The Zalman ZM1200-EBT 1200W Power Supply Review

Conclusion

Zalman released the new EBT PSU series in order to provide competitively priced, yet reliable power supplies with good overall performance for enthusiasts. The company tried to make it aesthetically pleasing, combining a fully modular design with a conspicuous chassis. Our experience with the most powerful unit of the series, the ZM1200-EBT, revealed that it perfectly fulfills its purpose. It is not a technological miracle and does not excel on virtually any performance aspect, but it does not fail anywhere either.

Electrically, the ZM1200-EBT delivers exactly as it should be. The voltage regulation is excellent, maintaining a very stable voltage output on all lines across the entirety of the load range. It is just as efficient as Zalman advertises it to be, meeting the 80Plus Gold certification levels. Only the filtering of the minor voltage lines is mediocre but the voltage ripple remained within the recommended limits, so the filtering was adequate, even if only barely.

The thermal performance of the ZM1200-EBT may be passable but, considering that this is a high performance model, leaves something to be desired. We found that the PSU thermally performs well and maintains reasonable acoustic levels in room temperature, but the thermal design is lacking for a PSU designed to deliver its maximum output with an ambient temperature of 50 °C. The Globe S1352512HH fan had to give everything in order to maintain normal operating temperatures, reaching painful noise levels, and it still was barely enough. The ZM1200-EBT should maintain reasonable noise output levels under normal operating conditions, but we would have liked to see a better thermal design.

The only potential issue with the ZM1200-EBT as a complete product is that it is not currently unavailable in any country using 110V AC, including the US. It can be easily found all across Europe, Russia, and many other regions that use 230V at the wall, but only those regions. This may be only temporary and ZM1200-EBT's may start appearing in the North American market soon, but we suspect it may be because of the very high inrush current of the platform that can reach catastrophic levels with a low voltage input. Even for consumers on 230V AC grids, the high inrush current can cause the unwanted and annoying tripping of circuit breakers if the capacitors of the PSU are discharged.

In summary, the ZM1200-EBT is a competitively priced, fully modular PSU with very good overall performance. We feel that it will be enticing for users that are looking to combine value with aesthetics. The company covers it with a five-year warranty, which is acceptable for a high performance PSU nowadays. However, hardcore enthusiasts and overclockers that demand exceptional electrical performance and are indifferent about the appearance of the PSU are likely to look elsewhere.