Conclusion

If you would have asked me about 1200W power supplies a month ago I would have told you they were a dying breed. However, with the advent of Tri-SLI, Crossfire X and dual GPU graphics cards along with platforms like the Skulltrail, I am quickly revising my thinking. While the mid-range performance segment has seen its power consumption steadily decrease, the ultra high-end market continues to push technology and power consumption to new heights. Fortunately for the environment, there will come a time when power consumption will hit the maximum amount of power a regular North American 120V outlet will provide. Yet until that time, power supplies like Silverstone’s Zeus will continue to dominate the enthusiast market.

Did we say dominate? Simply put, the Silverstone Zeus absolutely obliterates every other power supply we have tested to date. Granted, they were lower wattage units but the Zeus performs just as well at lower loads than it does at higher loads and that is something which still amazes us. Many high wattage power supplies struggle to maintain efficiency at lower loads but the Zeus bucks that trend by putting up some very respectable numbers in all of the efficiency tests we put it through. Voltage regulation was also top-notch without nary a whimper on the +5 and +3.3V rails while the +12V rail stayed quite solid throughout the tests. Then there is the matter of the stunning ripple suppression which still leaves our jaws slack.

Performance aside, there are so many other things to like about the Zeus 1200W. Even though it is the longest power supply we have seen, its fully modular interface partially offsets this increased length. Not only are the modular connectors convenient (not to mention they are straight out of a cable routing fanatic’s wet dream) but the cables themselves are all extremely long. With more and more cases now offering bottom-mounted power supply layouts, longer than normal CPU connectors are becoming essential and this Silverstone power supply offers just that. The 3-year warranty is also nothing to sneeze at and since it is backed up by Silverstone’s always-helpful customer and RMA service, you can have some piece of mind when buying this product.

Now we have come to the part of this conclusion where we can discuss the issues we had with this power supply and to be honest, there isn’t much not to like. The one thing that pops to the front of our minds is the lack of sleeving on the wires leading to the second PCI-E connector on two of the PCI-E cables. On a power supply of this caliber there is absolutely no reason for all the cables to not be fully sleeved. The only other caveat we had with this unit was the fact that the multi / combined rail switch was impossible to get to but this is supposed to be rectified with the actual retail units.

So, with ripple suppression to make most other power supplies jealous, extremely long cables, great voltage regulation and good efficiency can the Zeus 1200W truly be called a flagship power supply? Damn right it can!


Pros:

- Amazing performance in all categories
- Fully modular interface
- Long cables
- 6 PCI-E connectors
- Sleek design


Cons:

- Some PCI-E wires not sleeved
- Can get a bit noisy when pushed to the limit