Thinking of buying a Zalman ZM400A-APF

Pugsley · Post by **Pugsley** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 6:07 pm

What are your thoughts if any on this powersupply?

What i need is a quiet supply. I need to run a OC xp2500 1 HD and a rom and a burner , some LEDs, and 5 fans (at 5V not 12V). Is 400W gonna be enuff to do this?

If not what is? only reason im getting a new suply is this one is got problems... the - rails are way off. my -12 is at 6 and -5 is at 3. so i need to replace it and i think its time to step up to a $50+ PS for my main system.

I dont want lighted ones or noisy ones. Thats about all i care about.

nitro237 · Post by **nitro237** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 8:19 pm

I haven't used Zalmans , but I know the name has a good reputation . I have used a lot of Enermax power supplies in high end systems and have had excellent results .

Here is where I have found the best deals on Enermax

TruckStuff · Post by **TruckStuff** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 11:08 pm

Funny you should mention this. I've been reading up on silencing at http://www.silentpcreview.com this weekend. There reccomendations are that a system rarely needs more than a 350W PSU, even when doing heavy overclocking and gaming. Personally, I'm going to pick up the Seasonic Super Tornado 300W after Christmas. This site was a great resource for my new project: a quiet PC.

Viperoni · Post by **Viperoni** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 12:07 am

My ZM400B-APS powers my rig fine. 400 watts is also plenty, 300w should be fine if your MB powers the CPU off the +12v.

All Zalman ATX PS's are made by Fortron/Sparkle. Better than Enermax IMO.
Also, very heavy with BIG heatsinks inside.

The -12v and -5v aren't use by any ATX computer and you can completely disregard whatever the voltage monitor for those rails says.

In terms of noise, the PS should be just as quiet as the many other fans in your system, and quite likely quieter than your CPU fan.

Pugsley · Post by **Pugsley** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 12:53 am

Originally posted by Viperoni

All Zalman ATX PS's are made by Fortron/Sparkle. Better than Enermax IMO.

Well the name Sparkle is no lie... i had one do just that! But serriously next to my HD my PS is the next thing thats loud in my PC. Im thinking its the PS giving me problems cause my computer will just totaly shut off. other times it hard locks... i even put the bus back to 166 and it still did the same things. So im guessing its my PS.

Viperoni · Post by **Viperoni** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 9:46 am

I've seen quite a few Sparkle's in old Aopen and some generic computers, rock solid. Also, I've seen newer Gateway's use Sparkle's as well. One was a P4 3.0 LGA775, Intel 915 MB with PCI Express, 200gb SATA HD, and a DVD burner. Good thing is that it was a regular sizedd ATX PS too, not the mini ATX stuff.

But yeah, the Zalman will be good

And with it's huge heatsinks, it'll handle putting in a slower fan better than a lower quality PS would.

Pugsley · Post by **Pugsley** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 2:10 pm

Ok then i guess this is what im going to go with.