Contents
- 1Introducing the Zalman ZM750-EBT
- 1.1Packaging and accessories
- 2Connectors & cabling
- 2.1Casing & cooling
- 3Input filtering
- 4Primary side
- 4.1+5 V stand-by rail
- 5Secondary side
- 5.1Build quality
- 6Load testing
- 6.1Loading +5 V SB
- 6.2Voltage hold-up time
- 6.3Combined loading
- 6.4Combined loading ripple
- 6.5Crossloading, overloading
- 6.6Crossloading, overloading ripple
- 6.7Fan speed, temperatures and noise
- 7Conclusion and evaluation
- 7.1Thanks
- 7.2Discussion
- 8Important addendum
Connectors & cabling
All of the main wires are 18AWG, only the ones conducting small currents (like −12 V or feedback) are 22AWG. The modular cables use black wires molded to form flat ribbons. The fixed cables for PCIe share eight 18AWG wires for both the connectors, while the modular cables have an exclusive single connector per cable. I would have preferred at least 16AWG for the main fixed cables, but at least they used the proper amount of wires for the PCIe, and again, the modular ones only have a single connector per cable (that means 150 W maximum per cable), so I think this is overall acceptable even for a high-end unit.
As expected, none of the connectors have any gold-plating, but on the other hand, the molex connectors are equipped with clips for easier plugging/unplugging.
In total, we have:
fixed cabling:
- 1× Main ATX (20+4pin): 57 cm
- 2× ATX 12 V (4+4pin): 63 cm
- 2× PCIe (6+2pin): 1× 48 cm, 1× 73 cm
modular cabling:
- 10× SATA: 3× 50 cm, 3× 63 cm, 2× 76 cm, 2× 90cm
- 5× peripheral molex: 1× 50 cm, 1× 63 cm, 1× 74 cm, 1× 77 cm, 1× 90 cm
- 1× Berg for FDD: 87 cm
We can see the modular cabling board uses the usual style Sirtec connectors, that means 6pin PCIe for peripherals and EPS for PCIe cables.
Casing & cooling
The metal chassis of the ZM750-EBT is made out of 1mm SECC steel, and it has a matte black finish (which is most likely a powder coating). The fan grill takes the form of holes of varying shape and size that are directly punched into the second (upper) part of the metal casing, in the same manner as with the GVM units. So again, I think it may be somewhat more restrictive with regards to airflow. This time Zalman added a golden trim, most likely to signify that this is a supposedly superior series. I think it would have been better had they added some real gold plating on the connector pins for the money that they spent here.
The rest of the chassis is as we’re used to from Sirtec, and I think there’s really nothing else to say about it. There is a plastic grommet protecting the external fixed cabling from the edge of the chassis.
Another 135mm “Globe Fan” fan, yay! This time it is S1352512H, which indicates it uses a sleeve bearing. The maximum speed for the “H” version is 1500 RPM with airflow of 181.8 m3/h. The maximum static air pressure is 2.03 mm of water column and the noise output is 29.2 dBA. This time it has the ordinary number of blades (11), however, it is a custom version with a golf-ball pattern indentation on the blades so the real-world figures may be a little bit different. The dimples should in theory decrease turbulence and hence increase airflow and lower the noise. However, since a fourth of the fan is covered by a plastic sheet, I’m not sure how well it is going to play with the overall turbulence.
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