bequiet! Straight Power E9 CM 680 W Power Supply Review

Introduction

The brand bequiet! belongs to the German distributor Listan. This company has released several power supplies with the 80 Plus Gold certification, under the Straight Power E9 series. Five of them (400 W, 450 W, 500 W, 600 W, and 700 W) don’t have a modular cabling system, while three of them do (480 W, 580 W, and 680 W). These models carry the letters “CM” for “Cable Management.” Let’s see if the 680 W model is a good option.

The bequiet! Straight Power E9 CM 680 W power supply is manufactured by FSP, based on the same platform as the FSP Aurum CM Gold.

Figure 1: The bequiet! Straight Power E9 CM 680 W power supply

Figure 2: The bequiet! Straight Power E9 CM 680 W power supply

The bequiet! Straight Power E9 CM 680 W is 6.3” (160 mm) deep, using a 135 mm fluid dynamic bearing fan on its bottom (bequiet! Silent Wings E9).

As mentioned, this unit has a modular cabling system with seven connectors, two for video cards, one for the ATX/EPS12V power cable, and four for peripheral and SATA power cables. Only the main motherboard cable is permanently attached to the power supply. This power supply comes with the following cables:

• Main motherboard cable with a 20/24-pin connector, 21.6” (55 cm) long, permanently attached to the power supply
• One cable with two ATX12V connectors that together form an EPS12V connector, 21.6” (55 cm) long, modular cabling system
• Four cables with one six/eight-pin connector for video cards (each pair is connected to a single connector on the power supply side), 21.6” (55 cm) long, modular cabling system
• One cable with four SATA power connectors, 21.6” (55 cm) to the first connector, 5.9” (15 cm) between connectors, modular cabling system
• One cable with three SATA power connectors, 21.6” (55 cm) to the first connector, 5.9” (15 cm) between connectors, modular cabling system
• One cable with four standard peripheral power connectors, 22.4” (57 cm) to the first connector, 5.9” (15 cm) between connectors, modular cabling system
• One cable with two SATA power connectors, two standard peripheral power connectors, and one floppy disk drive power connector, 21.6” (55 cm) to the first connector, 5.9” (15 cm) between connectors, modular cabling system

All wires are 18 AWG, which is the minimum recommended gauge.

The cable configuration is excellent for a 680 W power supply, with four video card power connectors and nine SATA power connectors.

Figure 3: Cables

Let’s now take an in-depth look inside this power supply.