be quiet! Straight Power E9 680W PSU - Mini Review

[Rob_B]

Well, after being informed I'd won one of the 3 be quiet! Straight Power E9 680W PSUs http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-compet...m-members.html I awaited my prize in the post, It turned up on Friday and I spent a little time with it today, here are my impressions. Now bear in mind I'm not going to get out the voltmeter, I'll leave it for Pob to do that! I'm looking at this from a "Don't have much time to tinker with my PC anymore" perspective

Unboxing - It's a PSU, here's a pic of the box, it looks like a PSU and for more detailed pics try the HEXUS review http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/psu/36...9-680w-cm-psu/




My current PSU is a NorthQ Black Magic 850W modular http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...=Story&reid=93

The NorthQ is far above what my system actually needs and has 4 x 12V - 25A rails, the be quiet as comparison has 2 x 18A + 2 x 22A, the NorthQ is fairly quiet, doesnt ramp up too much (In my experience) so it stays fairly quiet and overall I've been happy with it.

Now, the be quiet!...

Opening the box it looks...well, ok as far as PSUs go I guess, nothing too fancy but an air of understated style to it, the modular sockets look a bit tacky but that's due to the (useful) colour coding and to be fair I've not seen a modular PSU that does it well apart from some one where the cables screw in with nice meaty sockets.

First thoughts...

Hmm...those cables don't look as long as my current ones...

Old PSU







be Quiet! E9








Well, the 12V P4/P8 cable is indeed a good bit shorter than I need, you may see from my 'old' before pic that I had run this through the motherboard slot, up the back then in over the top edge of the mobo to the connector, well there is no way on earth I can do that with the be quiet, the fixed cable is however the same length and is well braided and is easier to flex than my old one, I'm not too happy about running this right by my HSF but I have no other choice.

EDIT I've managed to get the P4 cable to fit, it just, just about makes it around the back of the motherboard tray.

The PCIE/SATA/etc cables are a little longer I reckon (they're hard to stretch out to measure) They're well braided but less flexible than my old ones, they're by no means tricky but if a 4yr old PSU can do it then it'd be nice to be able to bend them around a wee bit more.

Installation is a breeze, the colour coding makes that nice and easy. SATA cables are reasonably spaced so I only needed on for 2 x HDDs and 1 x optical drive. Using the 2xSATA, 2 x Molex cable (with one molex>SATA adapter, not included) everything is powered up nicely.

Powering up was fine after I realised the 4Pin part of the 24Pin connector wasn't in all the way, it doesnt seem to click in place to the 20Pin connector like I've seen before so you have to hold it together while you push it in.

As I said before the NorthQ was by no means a bad PSU, it was fairly quiet and although it may have been a little dusty (ahem) I'd not had any problems with it.

Upon booting I could instantly tell the difference, instead of a whooshing humm I just heard a slight, constant puur Maybe my old PSU is noisier than I thought or perhaps the fan on this thing is as good as the company name

I jumped into a bit of gaming for a while, no noticable increase in noise above the normal game sounds, nice!


Pros
Very quiet
Provides plenty of power
3YR warranty
Modular/colour coded cables make installation easy.

Cons
P4 connector too short for my case.
SATA cables could be a little more flexible
If installed on the bottom of the case the modular connector tabs can be tricky to press as they're at the bottom
24Pin connector should clip together better

Overall I'm really happy with the PSU, although technically perhaps not providing as much ummf as my 4yr old NorthQ my current rig doesn't need 850W, with lower power components coming out I think, as HEXUS said, 680W is perfectly acceptable for today's market.
Would I spend £100 on this? Well, I wouldn't have changed my old one until it popped, if however I was in the market for one I'd be happy to pay that sort of money, it's well built and aside from a few niggles (which most other PSUs suffer from) I have no complaints.

Thank you to HEXUS and be quiet for the lovely new PSU!

Rob

[g8ina]

well done Rob

[doyll49]

Nice job Rob.

[Pob255]

Nice one Rob, you've beaten me too it (was delayed by a picnic and sobering up time)

P.S. you do realise that both the photo's of the back side of the motherboard are upside down?

[Noxvayl]

Looks good, unfortunate that the cables are a bit short though which is something I didn't think would be a problem.

Nice pics

[Rob_B]

Yes pob I know they're upside down

I've now moved the p4 cable behind the mobo and removed one molex cable and used an adapter to power my case fans.

[Pob255]

Just as long as you realised

I've gone back over my cables and it does look a bit short.
At least it's modular not fixed so getting or making a longer cable would not be impossible.

[Chris@bequiet!]

Hi guys,

Nice review! I just wanted to add that we have changed the warranty from 3 to 5 years!

Chris

[UseItNow]

Nice review bud!

[peterb]

Hi guys,

Nice review! I just wanted to add that we have changed the warranty from 3 to 5 years!

Chris

Welcome Chris, always delighted to see mfrs reps supporting these awesome prizes! (especially with more good news!)