Page 2 - Physical Look - Outside
While the retail box looked like any other be quiet! power supply, the exterior of the Straight Power 12 1200W is a bit different from other units. In its similarities, we have an all-black finish on the SECC steel enclosure. The label and stamped company logo are both facing upside-down in this orientation, which is understandable given usually the fan will be mounted downward. For its physical size, the be quiet! Straight Power 12 1200W is a bit bigger in its standard ATX form factor at 18.0cm length. This is middle of the pack compared to other power supplies at this same wattage, as we have seen some longer ones, such as the FSP Hydro PTM Pro, and some shorter, higher wattage ones, such as the SilverStone HELA 1300R Platinum. Most modular power supplies are longer than non-modular units by a centimeter or two, as the extra length is needed to accommodate its connector board at the back. In standard ATX or eATX chassis, this length should not be much of a problem. In smaller cases that still can hold standard power supplies, a shorter length will be advantageous, especially when you consider this is fully modular.
At the top, you can see we have many lines going across the top over the fan. While they are functionally similar to the grid we saw on the Pure Power 12 M, there are subtle differences, including the fact all of the lines start and end at the same place. This gives it a notably cleaner look. Secondly, the metal bars have a chrome-like finish, which makes them stand out. Thirdly, they do have a bit more give to them, which makes them less useful for protecting your fingers from entering the area. Underneath, we have a 135mm fan to draw air in from this area and exhaust it out the back. Four screws around the power supply keep the whole unit enclosed. A warranty seal exists on the edge of one side and will easily rip if the two halves come apart. This means you cannot open the be quiet! Straight Power 12 1200W without voiding its 10-year warranty.
On the back of the power supply, we have a more traditional honeycomb pattern grid grille with much smaller openings here. We also have a horizontally aligned male connector for power input on one side of the unit with an on/off switch beside it. Both the switch and the plug are notably larger than other power supply units. This could affect cooling, as it reduces the amount of airflow that can exit. As well, you can see the plug is different from a typical C14 connection. Instead, we have a C20 that connects into a C19 plug. We have seen this on other be quiet! power supplies, such as the Dark Power Pro 13 1300W, and this ensures a higher current certified power cable is used. The included AC power cable is a notably thicker 14 AWG cord. As such, make sure you do not lose your cable, as it is less likely you will have a replacement lying around. Underneath, we have a label to show this unit has an automatic full range 110V to 240V AC line voltage selection.
Like many power supplies we cover here at APH Networks, the be quiet! Straight Power 12 1200W is a fully modular power supply. This means all cables are completely detachable from the main unit. While it is somewhat questionable with regards to why this is necessary, since cables such as the ATX 24-pin and ATX 4-pin/EPS 8-pin have practically an 100% chance of being connected at all times, it may be beneficial to an extent when building your computer initially.
As for the rear cable connection panel, everything is clearly labeled and in the correct orientation. Similar connectors are grouped together and laid out in a logical manner. Starting from the top row on the left, we have three 5-pin plugs to connect peripheral connectors like SATA or Molex. Next, we have two 12-pin connectors labeled PCIe, which indicates they plug into standard PCI Express connectors. Underneath, we have two 10-pin connectors to plug in the ATX/EPS 4+4pin outputs. Moving on, we have two 16-pin 600W 12VHPWR PCIe 5.0 plugs. Finally, we have two separate plugs, one 8-pin and one 20-pin, to be used to connect to the motherboard 24-pin power connector. As you can tell, every connection here is differently sized so users will not accidentally plug the wrong cable into the wrong port. Otherwise, this is a generally reasonable array of outputs in correspondence to the number of connectors on each modular cable, which should be sufficient for most users. It may be lacking on the number of peripheral cables, at least compared to what we have seen on similar wattage units, so it is something you have to keep in mind.
Overall, the build quality of the be quiet! Straight Power 12 1200W is excellent. The panels fit well together with minimal gaps while the edges are nicely finished off. Plugs fully plug in and stay in place. The surface is also quite scratch resistant, which is great to see. We will see what it looks like on the inside to really comment on the build quality.
The voltage specification label can be found on the other side panel of the be quiet! Straight Power 12 1200W. There are two main virtual rails. Up to 25A can be delivered via the +3.3V rail for a total of 82.5W, while 25A on the +5V rail brings the output to 125W. The total combined output for the +3.3V and +5V rail is 150W. Your power allocation combination must fall within the limits of the listed specifications. Meanwhile, a single +12V rail delivers up to 100A for a maximum of 1200W. Overall, the combined power output for the whole be quiet! Straight Power 12 1200W is an unsurprising 1200W. It does sound a bit confusing to understand how this works at first, but generally speaking, this configuration allows fairly flexible power demands and should be sufficient to accommodate most users. I have seen the same power outputs in the +3.3V and 5V rails for lower rated units like the Antec Signature Platinum 1000W, but the overall distribution is still reasonable for a 1200W power supply.
The be quiet! Straight Power 12 1200W is 80 Plus Platinum certified, which means that it is certified to be at least 87%, 90%, 87% efficient at 20%, 50%, and 100% load, respectively. Unfortunately, it does not have a Cybenetics ETA certification at the time of publishing this article. Higher certifications available for power supplies of this type include 80 Plus Titanium.
A total of ten modular power cables are included out of the box. All modular cables are bundled in sleeves, but easy to bend, making them painless to work with. 16 AWG wires are found on the ATX 24-pin and PCIe 6+2 pin bundles. The sense pins on the 12VHPWR PCIe are connected with 24AWG wires and everything else is 18 AWG.
The following modular cables are included out of the box:
- 1x ATX 20+4 pin, 60.0cm
- 1x EPS 4+4 pin, 70.0cm
- 1x EPS 8 pin, 70.0cm
- 2x 12VHPWR PCIe 12+4 pin, 60.0cm
- 2x PCIe 6+2 pin, 2 connectors, 60.0cm each
- 1x SATA, 4 connectors, 55.0cm to first connector, 15.0cm spacing thereafter
- 1x SATA, 3 connectors, 55.0cm to first connector, 15.0cm spacing thereafter
- 1x SATA/Molex, 2 SATA and 2 Molex connectors, 55.0cm to first connector, 15.0cm spacing thereafter
These are specified measurements from the manufacturer. Most users should have no problems with the be quiet! Straight Power 12 1200W in modern cases. The minimum standard is around 50cm to the first connector, which is met or exceeded by all of the modular cables provided with this power supply.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
