ZALMAN ZM700-GLX, 700W - should I... or not

[toyo]

Hello everyone,

Let me describe the situation as quick as possible.

- my PSU exploded. I am maintaining my system on a rather ingenious coupling together of my MB and an ancient 400W Delux PSU :\
- there is a black friday on a store nearby tomorrow, they have little to show but:
- SIRTEC HPC-550-H12S, 550W
- ZALMAN ZM700-GLX, 700W (apparently Sirtec inside)

Alternative 600w:
http://www.emag.ro/sursa-sirtec-600w-atx-2-3-pfc-activ-hpg-600br-h14s/pd/D3YRRBBBM/

I am absolutely, fully aware that the PSU is the lifeline of a PC, and you shouldn't skip on it, etc., etc., and I fully agree with these things, but money is money and if you have it, you spend, if you don't... you get by with whatever you got. So please try to understand the situation and give me advice based on the circumstances.

I will probably have to overclock the CPU to about 4.4GHz+ or something or it is just REAL bad in gaming, so this should be taken into consideration.

PC:
FX 8350, Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3, GTX 970 factory OC, 8 GB RAM, HDD, DVD RW.
PC Case: Thermaltake Versa II ATX

The store would let me pay in rates without any interest. The Zalman would come at 56 Euro, and the Sirtec (which worries me since 550W, and my former PSU, some Thermaltake, was 550W and it exploded like nothing and I didn't even OC, all it took was some Dying Light with the CPU boosting heavily and boom).

PSU info I found, but I ain't an electrician, and anyway I feel it's cheap crap, but yeh.
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page1530.htm
http://www.zalman.com/global/product/Product_Read.php?Idx=837 (specs down)

Let me know if I can be of help with additional info.

Thanks a lot for the help, appreciate it.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Get a SEASONIC or Super Flower.

 

[toyo]

If I had more options, I would have written then down.

Also, just mentioning some tech manufacturer is as generic as it gets... if I were already a PSU guru I would have not asked for advice.

Seasonic S12G-650 SSR-650RT, 650W only thing I can find in the stores I can buy from here. It's 143 Euro. Out of the question by far.

 

[nostall]

SR71 is correct, those two are excellent, superior units.
But budget constraints are just that, constraints. If you can't find one of those in your price range, and you need to get back to running, then I would get the Zalman.
In this "original" rating of PSU's (for quality and dependability) the LX series under 1000Watts was a Tier 2 unit:
https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx
In the ratings on Tom's it appears that GLX series has been dropped, perhaps they are no longer manufactured, but the GS and GT series are tier 3 (so-so quality) and the ZM-HP 850 and 1000w units are tier 2b - though there is no mention of the lower power units.
Hope this all helps.

 

[toyo]

Thank you guys.

"Those 2" are just names of manufacturers, I cannot tell what PSU would be good for me just from a short sentence.

There are a few Super Flower units on emag.ro
http://www.emag.ro/surse/super-flower/c?ref=bc

One comes near my money limit:
http://www.emag.ro/sursa-super-flower-atlas-580w-atx-2-32-pfc-activ-at-580r14a/pd/DRHNLBBBM/

It worries me since it's just 580W and the GTX 970 on stock clocks requires 500W minimum, and my card has a moderate factory OC, 1304 MHz boost, but it stays at 1380-1392 MHz almost all the time. So I wager it needs more than 500W.

The FX 8350 is hardly efficient as well, and I suspect it's the reason my PSU crapped out.

Any further suggestions? Please remember I am not an electrician, and while I can read reviews and draw my own conclusions, they will be more than likely false because I lack experience and knowledge in this field.

 

[nostall]

Thank you guys.

"Those 2" are just names of manufacturers, I cannot tell what PSU would be good for me just from a short sentence.

There are a few Super Flower units on emag.ro
http://www.emag.ro/surse/super-flower/c?ref=bc

One comes near my money limit:
http://www.emag.ro/sursa-super-flower-atlas-580w-atx-2-32-pfc-activ-at-580r14a/pd/DRHNLBBBM/

It worries me since it's just 580W and the GTX 970 on stock clocks requires 500W minimum, and my card has a moderate factory OC, 1304 MHz boost, but it stays at 1380-1392 MHz almost all the time. So I wager it needs more than 500W.

The FX 8350 is hardly efficient as well, and I suspect it's the reason my PSU crapped out.

Any further suggestions? Please remember I am not an electrician, and while I can read reviews and draw my own conclusions, they will be more than likely false because I lack experience and knowledge in this field.

You are correct, they are names of manufactures but as you have found Super Flower sells under its name brand and Seasonic sell under its name brand: BOTH manufacture excellent units for various companies: EVGA's G2 and P2 are by Super Flower; XFX power supplies are made by Seasonic. You get the idea.
www.johnnyguru.com is an excellent site for evaluating PSU's before buying and learning who actually makes them.

Re. power. Taking a quick look at Gigabyte, ASUS, MSI, and EVGA overclocked 970's I found that only one (the Gigabyte GV-N970G1 Gaming-4GD) recommended more then 500watts: It has a recommendation of 550 watts with at least one 6 pin and one 8 pin PCIE power leads. I suspect the extra power for that card is due to the 3 fan cooling system: all the rest used 2 x 6pin PCIE connections and recommended 500watts with a minimum continuous power of 28Amp on the +12Volt rail.
Now the bad news: That Super flower Atlas is an old design with a poor reputation. From ko888, a Grandmaster here on Tom's:
Yes it's an old design. It's electrical conversion efficiency is below 80% so it can't even get 80PLUS certification. The older Super Flower PSUs didn't have a good reputation.

It's the bright LED gimmick that lures the unsuspecting into buying junk. Don't fall for it.

If you were choosing a PSU from Super Flower's Golden King Series then I would say go for it.
(From this post: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/354111-28-super-flower-atlas-design-680w)
One last thing: that 8350 is not as efficient as the Intel cpu's, but it probably will never run at 100% of its power. I run the 8120, a generation behind yours with lower clock, have it moderately oc'd (3.4) and the only time it draws full power is when I run Prime95. Otherwise it is a rarity to see it over 70% at any given short period of time.
I WILL COME back to my original post; If all you can afford is the Zalman, then I would go for it. If you can afford afford a bit more, then the new Super Flower Golden Green and Golden King series are very good.

 

[toyo]

OK. My last question. There is just ONE store that accepts my credit card type of thing, which I have to use to be able to pay over a few months/no interest, so I will sadly have to go with that.

Which PSU:

ZALMAN ZM700-GV, 700W
ZALMAN ZM700-GLX, 700W
CORSAIR VS 650W
SIRTEC EP-650S, 650W
ANTEC VP 700W VP700P EC, 700W

There's nothing else there I find worthy to buy, but please do check if you think you can find something:
http://www.mediagalaxy.ro/it/componente/surse-de-alimentare

I will have to buy one of these today, I can't trust my PC on 400W mumbo-jumbo homemade connections.

Please help me with deciding among these. I already checked the Internets, yet I cannot find any reviews or info I can compare.

Thanks.

 

[toyo]

I chose the cheap crap named ZALMAN ZM700-GV. You would laugh if you knew that in my 3rd world country (apparently part of EU but w/e), this would be considered a moderately expensive PSU, as most people buy Deluxs and hell knows what other crazy OEM bulk stuff.

There were no real solutions to this topic but nostall had some nice insights, so you get the "prize", if it's actually worth anything to you. I wish more people had at least an opinion though, if not a suggestion, so I would not be left to my own devices choosing hardware that I know so very little about.

Thanks, and tada till the next PSU 'splosion.

 

[nostall]

Sorry I wasn't able to reply to your last two posts. I think you will be o.k. with that PSU; keep it clean and make sure you have air flow through your case and it will probably do just fine.

 

[madmatt30]

The antec would have been better to be honest,the zalman does at least have big 12v rails & it looks to be an old fsp design which is fairly decent.
You could have done much worse - dont think you'll have any problems.

 

[toyo]

Thanks I chose the Zalman GV basically because of the Bronze certification, and it looked to have slightly better stats than the GLX (from http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page1530.htm). The Antec lacked any certifications. I have no idea if at this price point, the 80+/Bronze low end certifications actually matter a lot.
I could have bought a Super Flower Leadex SF-650F14MG 80 PLUS® Gold, 650W from another store, it was within the price I would pay for a PSU, 108 Euro.
However, that retailer decided to stop supporting the type of card I had to use a few months ago.
I assume the Gold-certified Super Flower would have been way, way better than the Zalman, but there was just no way to buy it without making more financial sacrifices that I was prepared to.
Oh well. No point for regrets now, the deed is done, I should receive the PSU in 2 days or so, I'll make sure it doesn't get too hot, there's plenty on ventilation in the case and not too hot during winter. The summer would be a real challenge though, the temps here reach 35-38 Celsius for days.