This isn't a review. I just don't have the gear to do a proper review, so these will just be my observations, no hard facts or figures
Firstly, I would like to say that buying a
PSU this time round has been quite a frustrating experience. I needed to replace this Enermax Galaxy 1K that has failed for the 5th time within a year
. Everyone has brands they don't particularly like, and I'm no exception, but I don't think that my list of requirements is too fussy for 2007/2008.
I wanted/needed;
- Silent/very quiet.
- Rock solid.
- Modular.
- On/off switch.
- Black (ish).
- 850W+
- A brand that I trust - Haha!
It was weeks ago that my Galaxy went belly up at the hands of the Maximus (or was it the other way round?), anyway, since then, I've been looking for a new one, but I havent been able to find anything that ticked all the boxes.
On paper, the Thermaltake modular range looked best, but Thermaltake isn't a brand that I've had good
PSU experience with, and it was only after seeing some "real life" pics that I realised that the colour was way off, and would look weird in my case.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I settled on the Zalman ZM850-HP.
The Zalman appears to tick most of the boxes, but lacks an on/off switch, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that when an overclock went bad, I would often pull the plug from the back of the
PSU to power off anyway, so no biggie there.
Lets have a look then.
Retail Box.
Two Inner Boxes.
The smaller box of the two contains the cables and bits and bobs.
A bag of bits, including 2x Velcro strips, 1x Molex to 2x 4pin fan connector, 1x bag of 4x screws.
2x Modular 6 pin
PCI-E cables (The two main ones are hard wired and are 6+2 pin)
3x
SATA cables, each with 3 plugs.
Another bunch of 3 cables, including
- 1 of - 1x floppy, 2x four pin molex.
- 2 of - 3x four pin molex.
Next, the
PSU box.
The
PSU.
The
PSU label - It would appear that the
PSU is made by Zalman, although a quick hunt round the tinterweb reveals it is probably made by "Enhance".
Here we have the modular sockets, and the "standby noise filter switch". I have no idea what this does, or how effective it is, but I will give it a try, and report back later. Also note that either the switch sticker is upside down, or the modular stickers are....strange.
Next, the bundle of cables that are hard wired onto the
PSU.
- 1 of 20+4 pin ATX - (It's got the clip under 4 pin plug which can be fiddly)
- 2 of 8 pin PCI-E 2
- 1 of 4+4 12v EPS
- 1 of 3x 4 pin Molex
- 1 of 3x SATA
The finish is excellent, and glass like.
The back - No on/off switch, but hopefully it won't matter. You can clearly see the heatpipe assembly inside the
PSU here.
Zalman embossed in the case.
140mm fan.
Must cut those nails
First Impressions.
The unit itself is very heavy, and it is is fairly long, although not as long as the Galaxy it replaces. All the hard wired cables look well made, as do the modular modular ones, and the only slight gripe I have, is that the 20+4 pins and the 4+4 pins don't clip together.
There isn't the same vast array of cable that came with the Galaxy, so things are a little light there, but keep in mind that this
PSU is almost half the price that the Galaxy was!
I will add more as I start using it
Zalman ZM850-HP 850W PSU - First Look.
Linear Mode
