Zalman ZM850-HP and ZM1000-HP

Introduction

Today we will be looking at Zalman's power supplies that come with heatpipe cooling. Yes you heard right; Zalman wouldn't be Zalman if they didn't try to put heatpipes anywhere they fit, and now we have the first and only power supplies with heatpipe cooling. Not that it's really necessary to include heatpipe cooling in a power supply, but Zalman is big on marketing and this should certainly garner some attention. Not only does it look cool, but it also brings a new innovative touch to the boring appearance of the power supply market. Yes, the power supply is getting quite long with these extra coolers but they fit well and actually help with the cooling.

Both power supplies are equally equipped and differ mostly in terms of the combined power. It seems to be the same as the Antec Quattro which we tested last year. We recommended at that time to go for the smaller version with 850W because the 1000W unit didn't really bring many advantages with it. We will see later on in the tests if things are the same with these two units today. Even though we have 10 to 15 amps more on the 3.3V and 5V rails, the combined power of the 1000W unit is not too far away from the combined power of the 850W version. With the six 12V rails the same, there we have just roughly 200W more with the 1000W unit. Besides the numbers, we have a detailed description of where the 12V rails are going and what they will power up later. This not only helps reviewers, but it also helps end-users make sure they connect everything optimally.