be quiet! PURE POWER 10 | 600W CM review – partially modular cable management and German engineering

It was very recently that we presented to you our first review of a power supply unit in which we discussed the PowerZone 650W by be quiet!. Well, today we would like to review one of the new semi-modular offers by the same company – PURE POWER 10 | 600W CM. The term we used above means that only some of the cables have the option of being additionally attached to the unit, while others – the ATX cable for the motherboard and P4+4 for the CPU in our case – are soldered to the power supply unit.

PURE POWER 10 power supplies are cooled by the 120-mm fans produced by be quiet!. Additionally, the model we shall discuss today features an 80Plus Silver certificate for efficiency. In the next lines, we would like to have a look at the product’s build quality, elements used in construction, as well as conduct several tests to check to what an extent the PSU offers what its manufacturers claim it to provide.

If you happen to show interest in this product, you could check its current price and availability here: http://amzn.to/2rbe5jD

Contents

be quiet! PURE POWER 10 | 600W CM Specs sheet

PSU parameters

Retail package

PURE POWER 10 | 600W CM comes in a typical be quiet! matte black box which carries an image of the unit as well as more information about its specifications and technologies used. The box contains the power supply unit obviously, additional modular cables as well as a power cable with a plug in accordance with European socket standards. Additionally, the cables that are mandatory to go into the motherboard – ATX and CPU have been soldered to the circuit board but the PCIe cables and the ones supplying storage devices are modular and you can connect only the ones you need, facilitating cable management. In the table below you can find the quantity and length of the available cables.

Only the cables that are supplying the motherboard and CPU have additional protection on top of the insulation. This is probably so because it is expected that they will wear out faster because they cannot be removed from the system. Despite the lack of extra protection, the other cables are high-quality ones and their elegant black color will look well in combination with any other color in your case.

Design and construction

The power supply unit comes in form factor standard for its power – 86 х 150 х 160 (H x W x L). Pure Power 10’s solid construction is reinforced with matte metal panels. On the front side, we can see nothing but the power cable input (100-240V AC) and the on/off switch. Additionally, the components in this enclosure are cooled by a 120 mm be quiet! fan which has a lining in the typical of be quiet! orange color. It is not turned off when the load is low but is a good boy and keeps low noise levels – 20.3 dB at maximum load, according to the manufacturer.

And now we move on to the insides back part (facing the computer case’s interior) of the power supply unit. It is there that we find the group of cables ending with ATX and 4+4 CPU connectors. Next to them are located the modules in question. They are distributed in a configuration of two PCIe outputs and three drives. Also, the PCIe outputs are 12-pin and the cables that are connected to them are 6+2-pin which results in a total of 6+2-pin PCIe connectors. Each of the three drives outputs, on the other hand, can be a home to any of the available cables, regardless of the type. We must also note that the three groups of cables have different management. The first group features two S-ATA, one MOLEX and one FDD connectors. As for the second one, we get one S-ATA and two MOLEX, while the third one – three S-ATA connectors. Like we said earlier, the purpose of modular cable management is to reduce the number of unnecessary cables in a computer system.

On the inside

We would like to open the lid of be quiet! PURE POWER | 600W CM now to have a look at the components that do all the hard work. Right after we opened it, we saw the 120mm fan. It is by be quiet!, and has been manufactured using a 4-pole fan motor technology allowing a speed of up to 1200 rpm. This speed is calibrated according to the PSU’s temperature and load. At max load, the fan-generated airflow reaches 52 cfm (88.35 m3/h). Like we said, the fan does not stop spinning even at minimum load but at least the generated noise levels amount to 11.2 dB at 20 % load, 12.5 dB at 50%, and 20.3 dB at maximum load.

The scheme has been realized with the help of a high-voltage fast diode with an inscription – STTH8R06FP. In the photos below you can see the power elements realized according to the Active Clamp scheme – the FET 8R460CE and Shottky diode, whose code is CEF03N8 (at the back, to the right of the big electrolytic capacitor). Now that we’ve mentioned it – the capacitor has the following specs – 420 V, 330 uF and operating temperature of 85 °C. It is part of the high-voltage scheme produced by the Japanese company TEAPO. The LH lineup by TEAPO, part of which is this capacitor, is inferior in class to the 650 Watt POWER ZONE. This is namely where the difference in maximum temperature comes – 85 °C vs 105 °C in the LH series.

Active Clamp increases the efficiency ratio and reduces the load on transistors working in key mode, which in its turn reduces the temperature and allows less space for the cooling radiators.

Behind them, there are two transformers and in close proximity to them we find a small radiator cooling synchronous rectifiers at +12 V. Furthermore, there is a temperature sensor attached to it which is like a controller for the levels of the cooling fan. The synchronous rectifier, transducer, and PFC controller are managed by the PWM controller FSP6600 (on the left in the photo).

Attached to the small board (left) are the two FSP6601 PWM controllers with the reducing DC-DC transducer. Output filtration is performed via TEAPO capacitors from the high-temperature SC series.

Exactly on the socket for the input power cable there are two soldered variable resistors. Their goal is to cancel voltage input pulsations.

Results

So far we spoke only about the construction and hardware. Now it is time to have a look at some tests that will reveal the be quiet! PURE POWER 10 | 600W CM merits and disadvantages. The conducted tests consisted of: measuring the power and voltage factor at the buses when one such was loaded with 12 V (equal to an output power of 150, 30, 450 and 600 W). We also measured the time within which the voltage is determined – it should not take too long but it should not be too fast either (under 100 ms), which can lead to problems with booting resulting from BIOS problems. In our tests, we discovered that the time for voltage determination is within the normal – approximately 290 ms. As for the power factor, it is measured in values between 0 and 1, and the results we got were excellent – between 0.96 and 0.99.

We have also included a table with the values we got in our 12 V bus tests at different load – 0, 150, 300, 400 and 600 W.

Here, as it was the case with the previously tested be quiet! power supply, the change of voltage is insignificant, which is one of the most important parameters when considering a new PSU for your computer configuration.

Gallery: a closer look at be quiet! PURE POWER 10 | 600W CM

Verdict

When looking for new components it is sometimes better to go for quality and longevity instead of a good offer and potential headache. Computer power supply units are definitely the most direct example. The product we reviewed today does not fascinate us with its price. This, however, has never been the goal of this manufacturer. be quiet! are famous for their extremely high quality and well thought through products (of course, one can expect that from a German company). PURE POWER 10 | 600W CM is a power supply unit suitable for both newbies in gaming and building their own computer systems, and for people who need a unit to last for a good number of years.

Apart from the relatively high price, another negative thing about be quiet! PURE POWER 10 | 600W CM is that it is not present in that many markets. The partial cable management can be considered as a drawback by some but, to be honest, the cables that are soldered to the circuit board are always in use even when we have complete modulation. Thus, it makes no sense to have these cables as separate modules. Additionally, the good quality elements used in this construction, the silent but efficient fans, and many protections are good prerequisites for the 3 years of warranty provided by the manufacturer.

If you happen to show interest in this product, you could check its current price and availability here: http://amzn.to/2rbe5jD

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