High-End PSU OCZ ZX 1000W Review

OCZ is a company that does not require special presentation due to the many-years' existence in PC hardware market. Its power supply units are well-known all around the world, and their variety is able to satisfy the needs of any customer. Currently the company's line of products is introduced by six series which belong to different targeted segments. PSU OCZ ZX 1000W belongs to the top-end solutions and provides top facilities for powerful PC systems. The top ZX series is also introduced by models of 850W and 1250W.

General Peculiarities

Power supply unit OCZ ZX 1000W features typical for all top models design. It has got black casing with outstanding goldish embedding. All vital parameters are indicated on the casing, including the maximal power index of 996W (83A) on +12VDC bus. The correlation of power on +12VDC bus and the overall PSU power approximates 0.996.

Cable System

This model employs modular cable system, according to which the cables are connected to the sockets for the power supply of all key components within the PC enclosure. It should be mentioned that the customer is capable to disconnect absolutely all cables, since there are no stationary cables. Such approach to the cable management adds a certain convenience on system integration. The number of sockets and their localization on the cords is considered to be optimal for PSUs of such type. SATA Power sockets are located on four cords which supply additional convenience.

One more thing to be mentioned about the cable management system is that all cables feature middle-size length. That will facilitate the installation of this unit into PC chassis of various form-factors and with different PSU localization. The overall list of available sockets looks the following way:
— 24-pin Main Power: a single dismountable connector;
— 15-pin SATA: twelve connectors on four cords;
— 8-pin PCI Express 2.0 VGA: six dismountable connectors;
— 8-pin SSI Processor: two dismountable connectors;
— 6-pin PCI Express 1.0 VGA Power: absent;
— 4-pin 12V Power: absent;
— 4-pin Floppy Drive: a single connector;
— 4-pin Peripheral: nine ergonomic connectors.

The number of cords with power sockets for disk drives (in the nominal delivery kit) exceeds the number of available sockets; this implies that the customer won't be able to utilize all sockets simultaneously. On the other hand, the number of available sockets is quite sufficient for the creation of various configurations.

Cooling System

OCZ ZX 1000W accommodates 140 mm fan (D14BH-12) which is based on slide bearing. It is manufactured by Yate Loon Electronics. According to the claimed speed specifications, this fan is able to develop the speed up to 2800 rpm. All key semiconductor components are located on two heatsinks, while independent power supply converters on +3.3VDC and +5VDC channels are placed on affiliate plates which do not have additional heat dispersers. Heatsink attached to +12VDC bus rectifiers is rather compact; this is explained by the low heat losses of this nod that serves also the means of a synchronous rectifier. It employs controllable capacitors instead of traditional diode setup.

Performance

Power supply unit OCZ ZX 1000W is notable for a high efficiency level that reaches the point of 91.3% on 600W power loading. Efficiency index remains stable at 91% on 400W-800W power loading, and at 90% on 200W-1000W loading. Still, on 50W loading the efficiency level reduces to 67%, and this index lowers to 61% on 35W loading.

This model demonstrates medium noise level on up to 350W power loading range. However, when the loading increases and reaches the margin of 500W, the noise level rises to 40 dB; unfortunately, on 750W and higher loading the noise surpasses the index of 40 dB.