Output Specifications


The Greek god Zeus made a living throwing oversize lightning-bolts at anyone who stepped the wrong way around him and this Silverstone Zeus looks to be able to do the same thing with a +12V rail which is rated at a titanic 95A. Let’s put this into some perspective: a 95A +12V rail means that a staggering 1140W is available for your most power-hungry parts. This also represents a new benchmark for Silverstone since their previous +12V champs (the DA1200 and OP1200) “only” have 90A available on their +12V rails.

This rail can also be divided into six (yes, SIX) distinct +12V rails each with a 17A (204W) capacity. This is a bit more limiting than the large single +12V rail but it ads another layer of depth to what the ZM1200 has to offer. We love having this option on a power supply since it give us the best of both worlds: the safety that comes with a multi-rail design along with the ability to direct the full 95A to wherever it is most needed.

Silverstone also makes some pretty interesting claims about this power supply that should be mentioned. Not only is this power supply able to switch between a single and multiple +12V rails but according to the specifications, this 1200W of continuous power is available while the Zeus is operating at 50°C on a 90V input voltage. If true, this is impressive to say the least but it also speaks volumes about the component choices used on the interior of this power supply.

Interestingly, since all the connectors are completely modular, you can actually pick which rail is being used if you are using the Zeus in multi rail mode. As we saw before, the label on the top of the unit indicates the +12V rail which is associated with each modular interface connector. The breakdown looks like this:

+12V1:
8-pin CPU #1
8-Pin CPU #2

+12V2:
8-pin CPU #1
8-Pin CPU #2

+12V3:
24-pin ATX
Molex
Floppy

+12V4
SATA #1
PCI-E #1

+12V5
SATA#2
PCI-E#2

+12V6
PCI-E#3
PCI-E#4

So, what does this tell us? Well, first of all if you are running dual high-powered graphics cards it would NOT be recommendable to plug both PCI-E connectors into the +12V6 rail. At 17A (204W), running a pair of heavily overclocked HD2900XT, HD3870 X2 or 8800GTX / Ultra cards from this one rail would probably trip the OCP. In this case it would probably be best to either switch the power supply to single rail mode or put one connector on the +12V6 rail while the other would be on the +12V 4 or 5 rail. To test this theory, we plugged a pair of overclocked HD2900XT cards (via 8-pin and 6-pin PCI-E connectors) into the Zeus’ +12V6 modular interface and let rip. The system did not shut down which means that we did not reach the OCP limiter of 17A.

All in all, the Zeus presents us with some very interesting options for adjusting the rails but when push comes to shove what enthusiasts really want is a single larger +12V rail. Silverstone gives the enthusiasts what they want while maintaining the possibility of multiple +12V rails and in the end everyone is happy.


More about Rail Switching

The Zeus 1200W is the first Silverstone power supply to incorporate the option to switch between multiple 17A +12V rails and a single 95A +12V rail. Previously, we have seen this type of option on some Topower-built power supplies in the form of active rail switching (on the Mushkin XP650) and user-controlled rail switching (Tagan 2-Force II). Silverstone goes about it in pretty much the same fashion by making the selection between single and multiple rails user selectable. It should also be mentioned again that the Zeus 1200W comes with the rails in multi-rail mode by default.

This sounds straightforward but there were some caveats we had with this function. I should mention that our ZM1200 is a pre-production sample and we have been assured by Silverstone that the major issues we had with accessing the switch have been fixed in the actual production units which should now be available at the retail level.


The first issue we encountered was that the access hole which led to the rail switch was covered in a Warranty Void if Removed sticker and even when the sticker was pealed away, we couldn’t see the switch itself. After opening the Zeus, we found that the plastic shroud inside of the housing was misaligned so its hole didn’t line up with the switch.

Since this is a pre-production sample, it is easy to let these issues slide since all of the pictures we have seen of the retail PSUs have a large, easily-accessible switch which is not covered by a warranty sticker or misplaced piece of plastic. However, this whole setup of a Micro-Machines sized switch recessed into a hole in the side of the power supply is not exactly synonymous with user friendliness. We would have much rather seen a switch placed on the outside of the power supply (maybe on the back) which can be easily used when needed. On the other hand, Silverstone seems to treat this as more of a one-time-use feature which is quite understandable since users probably won’t switch between the multiple and single settings on a regular basis.

For those of you wondering about the official Silverstone instructions for this, here is a .pdf file which you can look at with some more information: http://www.silverstonetek.com/downloads/ZM1200-12V.pdf