Introduction and Features

Be Quiet! is a market leader for PC power supplies in Germany and they are bringing their value-minded Pure Power L8 series to the USA.

Be Quiet! has been a market leader for PC power supplies in Germany for seven years straight and now they are bringing their value-minded Pure Power L8 series to North American markets.  Earlier this year, we reviewed Be Quiet!’s top-of-the-line Dark Power Pro 10 850W PSU and found it to be an outstanding high-end, enthusiast grade power supply. Now we are going to take a look at the budget-oriented Pure Power L8 700W PSU.  The Pure Power L8 series features a 120mm Be Quiet! SilentWings L8 fan, are certified for 80Plus Bronze efficiency, come with fixed cables, and are backed by a 3-year warranty.

Be Quiet! is targeting the Pure Power L8 series for gaming with multi-GPU capacity, silent PC builds, multimedia and Home Theater systems, and photo and video editing desktops.

Here is what Be Quiet! has to say about their Pure Power L8 700W PSU: “The Pure Power L8 700W provides true affordability, peerless dependability and best-in-class features – not cutting corners and settling for less. Pure Power L8 700W features rock-solid voltages, strong reliability, high efficiency and exceptional quiet – simply the best combination of features, performance and quality in the class – at a very popular price.

Be Quiet! Pure Power L8 700W PSU Key Features:

• Exceptionally quiet operation: 120mm SilentWings fan
• 700W of continuous power output
• Two independent +12V rails for improved power stability
• 80Plus Bronze certification (up to 88% power conversion efficiency)
• Meets Energy Star 5.2 Guidelines
• Fulfills ErP 2013 Guidelines
• Ready for Intel Haswell platform
• Supports Intel’s Deep Power Down C6/C7 mode
• Sleeved cables for improved cooling and more attractive looks
• NVIDIA SLI Ready and AMD CrossFireX certified
• Four PCI-E connectors for multi-GPU support
• 3-Year warranty

PSU Testing Methodology

Establishing an accurate load is critical to testing and evaluating a PC power supply.  PCPerspective’s power supply test bench can place a precise DC load on the PSU under test.  Each power supply is tested under controlled, real-world conditions up to its maximum rated load (at 40ºC), using both 115 VAC and 240 VAC line voltage.  Our current suite of tests includes:

• DC Load Regulation
• AC Ripple and Noise
• Efficiency
• Differential Temperature
• Noise

The Pure Power L8 700W power supply was evaluated on both features and performance.  A full range of equipment was used to test the power supply under controlled load conditions. 

• (2) CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs)
• (4) CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4)
• (2) 200W Precision resistor load bank (+12V5 and +12V6)
• Switchable precision resistor load bank (-12V and +5VSB)
• Agilent 34401A digital multimeter (Accuracy ±0.0035% vDC)
• Extech 380803 Power Analyzer (Accuracy ±0.5% of full scale)
• DS1M12 "StingRay" digital oscilloscope (20M S/s with 12 Bit ADC)
• Powerstat Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA, 0-140 VAC
• Extech Model 407738 digital sound level meter (Accuracy ±1.5 dB)

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