Be Quiet! Pure Power CM L8 730 W Review 3

Be Quiet! Pure Power CM L8 730 W Review

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Value and Conclusion

  • The Be Quiet Pure Power L8-730W is not available in the U.S. and the lowest price we found for it in Europe's online stores was 80.47€ (excluding VAT)
  • Overall decent price/performance ratio (for EU price standards)
  • Very good ripple/noise suppression on all rails
  • High efficiency (for an 80 PLUS Bronze certified unit)
  • Fan is silent enough
  • Unit is equipped with all available protections including OTP (Over Temperature Protection)
  • In general loose voltage regulation
  • 3.3V failed in the second Advanced Transient Response test
  • The unit is not rated for 50°C continuous power output but thankfully it has OTP to save it from dangerous high operating temperatures
  • Equipped with short cables. Also I would like to see two-three more SATA connectors and an additional EPS one
  • Power distribution could be better
  • The max combined power of the minor rails is overrated
Be Quiet decided to not use their classic OEM, FSP, for the Pure Power series and turned to HEC/Compucase instead. Although in the past all HEC units I have tested, even the higher-end ones, failed to impress me especially in the ripple suppression section, this platform exhibited outstanding low ripple. Also efficiency reached 88% with 40% load, which is without any doubt a high level for a plain Bronze unit. However this platform is still far from perfect. Voltage regulation is loose with 3.3V showing the worst performance and +12V following. On top of that the minor rails had trouble to sustain the max combined load that the manufacturer claims, but we should note here that almost no contemporary PC will ever draw 150W from the minor rails.

To sum up, I think that for EU standards, where almost all PC products are more expensive than in the US, the L8-730W has a decent price tag for what it offers. Also it's equipped with a special design fan, it's modular and has four PCIe connectors. If its voltage regulation was tighter, leading also to better results in Advanced Transient Response tests, the cables were longer and finally the model was 50°C rated then I would be very satisfied and probably give it a recommendation.
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Nov 23rd, 2024 00:50 EST change timezone

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