be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM 850W Power Supply Review

A Closer Look

Out of the box, the be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM presents itself well. Admittedly, in terms of aesthetics, there isn’t a whole lot going on here. Based on the initial impressions, however, this does seem to represent a nice, solid, all-business approach with an aesthetic that should suit practically any system design.

The top of the power supply shows the cooling fan with a nice central location. With a protective grill covering it, while this certainly looks nice, a slight concern I have in terms of the design is the space available between the vents. It’s rather large and during a system build, a careless user could easily drop something inside there. It’s a small point, but a valid one I think nonetheless.

Curiosity is certainly found with the white ring surrounding the fan. While this is definitely not an ARGB design, this is something you’d more expect to find within one of those particular designs. I will, therefore, just assume that this white ring has merely been included for aesthetic purposes as a contrast to the otherwise completely black design.

The power cable input bank is exceptionally well presented. Each section is clearly itemised to help users identify the correct port for their components while they are also, generally speaking, well-spaced to, at least in theory, allow for easy removal and insertion.

While the exhaust section of the Pure Power 11 FM doesn’t utilise all of the space available, it is still nice and large offering nice honeycomb-style venting sections. – In terms of functionality, the Pure Power 11 FM does not come with a hybrid functionality. Given that the fan is expected to perform exceptionally quiet in the first place, however, such a feature was probably (and entirely correctly) deemed unnecessary.

In something that I have to give be quiet! huge credit for, while the technical specifications of the power supply are listed on the casing, they are placed on the side of the power supply rather than the ‘top’ section that would be visible when installed. More so, this is the side that, at least in theory, should face the inside of the case meaning that while the specs are there for those who need them, when installed, they should be well hidden.

In terms of aesthetics, the only other real item of note is the be quiet! logo. This has been placed on the side of the power supply which should face the external edge of a PC case. Being embossed onto the metal, this is, on visual terms, significantly nicer to look at than a sticker.

Cabling

Each cable is clearly denoted to identify its specific usage. They all come in a durable and (mildly – more shortly) flexible plastic covering with the exception of the main motherboard cable which has an additional braiding cover. – I terms of the cables themselves, however, there are some points of which I have to raise an issue.

Firstly, while likely being long enough for the majority of mid-tower cases, they’re not particularly generous in this regard. As such, with less-friendly chassis designs, some compromises on cable management might have to be made. – Secondly, although the cables are flexible, they’re still quite firm, and, on the whole, not particularly pleasant to work with. This includes inserting them into the PSU port bank which is rather tight and gets increasingly awkward as it begins to fill up.

Given that this is a budget-focused product, I would suggest that one aspect in which expense has been spared is within the cabling. It’s perfectly fine, just not, at least in my view, as good as it could be.

Internals – A Look Inside!

Getting inside the be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM is remarkably easy with just 4 screws holding the top of the case on. For general consumers, however, this is clearly not recommended as even just opening it up to take a look will completely invalidate your warranty.

Initial impressions, however, are exceptionally good with a clean and tidy presentation.

A closer look at the fan confirms this to be a be quiet! own 120mm design. Something very encouraging as this indicates that it has been designed to specifically work (and be optimised towards) this power supply. Seemingly representing some kind of variant of their ‘Silent Wings 2’, the product description lists this as a BQ QF2. Based on their marketing, we can only presume that the ‘QF’ stands for Quality Fan. A branding which, in fairness, I’ve never seen used before.

The PCB is exceptionally well presented. All of the key components are well spaced and with the black PCB, it just looks tidy and well designed. A key highlight is the 5 banks of heatsinks which should, all going well, help keep this power supply running cool which, by proxy, will allow the fan to operate as silently as possible.

A closer look at the main capacitors reveals this to be a ‘Teapo’ design. While it is common for many top-specification power supplies to incorporate 100% Japanese capacitors, it does bear note that Teapo is not from Japan. They’re actually (or at least primarily) based in China (Taiwan too, but that’s a knotty subject I’m not going to delve into here).

So, the be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM does not feature main Japanese capacitors (not, incidentally, that it ever claimed to). Is this a bad thing though? Well, ultimately, it speaks of a product built on a budget. I don’t think it unfair to say that I was a little disappointed/surprised to not find a Japanese brand here (such as Nippon-Chemicon) here. Particularly since this PSU has come from a highly reputable brand. – You do, however, have to keep reminding yourself of one key and highly important factor. Namely, this is not a premium-level product. be quiet! themselves have called this an ‘entry-level’ solution. Additionally, we have encountered ‘Teapo’ capacitors in the past and, generally speaking, we’ve never found any performance issue to warrant concern.

With them rated to 105C, the good news is that while not the most ideal choice, these are still (at least in terms of specifications) decent.

Overall Thoughts!

Taking both the internal and external inspection into a conclusion, the be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM certainly looks like an excellent power supply. While it’s hard to deny that costs have been trimmed here and there to (all going well) bring this PSU to the market for a competitive price, be quiet! has been smart in still retaining an overall quality design. I have to admit, the capacitors do have me wondering how well this is going to perform in our testing, but putting that one minor aspect to one side, the Pure Power 11 FM looks like a solid PSU.