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As mentioned earlier it has been some time since i looked at a new be quiet! power supply, and the Power Zone 2 1000 watt unit has performed admirably in our testing over the previous week.
The exterior appearance of the unit is excellent, be quiet! are using quality materials for the outer shell which is particularly resistant to fingerprints and light scratches. I like the overall aesthetic of the unit and the modular bay is nicely laid out across vertically mounted ports from left to right.
be quiet! have partnered up with FSP for the OEM design of this unit and technically it is a capable supply with a focus on power efficiency. A result exceeding 94 percent in our testing places this unit in the upper echelons of PSU efficiency in the last year and it was able to deliver well in excess of 1000 watts for the most powerful graphics cards on the market today.
Load regulation from the Power Zone 2 is excellent, and it handled our tricky crossover test without any concerns. The high quality Pure Wings 3 ensures that plenty of airflow can be pushed throughout the chassis without a cacophony of fan noise below 800 watts. be quiet! are known to produce some of the best fans, however I do feel they could have perhaps tweaked the fan to run a little less aggressively as loads rise above 750 watts.
There is room for further improvement – I was somewhat disappointed to see two lower grade Chinese ELITE capacitors used in the primary stage and while I don't have an updated track record of failure rates I would not be expecting to see ‘Tier two' capacitors adopted into a Platinum rated power supply from a leading brand such as be quiet! in 2025. We should be documenting the adoption of Japanese branded Panasonic, Nippon Chemi Con, Nichicon or Rubycon caps in a power supply at this level. At least they are 105c rated, so that is something.
Ripple suppression was also a little higher than what I would expect from a unit such as this. Not that the results were problematic – because they all fell well within industry rated parameters, however they were noticeably higher than many units I have reviewed in the last couple of years. This is not going to be an issue for an end user, but it is something I wanted to point out regardless. These could have been better managed.
Pricing of this unit is set at $189.90/€189.90/£179.99. In today's market there is so much competition, but I feel at this price you do get a lot for your money. £180 for a 1000 W Platinum rated power supply is actually relatively competitive, as we have seen some 1000W Platinum units from the likes of ASUS for instance retailing at over £300 (HERE).
For peace of mine be quiet! are backing the Power Zone 2 1000 watt power supply with a full 10 year warranty. Its a little less than the leading 12 year warranty you get from the likes of Seasonic in this sector, but it is still excellent.
Pros:
- Platinum power efficiency levels confirmed.
- High fan quality – great airflow.
- Superb build quality.
- Fully Modular.
- 105c rated capacitors.
- 10 year warranty.
- fan design remains on to cool components after switching off.
- competitive pricing for a 1000W Platinum rated supply.
Cons:
- Chinese branded primary capacitors.
- Ripple suppression while within safe parameters, could be better.
Kitguru says: The be quiet! Power Zone 2 power supply is a very competitively priced Platinum rated unit incorporating a class leading fan design. Build quality is at the highest levels and it comes very highly recommended due to the all round stable, clean power delivery.
