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PHYSICAL BASICS
The matte black finish is sleek and sedate, which gives it a sense of style
(which is good) without being flashy (which is also good). The sleekness is interrupted
by several small stickers that confirm the safety testing and list a few of
the unit's more notable features. The spec sticker on the side is especially
large ? so large that it partially obstructs three small vents along the
top edge.
Sleek, black, and covered with stickers.
On the whole, the ZM460-APS is well ventilated. The rear grill is very
open, the intake is covered by an unrestrictive wire grill, and there are a
few small vents on the side and the back to relieve back pressure from the fan.
Regular readers may recognize
the casing from the FSP Green PS, which has an identical layout. (It's
not black, though).
The rear grill is wide open ? good for cooling.
INSIDE
The circuit appears very simple; the internal components take up
about half the room of an ordinary power supply of this power rating. And, if the size of the heatsinks
are anything to judge by, they are packed loosely enough that they require less
airflow than usual to cool.
A small, simple PCB with a sparse layout.
As you can see from the photos below, the resemblance to the FSP Green PS continues
inside. The layout, the color of the PCB, and the
style of the heatsinks are all very close. It's no secret that Zalman has sourced
their power supplies from FSP in the past, and a direct comparison of the two
shows that this partnership has continued. This is a good thing; the Green PS
did well on our test bench. The drawback with the Green PS was its availability;
Zalman's widespread distribution should make the ZM460-APS easier to get hold
of than the Green PS.
Two of the heatsinks are simple aluminum plates; the third has only a
few simple fins.
Aside from some fairly minor differences in the specific ratings of the internal
components, the main difference between the Zalman and the Green PS is the heatsink that cools the main transformer and the voltage regulation components.
In the Green PS, this heatsink is a simple plate. The Zalman adds twelve
short fins, each about half a centimeter long. This is far from a large difference,
but it is probably what allows Zalman to squeeze an extra 60W of output from the design. This heatsink is screwed directly to the rear of the power supply, using the
casing as an extension of itself. This means the heatsink can be smaller, and
thus allow air to flow around it more easily.
The layout is almost identical to the FSP Green PS shown above. The size of the third
heatsink is the only obvious difference.
Despite its small heatsinks, the cooling in the Green PS held up admirably
when we tested it, and we expected the Zalman to perform similarly. The
key to its design may be the sparse interior layout, which allows much more
airflow than usual to pass through.
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