Zalman HD-160 and Accompanying Products

Benchmark Comparisons

To test the new HTPC case and especially the performance change when switching to the Zalman CPU and GPU coolers, we installed our standard ATX test bed with the Zalman provided ZM460-APS power supply. Measurements were made at 22.5 degrees Celcius ambient, and averaged over the course of 5 minutes after running for over 30 in the respective mode. Two instances of Folding@Home , rthdribl, and a comprehensive hard-drive loader are run simultaneously for the "load" test.

ATX Test Bed
DFI LanParty UT 915P-T12 Pentium 4 530 Prescott 3.0ghz OCZ 512MB DDR2 x 2 Thermaltake Golden Orb II Seagate 120gb SATA Hard Drive Chaintech GeForce 6600GT MSI DVD-CD/R/RW Combo drive Zalman ZM460-APS PSU

Our standard test bed has been a solid set of hardware for reviewing for several reviews now, but one of the first things that we noticed when using the ZM460-APS power supply was how much less heat it put out than the MadDog unit, which we had been using before. Before getting into detail about the other differences, here's a chart showing the performance of the case first with the Thermaltake Golden Orb and stock 6600GT cooler, then with Zalman equipment in its place. The 80mm case fans were both hooked up to 12v connections, the video card into a 5v line, the CPU fan for the Golden Orb II directly into the motherboard, and the CNPS-9500 into the included Zalman FanMate II

Without much of a surprise, the VF700-Cu comes out looking the most impressive here - we suspected the stock cooler wasn't the greatest and our guess couldn't have been any more accurate. The CNPS-9500 is a strong performer too, but only marginally better than our already stellar Golden Orb II. In its defense, the CNPS-9500 was also lighter, easier to install, and as we'll see shortly, even quieter too. Another conclusion to make about these results includes the fact that motherboard MOSFETs really do benefit the most from downward facing fans, even if cross-blowing fans like the one in the CNPS-9500 does a fantastic job of keeping the CPU cool. Also, probably because of an overall cooler internal temperature, the passively cooled chipset also sees a rather decent benefit from the Zalman products.

Even more impressive is the noise change It should be noted that our new sound meter doesn't even register below 28dBa, and the ambient noise floor of the lab is pretty much a steady 29 dBa on the money. Seeing 30 on the meter from 6" in front was pretty hard to believe, but subjectively, it was completely understandable. With the lid closed, turning on the system was barely perceivable from a normal distance (3-6ft) away. With noise being such a concern in an HTPC environment, it's hard not to love this case; even with the standard ATX test equipment, these are some record low scores. Only the video card fan was really keeping it from being even subjectively lower.


Final Words

Zalman's display of their quality of engineering, design, and manufacturing have all been top-notch for each and every product that we've looked at here. With a closer look at the ZM460-APS in the near future, we will surely only add to this concensus, as even with our short amount of work with the unit here, we've grown very fond of the product.

Without a doubt though, the HD-160 is a fine HTPC case. The layout is smart, simple, and elegant. The construction leaves nothing to be desired and should stand up to many years of home entertainment. Its thermal and noise performance were record-breaking, and they only became better when we used the CNPS-9500 and VF700-Cu. If only a perfect, stealthy optical drive system could've been implemented, and a VFD where the digits were more visible from actual living room distances, this could've been the perfect HTPC case that we were looking for when we started. However, the new Zalman case is closer than many by a long shot, and for one who doesn't want to settle for something that "just works", the HD-160 is a great choice, even for the relatively high asking price of around $250. For those who really want to go all out, we'd readily recommend all three products that we looked at in detail; each stands out in its own right.