A new quiet kid in town (BeQuiet E10 PSUs hit the shelf)

[quest_for_silence]

Just FYI:

ComputerBase.de on E10-500W

KitGuru on E10-600W

[quest_for_silence]

eTeknix on E10-800W

[CA_Steve]

Very pretty

[audigy32]

After reading the german site ComputerBase.de and Tomshardware.com on their review of BeQuiet! E9 series , I decided on buying one ( July 2014 ) :
BeQuiet! E9 450W .
Fearing the dreadful noise coming from several direction ( coil noise , buzzing , loud fan bearings , etc ) , I was skeptical at what to expect from it.
To my delight , when powering it on my work table ( no load- just connect green and black wires ) , I saw the fan rotating but couldn,t hear it .I couldn't believe it!
Only up close to my ear ( 5 - 7 cm ) I can hear it's faint noise . If I get a little further , it's gone .
To test it further I stuck a cable tie into the fan blades and again listened it closely for other unwanted noise .
( I doubt any other sound man will ever put his ears so close )
I can hear but only with my ear stuck to it grill the faint 50 hz buzzing .
So it's safe to consider that for at least 30 40 cm distance between the user and this PSU it is dead silent .
No clicking , no rattling for the fan , and no other electronic noise can be heard.
I estimate it's efficiency at 75 - 77 % for the 12W AC load for my I5 desktop .
At 25W it will be around 80% and it will keep raising .
So fellows in quest for absolute silence , I recommend all BeQuiet ! E9 .
As from August I also bought a second : BeQuiet! E9 400W , with the same quality and absence of noise

[quest_for_silence]

I estimate it's efficiency at 75 - 77 % for the 12W AC load for my I5 desktop .
At 25W it will be around 80% and it will keep raising .

Those look like too much optimistic estimates: the E10 is 75% at 25W, 84% at 50W. Probably with the same rate the E10 might be around 65% at 12W (but probably less), and the E9 is really close to its freshly released successor (anyway, I'm quite dubious about the accuracy of a 12W AC reading at the wall with an ATX PSU).

So, definitely the Straight Power series are decently built, decently performing, often more than a tad overpriced (to be fair, CM models particularly) and utterly quiet PSUs (at least up to about 60% of rated power and with not high internal temperature).

[bastiaan]

Looks like the E10 series continues what we have come to expect from Be Quiet: good quality PSUs that are... quiet. If I understand the reviews correctly, the new revision adds substantial changes under the hood improving its electrical performance and a new fan that should reduce noise a bit.

[audigy32]

Here are some efficiency charts ( 220V/50 Hz ) for E9 tomshardware and computerbase.de
I saw some minor efficiency drops for the new E10 compared to E9 at very small load ( 25 W ) .
Maybe they tried to compensate at 20 % , 50% , 100 % with a higher efficiency .
Anyway I am very pleased by the quality of Be Quiet! E9 400 and 450 W that I have and would highly recommend them

[audigy32]

And for the 50% load we are close to 92%. I think the top PSU makers will eventually pass the 95% eff at 50% but the cost would be very high .
Anyway for the past 3 years the power draw for an office PC has gone down from 80, 70 W to 25W idle and 150 W load to 65W .
And for the gamer PC ( average - like myself ) from 290 W to 180 W at load and from 130- 140 W idle to just 22- 24 W.
So I clearly see the trend where the PSU makers WILL have to adapt to higher eff at very low loads , eg 20 W or less .
I understand your doubts over my very low power draw ( 11.4 - 12 W with Intel Graphics ) and 21 W with Asus nVidia GTX 760 .
But if one tries hard enough , and spends for this goal , it eventualy gets here.
As an example I have bought no more than 11 PSU for the last 2 years and 6 motherboards for sk 1155 to arrive here .

[quest_for_silence]

Here are some efficiency charts ( 220V/50 Hz ) for E9 tomshardware and computerbase.de
I saw some minor efficiency drops for the new E10 compared to E9 at very small load ( 25 W ) .
Maybe they tried to compensate at 20 % , 50% , 100 % with a higher efficiency .

Whether you had attached the recent E10 efficiency test from ComputerBase.de, then there would have been those data I wrote about in my previous post.
Unfortunately CB didn't published the 25W figure for the old E9, but (as you may seen on that quoted graph) its efficiency curve is extremely close the E10 one, so it's a bit unlikely that the E9 curve can diverge by a 6% higher value but just at that low load (not to mention the ComputerBase.de figures are noticeably different from THG's ones).

Moreover, there are some technological reasons behind the unlikeliness of that much high efficiency at extremely low levels for ATX PSUs: about that, it may worth to note that THG data seems suspicious, for instance as they account the CM V550S for an higher efficiency of its smaller sibling CM V450S, which should not be (but as a matter of fact several other sources account for different figures, some which contraddict THG assessment, some other else which confirm that).

To be clearly understandable, I know the FSP Aurum platform is an high efficiency one, it just cannot be such efficient, but just a tad less at the very lowest power levels.

I understand your doubts over my very low power draw ( 11.4 - 12 W with Intel Graphics ) and 21 W with Asus nVidia GTX 760 .
But if one tries hard enough , and spends for this goal , it eventualy gets here.

I'm sorry, but I can't trust your findings: unless you're using some professional equipment, a 12W AC reading is not a reliable measurement, even better, it's not a figure a handy device can reliably measure. To be more clear, I absolutely trust you saw a "12W" figure on your power meter, in case, but I don't trust that in case your power meter was telling you the truth.

[quest_for_silence]

it's a bit unlikely that the E9 curve can diverge by a 6% higher value but just at that low load (not to mention the ComputerBase.de figures are noticeably different from THG's ones).

QED, just look for and you find some different results: http://nl.hardware.info/productinfo/130 ... resultaten

Anyway, that doesn't change my overall assessments: "the Straight Power series are decently built, decently performing, often more than a tad overpriced (to be fair, CM models particularly) and utterly quiet PSUs (at least up to about 60% of rated power and with not high internal temperature)" and "the FSP Aurum platform is an high efficiency one, it just cannot be such efficient, but just a tad less at the very lowest power levels".