The retail package of the be quiet! Dark Power Pro 14 IO is big, even for the 1300 watt model.

Outer sleeve. The shipping box uses a two-tone design: the left half is a plain light-gray/black panel carrying just the "DARK POWER PRO 14 IO" wordmark, while the right half is dark and dominated by a three-quarter studio shot of the unit's fan/heat sink face. The 80 PLUS Titanium and Cybenetics Titanium badges sit in the top corner next to the be quiet! logo, with the "1300W" wattage callout printed large in the bottom corner.

Inner box. Sliding the sleeve off reveals a matte black rigid box with the same "DARK POWER PRO 14 IO" wordmark and be quiet! logo, printed in a subtle tone-on-tone finish rather than the high-contrast graphics on the sleeve — a more understated, premium presentation typical of be quiet!'s flagship packaging.

Opening the box. Lifting the lid reveals two separate foam-lined compartments. On the left is the power supply wrapped in a black fabric pouch with a hook-and-loop closure flap, sitting in a foam cutout. On the right, a second lidded black box includes all the goodies, cable combs, ties, screws, manual and of course cables, separated and protected from the rest of the kit.

Inside the retail package you will find:

• The PSU itself
• A full set of modular, individually sleeved cables (14 total)
• AC power cord, 1360mm, terminating in a C19 coupler rather than the more common C13/C14 found on lower-wattage PSUs — a detail that reflects the higher continuous current a 1300–1600W unit needs to pull, worth double-checking against your existing cable stock or PDU if you don't plan to use the included cord
• Four different sizes of cable combs
• Cable ties and Velcro (hook-and-loop) straps
• Mounting screws for installing the PSU in the case
• A dedicated IO USB cable (800mm) — this plugs into a motherboard USB 2.0 header and is the physical link that lets IO Center talk to the PSU at all; easy to forget during a build since it isn't carrying power
• A multi-language printed user manual (12 languages/regions in a single booklet)

That's a notably more generous bundle than most PSUs at this price point ship with — typically just a cord, a bag of screws, and a manual.

Spreading everything out confirms the fully modular, individually-sleeved cable set described in be quiet!'s datasheet — a full run of separate cable bundles rather than a single flat ribbon, plus the small parts bag (cable ties and hook-and-loop straps with recycling-symbol labeling) and the mains AC cord. A second layout shot lays out the complete cable set side by side with the shorter IO USB cable visible at bottom right — the physical link that connects the PSU to a motherboard USB header for IO Center software control.

The top panel of the product is brushed aluminum with the "DARK POWER PRO" logo and be quiet! branding etched into the surface, flanked by mesh venting on the side faces — consistent with the aluminum chassis (rather than steel) be quiet! specs for this generation. The 1300W unit shares its chassis and internals design language with the 1600W model. Key construction points:

• Digital full-bridge LLC topology with an Active Rectifier front end, replacing the "Active Rectifier + Full Bridge" analog topology of the outgoing (non-IO) Dark Power 14 — the fully digital control is what enables the software-adjustable rail behavior
• Aluminum case and heat sink (the standard Dark Power 14 uses steel), which be quiet! says supports the semi-passive cooling strategy and improves long-term component longevity
• A 135mm Silent Wings fan integrated directly into the heat sink rather than mounted separately, which be quiet! claims makes it immune to case-vibration-induced noise. It uses a 6-pole motor and a fluid-dynamic bearing
• 105°C-rated Japanese capacitors throughout
• Fully modular, individually sleeved cables (a step up from the group-sleeved cables on the standard Dark Power 14), plus four sizes of cable combs in the box for building a tidy loom
• Dimensions: 200mm (L) × 150mm (W) × 86mm (H) — standard ATX depth
• Measured weight (per independent lab teardown): 2.67 kg (5.89 lb)

At the top, there is a big 135mmSilent Wings fan, supporting a 6-pole motor and fluid-dynamic bearings with low noise levels as be quiet! mentions. With the IO Control software you can select between two modes, active (performance) or semi-passive:

A close-up of the rear corner shows the C19 AC inlet, the rocker power switch, and the fan visible through the mesh grille.

The rating label confirms the unit under test as Article No. BP022EU / Serial 022EUL6150000026 along with the full AC input and DC output rail breakdown.

Finally, a close-up of the connector panel shows be quiet!'s silkscreened labeling scheme in person: DRIVES, IO USB, MB, PCIe, and PCIe 5.1 (marked with their 600W-per-connector rating), matching the layout described below.

• MB — one 20+4-pin main ATX connector
• P8 (×2) — dual 8-pin EPS12V CPU power sockets (one wired as a combined 4+4-pin, one as a straight 8-pin), so dual-CPU or high-draw single-CPU boards are covered without adapters
• PCIe (×2 sockets, 6 cables total) — standard 6+2-pin PCIe connectors for current-generation GPUs
• PCIe 5.1 (×2) — the native 12V-2x6 (12VHPWR-style) sockets for next-gen ATX 3.1 GPUs
• DRIVES (×2 groups) — SATA and Molex power, split across two labeled clusters on either side of the panel
• IO USB — a dedicated USB 2.0 header connector, wired to a 770mm internal USB cable that plugs into a motherboard USB 2.0 header. This is the physical link that lets IO Center talk to the PSU at all — worth flagging during a build, since it's easy to forget a cable that isn't carrying power
• Rear IEC inlet uses a C19 coupler (paired with a 1360mm AC cord) rather than the more common C13/C14 found on lower-wattage PSUs — a detail that reflects the higher continuous current a 1300–1600W unit needs to pull, and worth double-checking against your PDU or wall cable stock if you're not using the included cord
• A physical rocker power switch sits next to the IEC inlet, as on any ATX PSU — software control governs rail/fan behavior, not the master on/off

The 1300W model carries both 80 PLUS Titanium and Cybenetics Titanium certification, with be quiet! quoting up to 94.9% peak efficiency. The independently-relevant load-point figures at 230V input are:

That 50% load efficiency figure is the one that matters most for real-world use, since most gaming PCs spend the bulk of their time in the 20–50% load range on a PSU this size, and 94.9% at that point is about as good as PSU efficiency gets today.

be quiet!'s own cable diagram lays out the full 14-cable set precisely: