Evaluation & Performance (Cont.)

And what about the performance of the Zalman 460W power supply? Well we will be looking at that aspect by comparing it with the Ultra X-Connect 500W. Both power supplies ran for about one hour in idle configuration, meaning just power up and in full load operation. During full load we used several applications to get both CPU and GPU running at full speed, but we also put the different hard drives to work. This was done by using RC5-72/OGRp2 Distributed Client that will use all available CPU processing time to crack a 72-bit secret encryption key. On top we ran Futuremark 3DMark06 in loop mode to let our PNY Verto 6800 GT run at full occupation to maker sure also the GPU is balancing out the power usage drawn from the PSU.

Ultra X-Connect 500W - Summary Table

	Minimum		Maximum		Average
Voltages	Idle	Load	Idle	Load	Idle	Load
CPU Core	1.33V	1.28V	1.38V	1.32V	1.37V	1.29V
+3.3V	3.31V	3.28V	3.34V	3.34V	3.33V	3.31V
+5V	5.08V	5.08V	5.13V	5.16V	5.11V	5.11V
+12V	12.22V	11.98V	12.40V	12.16V	12.28V	12.06V

When looking at the above summary table on the reported voltage from the X-Connect 500W from Ultra we can see one dip. Indeed the +12V rail drops actually below 12 volt which is rather strange and although is just minor below the 12V margin it is certainly an indication. On the average level this PSU has a very good performance level.

Zalman ZM460-APS 460W - Summary Table

	Minimum		Maximum		Average
Voltages	Idle	Load	Idle	Load	Idle	Load
CPU Core	1.32V	1.28V	1.38V	1.32V	1.37V	1.29V
+3.3V	3.25V	3.23V	3.31V	3.33V	3.29V	3.27V
+5V	4.95V	4.92V	5.00V	5.05V	4.98V	4.99V
+12V	11.98V	11.98V	12.28V	12.22V	12.14V	12.08V

After having put the Zalman 460W power supply to the same extensive benchmarks, I have to remark that the results are less stable then with the X-Connect 500 PSU. Although that doesn't mean that this PSU doesn't deliver what its specifications detail. The Zalman delivers very decent results and does that noiseless. The full load operation has proved by al means that Zalman knows what noiseless means.

What also is remarkable for the Zalman PSU, is that even at 460W it delivers a stable operation wattage at idle or at full load. The PNY Verto 6800 GT AGP graphics card draws a lot of amps, but that doesn't cause any problems whatsoever. The Zalman does what it made, for delivering stable current on the different power rails and that at noiseless operation.