Specs and bundle
Let's take a more detailed look at the specs. on this particular model.| System Name | Zalman Poweroid Silent PC |
| Processor | AMD Athlon 64 Model 3200+ |
| Motherboard | ASUS K8V SE Deluxe (S754) |
| Memory | 1GB (2 x 512MB) PC3200 Corsair Select |
| Hard Drive | Maxtor MaxLine II 250GB SATA (Y250M0) |
| Monitor | Optional |
| Graphics card | Hercules ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB (325/680) |
| Optical drive | LG 4081B (Black) Multiformat DVD ReWriter |
| 2nd Optical Drive | Sony DDU1612 16x DVD-ROM (Black) |
| Sound | Creative Audigy 2 ZS 7.1 |
| Modem | 56k v90 |
| Network | Onboard GbE LAN via Marvell Yukon ASIC |
| Operating system | Windows XP Home w/SP1a |
| Weight | >20kg |
| Warranty | 2 years parts and labour, RTB, additional 3 years labour, RTB only |
| Price | £1499+ VAT (£1761.35) |
| Shipping | £49+ VAT (£57.58) |
The initial hurt factor comes with the asking price, to the average consumer, of £1818.93. That's compounded by the lack of monitor and other value-adding peripherals. A vast chunk of money resides with the case. Zalman's TNN 500A case costs a whopping £800 on its own. It's an item with a limited production run, so it doesn't benefit from economies of scale resulting from mass production. Still, that's a steep price to pay for quietness. We do reckon there's a very niche market for such a product, however.
Most of the other components are standard fare. There's nothing that stands out as being exceptional but there's also nothing that's out of place. All of the constituent components are tried and trusted. We'd really like a 3-year on-site warranty with such an individual product; it's difficult to manoeuvre and transport at the best of times. The purchase price represents value if you absolutely need the quietest of powerful PCs for your work. For most people, however, the lack of noise won't make up for the additional expense.
The bundle is more functional than luxurious. £1800 buys you just a base unit. Input devices and a monitor will have to be purchased separately. The bundle, really, just comprises of software that's provided with the motherboard, graphics and sound cards.
The BIOS is just a regular ASUS-branded AMI. Ryszard took a look at a couple of ASUS K8V-derived boards, here. I've chosen to highlight the hardware monitoring section to show just how good Zalman's passive heatpipe cooling is. We'd expect a 45c BIOS load temperature with an above-average air-cooled setup. Managing that without the use of any fans whatsoever is impressive going. Sure, you pay a hell of a lot for it, but it does work.
Zalman / Poweroid offer a fully customisable internal component selection. Just don't go expecting rock-bottom prices for such an individual bit of kit.
