Introduction

 

Zalman quickly made a name for themselves in the quiet PC sector years ago and have been somewhat of a pioneer in quiet and efficient cooling. Shortly after grabbing a firm hold of the heatsink and fan market, Zalman went on to produce quiet power supplies and have been quite successful in doing so. Those who seek a quiet yet high powered PC will be interested in the unit on the test bench today, as it offers lots of power with little noise.

 

The Zalman ZM1000-HP Plus is a quad 12V rail 1000W power supply. It offers up enough power and connectors to run up to three GPU's and some heavy overclocking. Zalman has incorporated their quiet cooling knowledge inside the ZM1000-HP Plus with a large 140mm fan and dual heat pipes inside to increase cooling and reduce noise when under load.

 

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

The ZM1000-HP Plus comes with four 12V rails for up to 82A of power combined. It is interesting that not all of the rails are rated for the same output, as is usually seen on multi-rail power supplies. This is due to the load balancing that Zalman does to the individual rails prior to the user connecting anything to the power supply. We will discuss this more when we take a look at the four rails.

 

 

Zalman includes all the current, voltage, power, and temperature protections that you can get in a power supply. The ZM1000-HP Plus features hybrid cable management with a couple of fixed cables and the majority of them being modular. All cables are sleeved and utilize zip ties and heat shrink tubing so that the sleeves don't move around or become unraveled. To ensure compatibility amongst almost all systems, the ZM1000-HP Plus also has a 20+4 pin main connector and an ATX 4+4 connector for those needing EPS12V support. Zalman doesn't list a 50C rating for the ZM1000-HP Plus, but does list its operating temperature for up to 40C. The ZM1000-HP Plus comes with a Silver 80Plus rating for efficiency up to 88%.

 

Zalman has an MSRP of 269.99 USD on the ZM1000-HP Plus, but Newegg currently has stock available for 239.99 USD. At that price the ZM1000-HP is at the mid to upper end of the PSU pricing level, but as long as this Silver Rated PSU is able to perform at the claimed specifications, then the price is justified. Zalman backs your investment with a 3-year warranty.