Zalman ZM400B-APS Power Supply Review - PAGE 1

Despite the clamour for better performance, the computer industry as a whole is starting to realize that excessive noise is starting to become a handicap for products. There have been an increasing number of products out on the market that focus primarily on reducing, or completely eliminating, noise produced by running computers. The reason there are so many of these products out is not because companies figure people might buy them up; the fact is that people are buying them up. Even industry titans are getting into the act; AMD has their Cool'n'Quiet technology in their processors, Intel varies the spin rate of their new heatsink fan units and of course there is one of the pioneers of quiet computing, Zalman.

Zalman Technology has been at the forefront of quite computing solutions since the introduction of their semi-passive cooling devices for the Socket A and Socket 370. They made a name for themselves as the noise reduction specialists with this very series of "flower" heatsinks. Ever since then, Zalman has been making good use of their thinking caps and coming out with a variety of innovative cooling solutions for us quiet-PC enthusiasts.

Today we are taking a look at Zalman's ZM400B-APS power supply, which is purported to be "noise free". In addition to the 400W rating, this power supply features an Active PFC, which is a big plus in our books. Active Power Factor Correction allows for the power supply to more efficiently utilize the AC input, automatically adjust itself for AC fluctuations, reduce "talk-back" interference on the AC line, and use a full range of input voltages without the need to flip a switch on the back.