Tech n Gadgets Blog: Zalman ZM1000-HP Plus 1000W Power Supply

Friday, January 7, 2011

Zalman ZM1000-HP Plus 1000W Power Supply

Cabling Arrangement

Zalman makes sure that there are plenty of cables and connectors available to utilize the full 1000W available. On top of the 20+4 main connector and ATX 4+4 connector, they also give you six PCI-E connectors, nine SATA connectors, eight Molex connectors, and a single floppy connector. Only the main, ATX4+4, and one pair of PCI-E connectors are fixed to the power supply, while the rest are modular. It would have been nice to see Zalman incorporate a second EPS12V connector and it makes much sense to do so, as this power supply is squarely aimed at the high end market where it would be utilized.

As mentioned earlier, the ZM1000-HP Plus uses a somewhat unconventional layout for the rail distribution. For the first rail we can see that it powers a single PCI-E cable with multiple connectors, half of the ATX4+4 connector, and all of the Molex connections. The second rail powers the other half of the ATX 4+4 connector and the motherboard. 12V3 is powering just a single cable for PCI-E connectors, while the fourth and final rail powers yet another cable for PCI-E connections and all of the SATA connections.

What makes this even more perplexing is that the maximum loads for each rail doesn't necessarily match the loads that you would expect each rail to reach. 12V3 is rated for 35A and is the strongest rail of the ZM1000-HP Plus, yet it has the least ability to load down the full 35A. 12V1 is only rated for 28A but has the highest potential of drawing the most power.

This still provides a nice compromise of load balancing without the user even being aware of it. Just utilizing the three fixed cables puts a load on three of the 12V rails. If any SATA devices are added, the fourth rail gets some load placed on it as well.

A Look Inside

Opening up the power supply, we finally get a look at the layout and the dual heat pipes that the ZM1000-HP Plus boasts.

Taking a look on the primary side of the power supply, we see two large Japanese made Rubycon capacitors.

The secondary side doesn't quite boast the same quality capacitors that the primary does. Here we see a mix of Japanese made Nippon Chemi-con capacitors mixed in with Taiwanese Teapo caps.