Be Quiet! has been in the air cooling and power supply business for more than a decade, dating back to a 2002 origin. At CES 2016, the German company didn't have any ground-breaking new technology or designs, but did share some information about what may be coming soon.
The first small tweak is coming to power supplies. The US market had petitioned for the PSUs to lose their traditional colored wiring in favor of all black cables. Be Quiet! will be delivering on that user request soon.
In the Pure Power PSU series, the 80 Plus rating is also being upgraded from “Bronze” to “Silver.” (Be aware of this if you're filtering on websites while configuring new builds). Nomenclature is also undergoing a slight modification, with PSUs deploying letters before names -- like the Pure Power L8 -- dropping the letters to simplify branding. Speaking of the Pure Power, its name moving forward will be the “Pure Power 9” as a signifier of that new black cabling.
Be Quiet! 2016 Pure Power PSU Overview
Be Quiet! brought along last year's robust release, the Dark Power Pro 11, which made its debut back in 2Q15. Along with its interesting 12V single rail/multi-rail switching feature it also showcased the first look at the air funneling Silent Wings 3 fan. We were hopeful that CES 2016 would see the unveiling of the Silent Wings 3 line up, but there was only a snippet of news instead. What we do know at this point is that getting the design to translate from the 135mm PSU fan to the desired 80, 92, 120, and 140mm case/cooler fans hasn't been so simple. After speaking with Be Quiet!'s representative, though, we're hopeful the Silent Wings 3 fan series will hit German shelves soon and be in the US by the time Computex rolls around.
The final bit relates to Be Quiet!'s interest in liquid cooling. GamersNexus was told that CLCs will be coming, but as with other Be Quiet! products, the company is taking their time and building a unique, high-performance unit. We were specifically told that the group doesn't want to “do what everyone else is doing.”
Additional CES coverage throughout the week. Stay tuned.
Writing, Host: Patrick “Mocalcium” Stone.
Film, Video Editing: Keegan "HornetSting" Gallick.
Photography: Steve Burke & James Vincent.