Zalman GS1000

Item: Zalman GS1000
Author: Harry Butler

Written by Harry Butler

July 9, 2008 | 00:03

Tags: #aluminium #case #hot-swap #review

Companies: #zalman

Results Analysis

Well, the results certainly were interesting! As we had expected, the dual 120mm fans surrounding the CPU acted as additional heatsink cooling fans, helping the Zalman GS1000 to achieve a phenomenal Delta T result. In the CPU stress test it sat at just 23°C, 4°C cooler than the Akasa Mirage, and 5°C cooler than the Lancool, using the exact same heatsink.

Impressive thermal results continued in the GPU stress test, with the GPU core on the passive graphics card running at over 10°C cooler than the Lancool! However, those with keen eyes will have noticed the abnormally high CPU temperatures in the GPU test for the Zalman GS1000.

This is due to the positioning of the graphics card below the the CPU heatsink, and the 120mm exhaust fan directly above them both. Hot air from the GPU is drawn directly over the CPU heatsink, therefore causing the CPU temperature to rise. However, this is unlikely to be a problem for some fan based graphics cards that exhaust hot air out the rear of the case, not into it and directly upwards, like our passive Sapphire HD 3850.

The Zalman GS1000 is certainly one of the best thermally performing cases we've reviewed in a while, and the lack of direct intake fans doesn't seem to have hindered it's performance at all. By placing the exhaust fans so close to where they're needed most, Zalman have maximised their cooling ability, and the results speak for themselves.

click to enlarge

However, it's not all good news as noise performance was a big disappointment. The included Zalman ZF-F3 fans were not what you could describe as quiet, in fact, they very clearly audible over the hum of our office (and I've got Tim testing graphics cards on open test benches next to me!)

This wasn't helped by the top fan venting straight into the top panel's needless plastic ventilation compartment, causing turbulence and thus more air flow noise. The fans themselves were also a disappointment, and once we'd removed one and plugged it into one of our test benches, we could clearly feel vibration from the bearings indicating these are not very well built. Zalman quality? Not here, unfortunately.

Final Thoughts

Despite it's admittedly excellent cooling ability, we still have a lot of reservations about the GS1000. It's significantly noisy with the included fans which is a major let down, especially as in the past Zalman is a company you'd associate with quiet, well-built and innovative products. Needless to say that the GS1000 doesn't continue this trend, and is certainly not a quiet case; you'll definitely know if this is turned on or not even with a passive graphics card. If you swap out the fans though, you'll compromise cooling performance too. In that respect, if we fitted the Lian Li and Akasa with high CFM and noisy fans, they would perform a lot better too - any case would as a wind-tunnel.

All this could have been resolved by including an in-built fan controller, allowing the user to choose how much they want to compromise cooling ability / noise levels, but this feature is likely another victim of Zalman's economy drive.

The build quality is frankly rubbish, thanks mostly to the choice of plastic as an exterior material, which has led to ill fitting side panels and noticeable gaps . It has clearly been used instead of aluminium as a cost saving exercise to allow the Zalman GS1000 to compete with other cases in this price band, but if the compromise is shoddy build quality, its obviously not worth it; If you spend over £100 on a case, you at least expect it to fit together properly - this isn't IKEA flat pack furniture after all.

Despite it's spacious interior and nifty hot swap hard drive setup, there are numerous other minor faults with the GS1000, from the finger print magnet exterior (which are very difficult to clean, especially from the aluminium side and front panels), to the lack of any dust filters, to the poor provision for hard disk cooling. The GS1000's design is littered with minor oversights that have made it harder and harder to give it a recommendation.

Essentially the GS1000 is still competing in the same price band as brilliant cases like the Antec P182, which now sells for £90. With this in mind, we simply can't recommend the GS1000 to anyone but a SATA hot swap fetishist.