Page 3 - Physical Look - Inside
As always, we opened up our be quiet! Dark Power 14 1000W power supply to take a detailed look at what is going on inside. Please note that doing this at home may void your 10-year warranty, thanks to the warranty seal be quiet! applied over one of the attachment screws. Either way, for the benefit of you, we cracked ours open so you do not need to. There are no user serviceable parts inside.
Disassembling the be quiet! Dark Power 14 1000W was straightforward with the removal of four screws. All of the screws are hex screws, which many people do not have a screwdriver for. Of course, we have all the tools here at APH Networks. Taking out the internal components from the enclosure requires the removal of more screws, which, thankfully, are standard Philips head screws.
Our photo above shows an overhead view of its internal components. Its OEM is CWT, a reputable OEM since 1993. The previous generation Dark Power 13 and Dark Power Pro 13 are made by FSP. The Dark Power 14 1000W is built on the same platform as the 850W and 1200W models. It features an LLC full bridge topology with DC-to-DC converters. At first glance, the build quality appears to be excellent. There are three main heatsinks inside. Two of them are painted black and one is in its original aluminum finish, located on the primary side. Additionally, there are two smaller sized unpainted heatsinks that reside on the secondary side, located over the DC-to-DC converter MOSFETs.
Pulling the enclosure apart, the fan was mounted over the components rather than the enclosure where the grille is, so I had to remove more screws and a bracket to get to the internal inspection.
The transient filter stage is the first input stage of a computer power supply, so we will take a look at that first. be quiet!, regardless of the OEM, has done a great job in the past to make sure their power supplies met or exceeded the recommended requirements in the past, and the Dark Power 14 1000W is no exception. The be quiet! Dark Power 14 1000W has one metal oxide varistor, two metalized polyester X-capacitors, six ceramic Y-capacitors, and two ferrite coils. This is two times the amount of X and three times the amount of Y capacitors than recommended.
The active PFC circuit featured on the be quiet! Dark Power 14 1000W uses four MOSFET rectifiers between the unpainted heatsinks closest to the transient filter stage. Unfortunately, I was unable to identify their brand and part number simply due to the fact they are all installed between two heatsinks.
Further down the line, on the outside of the largest heatsink, we can spot two Infineon IPA60R099P7 power transistors. Each is certified for up to 20A at 100c. These transistors present a maximum resistance of 99 mΩ and typical resistance of 77 mΩ when turned on according to the manufacturer's data sheet. This on characteristic is called Static Drain-Source On-Resistance, or commonly abbreviated as RDS(on). The more efficient the component is, the lower the RDS(on) value, since it wastes less power with lower resistance. One Infineon IDH10G65C6 boost diode is on the same side of the same heatsink. Four Alpha & Omega AOTF29S50 MOFSETs, with two on each side of the black heatsink between the bulk capacitors and the transformer, are used as the main switchers on the Dark Power 14 1000W power supply. Each is certified for up to 18A at 100c, maximum resistance of 150 mΩ, and typical resistance of 130 mΩ at 25c.
Other components that can be spotted on the primary side are located on the smaller add-in board next to the APFC components shown in the above photo. These include a Champion CM6500UNX active PFC controller and Sync Power SPN5003 N-channel enhancement mode MOSFET, the latter of which is used to reduce the no-load consumption.
On the primary side, we can see two Japanese brand Nippon Chemi-Con capacitors. 100% Japanese brand capacitors are specified on the marketing material, so this is to be expected. Our 1000W version of be quiet!'s Dark Power 14 series power supply incorporates two capacitors, both 560µF x 420V, in parallel for a total of 1120µF capacitance. They are rated at 105c, whereas more value-oriented power supplies usually use 85c rated capacitors.
A Champion CM6901T2X SLS, SRC/LLC + SR resonant controller can be spotted on the add-in board on the right side of the bulk capacitors in the above photo. On the main board close to the add-in board is a Nuvoton MS51FB9AE fan controller chip.
On the secondary side, we can see more Nippon Chemi-Con capacitors rated at 105c. All rectifiers produce the +12V out, while the +5V and +3.3V outputs are generated from the +12V output using a DC-to-DC converter within as with modern high efficiency power supplies. Six Infineon BSC010N04LS power MOSFETs are responsible for generating the +12V output, located at the top of the main PCB where the small heatsinks are placed. The BSC010N04LS's rated continuous drain current is 292A at 10V, 25c. It has an RDS(on) value of 1.0 mΩ maximum and 0.85 mΩ typical at 10V, 25c.
Two Novosense NSI6602 dual channel gate driver ICs are found at the bottom of the main board. No other components of significance are placed here.
Four UBIQ Semiconductor QN3107M6N MOSFETs are responsible for generating the +5V and +3.3V outputs, located on the vertical board perpendicular to the rear connector board. The QN3107M6N's rated continuous drain current is 70A at 100c. It has an RDS(on) value of 2.6 mΩ maximum and 2.1 mΩ typical.
At the very back, we have a large daughterboard covering the entire rear panel for the modular cable sockets. A Weltrend WT7518 monitoring IC for over/under current and over/under voltage protection can be found here. The datasheets for all components mentioned in this review can be found on their respective manufacturer's websites.
All connection points are soldered directly to the add-on PCB after the secondary stage to reduce power transmission loss compared to having wires. The output connector configuration can be seen on the previous page. Overall, the internal build quality of be quiet!'s Dark Power 14 1000W is excellent. Components are arranged very well for optimal cooling with practically no wires running around inside, and solder points on its black PCB is quite clean in general. I would say the be quiet! Dark Power 14 1000W is generally excellent with regards to the selection of components used under the hood, appropriate for its performance class.
Lastly, we see a 135mm fan that provides cooling to the be quiet! Dark Power 14 1000W's internal components. It is connected to the controller using a 4-pin connector. A 135mm fan is only marginally smaller than the 140mm maximum you can fit in an ATX power supply, and it is beneficial in most cases in providing lots of airflow at lower speeds for quiet operation.
The fan is a be quiet! Silent Wings SIW4-13525-MF, as shown in our photo above. The Silent Wings SIW4-13525-MF is a fluid dynamic bearing fan with a 6-pole fan motor specified at 0.4A for a maximum speed of 2100 RPM. Other specifications include 18.2 dB(A) noise level at full speed. The fan is not supposed to activate until the PSU is loaded up. As such, it should remain off during normal operation, and even when it is on, be quiet! uses a silent speed profile, so noise is not going to be a problem at all. Fans with fluid dynamic bearings generally have much longer lifespans compared to sleeve bearing fans, and is quite suitable for this application.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
