Zalman and Conclusions
Finally we get to Zalman; coming in last alphabetically has its drawbacks.
No, this is not just a blurry photo I took; it’s actually Zalman’s upcoming “3D” monitor that uses some specific NVIDIA drivers and some 3D glasses to present the images in a very believable style. Since we can’t show you what it actually looks like in photos, you’ll just have to trust us for the time being.
Zalman has some minor updates to their HD160 line of HTPC cases that improve the software on the touch panel and some of the minor cooling/noise issues. You can see our recent review of the HD160XT right here.
The Zmachine 1000 case looks to be a very nice piece of equipment; it has two doors for entry into the side of the case as well as a great gun metal finish that is as smooth as it looks.
Zalman has been making changes to their water cooled components including their first actively cooled external Reserator, some new CPU and GPU cooling blocks and even an entire case that acts as a big radiator.
Zalman had a few other items to show off including a new 850 watt power supply, their fan speed and power usage monitor (that we saw at CES actually) and a new CPU cooler called the CNPS8700. It is an update to the wildly popular line of 7-series CPU coolers but uses heat pipes to improve the cooling capacity.
Final Thoughts
While there wasn’t anything completely mind-blowing on display, we are seeing good improvements across the board from these manufacturers. Whether it’s more power, better cooling or quieter cases, all of these components of the PC market are getting a lot of attention from vendors and enthusiasts alike.
