with colorful cables.
When it comes to performance, the unit is well-built and even though this is one of MSI’s early attempts, it’s a great unit. It can handle powerful parts like an RTX 4070 Super or RX 7900 XT paired with a fast CPU like the Ryzen 7 7700 or i7 14700 at stock speeds. This is unheard of because, at the asking price of the A650BN, you will find mostly low-end 500-watt units that are only good for a really basic PC.
Only the EVGA 650BP can be considered as an alternative because it’s nearly identical to the A650BN. The only problem is that EVGA isn’t making that PSU anymore and hasn’t updated it in a long time which means that the stock for the 650BP will run out any time now.
In summary, the MSI MAG A650BN is a budget-friendly answer for those who want more wattage than what budget PSUs offer. MSI is looking to shake up the budget segment and with great power delivery, quiet operation, and a unique design, the A650BN just might help them get there.
To sum up what I like is…
Unique design for a budget PSU
High wattage for the price
On the downside…
Non-modular cables
RATINGS:
Design: 9/10
Power delivery and efficiency: 8/10
Cooling and noise: 8/10
Value for Money: 9/10
Overall Rating: 8.5/10
Number 2. be quiet! Dark Power Pro 13 1600 W – Best Premium PSU
Power supplies are usually a boring subject to talk about. They aren’t as exciting as GPUs or CPUs but are arguably the most important part of any PC. What if I told you that there is a single power supply unit that can handle pretty much any power requirement target? Well, to answer that exact question, be quiet! introduced their Dark Power Pro 13 1600 W 80-Plus Titanium PSU.
Starting with the design of the unit, be quiet! decided to keep a simple and clean aesthetic. It’s a fully-flushed boxy design with mesh grills both on the top where there’s a logo and on the bottom where there’s the fan. All of the modular cables, except the 12VHPWR cables, are individually sleeved with included cable combs to keep them routed straight. The entire unit and the cables are black with no other color option but I think that’s not an issue unless you’re looking to color-match your PSU with the rest of your PC build. In that case, I recommend getting custom cable sleeves and hiding the PSU.
When it comes to features, it is honestly very hard to even begin talking about them. Be quiet! basically decided to build a single unit that can do everything. It is an 80-Plus Titanium unit with the ability to continuously provide 1600 Watts of power that comes with two 12VHPWR connectors for two PCIe 5.0 graphics cards. So powering even an extremely power hungry PC with a 14900KS and two RTX 4090s, will be no problem.
Keep in mind that while a single 12VHPWR connector can pump out 600 Watts of power, using two of them at the same time can only provide a total of 1000 Watts of power.
The PSU is also going to remain dead silent up to 40% load which means that you aren’t going to see the fan spin at all even when the system is using 600 Watts of power. It’s only when the PSU is pumping out 1200 Watts of power that the unit becomes barely audible which is a testament to its efficiency.
Perhaps the most unique feature of the Dark Power Pro 13 is an included switch that can toggle between single-rail and multi-rail power delivery. This is quite a killer feature because you now get a hybrid PSU that can take advantage of either single-rail or multi-rail based on what you want to do with the PC.
Now, a price of around $500 is certainly a lot to ask for a PSU, but the truth is, be quiet has completely smoked the competition with this one. Every other PSU of this caliber is way more expensive which really makes it impossible to consider them when the Dark Power Pro 13 is right there. The best example of this is the excellent Corsair AX1600i which is nearly identical in everything compared to the Dark Power 13 Pro. But where Corsair fumbled is pricing this PSU at $600; that is simply too much to ask even for those looking to build the most extreme PC. The story is the same with the Seasonic Prime TX-1600 which is another great unit but with an unjustifiable price tag.
In conclusion, if you’re looking to build the fastest PC today or in the near future and you expect to have high power requirements, then the be quiet! Dark Power Pro 13 1600 W has you covered. It’s perfect for running multiple GPUs and powerful CPUs and is sure to last you a long time – as long as you’re willing to pay a hefty premium up front.
To sum up what I like is that
It provides a lot of power for any type of system load
Dual 12VHPWR connectors
On the downside
Very expensive
RATINGS:
Design: 9/10
Power delivery and efficiency: 9.5/10
Cooling and noise: 9.5/10
Value for Money: 8/10
Overall Rating: 9/10
Number 1. be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850 W – Our Top Choice
be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850W is one of those rare gems that manage to hit the mark on every front.
Lookswise, it uses a very simple design language. The unit is completely black with a single 120 mm fan at the bottom intake which has a white rim and an orange be quiet! logo in the middle. The cables aren’t sleeved, but they are completely black and look quite elegant.
Off course looks are useless if the PSU isn’t good, and thankfully, be quiet! over delivers. The Pure Power 12 M is a Gold-rated PSU, but given its top-notch efficiency curve, I actually consider this to be a Platinum PSU. This is because, at worst, the 12 M stays between 85 to 90% efficiency at really low system loads just like a Gold-rated PSU. However, most of the time, the PSU stays at around 94% efficiency between 20 to 80% system load, which is an incredible demonstration of under-promising and over-delivering.
Another thing that completely won me over is how quiet the unit is. The fan does spin all the time, but it produces less than 15 decibels of noise all the way up to 500 Watts of power usage. Even up to 650 Watts, the fan produces less than 25 decibels which is just faintly audible even in a quiet room. Nevertheless given how efficient this PSU is, I would’ve liked to see a zero RPM mode so that the fan doesn’t spin at all at low loads and I’m not sure why they didn’t add this feature.
If we take a look at the competition, the $100 price point has a lot of really good power supplies. There is barely any unit that you need to avoid and all of them offer just about everything you would need in a high-quality PSU.
Where the be quiet! Pure Power 12 M excels is the near-perfect balance when it comes to features. There are a lot of PSUs at this price point and at 650 Watts to 1000 Watts. The low-wattage units are too expensive and the high-wattage units usually have a worse efficiency curve. Filtering them out, we get some amazing units like the Corsair RM750e and RM850e, the EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G7, the MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5, the Cooler Master MWE Gold 850 V2, and many many more.
You could go with any of these, but at the end of the day, the 850-watt version of the Pure Power 12 M is too well-priced and well-equipped to pass on. At around $100, Platinum-level efficiency, and silent operation, it is simply the best PSU for the money.
To sum up what I like is the…
Platinum-level efficiency for a Gold-rated PSU
Silent operation at any load
On the downside
No zero RPM fan mode
RATINGS:
Design: 8.5/10
Power delivery and efficiency: 9.5/10
Cooling and noise: 9.5/10
Value for Money: 9/10
Overall Rating: 9/10
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