Be Quiet Pure Power L8 CM 730W Power Supply Review

Ryan Martin / 11 years ago

Conclusion

Be Quiet’s Pure Power L8 CM 730W power supply is currently retailing for £79.98 and £89.99 at selected UK retailers. In the USA we are not seeing availability yet but probably will in the future at a price of about $119.99-$129.99 once Be Quiet’s venture into North America is finalised. I think it is clear that given the price of the competition Be Quiet are actually offering a very affordable power supply and clearly the decision to opt for a rather basic OEM design from HEC/Compucase was a viable one because we can see that the unit is both well priced and has very competent performance.

The Pure Power L8 CM has excellent voltage regulation to the tune of +-2% which is excellent for an affordable unit. Furthermore we can see the efficiency comfortable meets the 80 Plus Bronze standard and between 20-100% load never falls below 84% which is much higher than required for certification. PFC was moderately-strong but could of been better and indeed we have seen units with dedicated PFC daughter-boards do a lot better but this of course adds cost and the Pure Power is trying to reduce cost so this is an acceptable oversight from Be Quiet. In terms of noise and ripple suppression we had very good performance that is very much higher than what I would of expected for a unit of the Pure Power L8’s price-point. Finally fan speed was pretty darn good as you might expect from Be Quiet. We never saw above 1550RPM which is pretty quiet as 1550RPM on Be Quiet’s Silent Wings fans is like 1200RPM on competing fans such as the cheep and cheerful ADDA ones included with a lot of power supplies. It is also worth noting that up to 80% load we didn’t see above 1100 RPM which is barely audible.

However, there are still a few rough edges to be smoothed. I feel that the quality of the cable braiding is pretty poor and I really think Be Quiet could up their game quite a bit more at very little expense to the final selling price. Additionally I am not that happy with the way the cables are organised and I feel that all the 6pin connectors should be 6+2 pins because if you have a graphics card with two 8 pins then you will find you need to use two modular cables as the 6+2 pins are spread across two cables. Finally I can’t help but feel the 2 year warranty is a bit on the stingy side considering even most competitors will have a minimum of a 3 year warranty. Though I can understand why this is the case, to save on costs to allow for a cheaper final retail price.

Pros

Tight voltage regulation, even under CrossLoad
Very quiet operation at all loads
Hybrid-Modular
Affordable

Cons

Only a 2 year warranty
Poor cable braiding and generally cables feel like they are lacking in quality compared to the main PSU unit itself which has Be Quiet’s traditional classy aesthetic
Distribution of PCIe connectors is strange

eTeknix says: “Be Quiet’s Pure Power L8 CM 730W power supply has impressed me greatly in terms of how much you can get for your money. This power supply has all the hallmark features of a solid reliable power supply but without the noise of competing solutions. There is really very little to fault Be Quiet on with the Pure Power L8 and it delivers what you’d expect and then a little bit more for its affordable price point. That said I do still feel like Be Quiet have some work to do on their cabling to gain more favour with picky system builders but if you can overlook the cables then this really is a fantastic power supply for the money and we highly recommend it.”