be quiet Dark Power Pro 14 IO 1600W Power Supply Review

At the lowest level ALL computer power supplies are identical.  Most (if not all) have an 80 Plus rating, they have a power handling capacity and follow an established standard for what cables need to be supplied to operate a computer.

What makes them different are changes to the aforementioned formula and the cables the manufacturer includes with the unit.  The quality of the power connections, size of wire and overall presentation play a huge factor in how a PSU is perceived.

The be quiet Dark Power 14 IO featured in this review is fully modular and comes with individually sleeved cables for every included cable.  This shows an acute attention to detail for this product and something that has been missing for a LONG time.

For the main 24-pin cable the connector is broken up into a 20+4-pin configuration while the modular side features a split connector which not only divides up the cable bundle but makes it much easier to install with no chance that it could be installed incorrectly.

CPU power cables are both 8-pin and 4+4-pin and feature a 10-pin plug on the PSU side.  The center two pins are empty in this cable bundle but offer upgrade options if the situation requires.

 PCI Express power cables are rather unique and feature two standard 6+2 power plugs per cable and the PSU supports up to three cables.  Ideally this is the typical number to support two high-end graphics cards with three PCI Express power connections each.

The cable is unique in that it features a 12-pin plug at the PSU and the individual connections start at this plug.  This is excellent for cable routing since from a visual standpoint every wire looks to have a purpose and can be run without any strange loops in the cable and has been an option on be quiet PSUs for a very long time.

SATA and Molex cables are included with four cables being dedicated to SATA power, one cable featuring a combination of SATA and Molex and the final cable being dedicated to 4-pin Molex plugs.   (I don’t see many people using these except to power watercooling and LED lighting systems.)

The final set of cables is dedicated to PCI Express 5.1 12VHPWR devices.  These cables are very different from what you normally see in that they are individually sleeved and feature 90 degree plugs on one end.  This is a great option for those of us using custom graphics cards though may backfire if you are still on “founders edition” RTX cards where the power connection is located in the middle.

Of course, the best part is that you get two 600W 12VHPWR connections to support high powered multi-GPU workstations and gaming builds “on tilt”.  The PSU does fall short of supporting “Quads” unless you use the PCIe power connections and adapters.

Final accessories include a handful of wire wraps, zip-ties and a few screws to help get the power supply installed.

The final item is a bit of a shock and is what really propels this product to a status above all, cable combs.  For any system using individually sleeved cables it is a MUST that you also get cable combs.  These are 100% visual and, the only thing that separates a standard computer from an actual build.

For those who may not be familiar, the cable combs hold and space the individual wires apart making them visually appealing and help in creating curves and arcs in your cable runs that would otherwise be impossible to do.