Zalman Z7 Plus Review (Hardware, PC Case)
Installation/UsabilityOnce I had finish examining the Zalman Z7 Plus , I was ready to install my hardware. First I installed the I/O panel with no trouble. All of the motherboard mounting screws went into place with no problems and the motherboard lined perfectly. There was more than enough room for the With all of the main connections ready it was time to move on to the hard drive and optical drive. In order to install the hard drive, you need to remove the modular bay which required me to take off the entire front panel. This was fairly simple, and clearly instructed in the case manual. There were four screws holding the modular bay in. While removing the screws I had to be extra careful because they would start to strip if I didn’t keep firm pressure on them. Once the modular bay was out, the drive installed easily. I reinstalled the modular bay and connected all the cables with no trouble. The optical drive slide right in, and once it was locked in it was nice and flush with the front of the case. Lastly, I installed the video card, the tool-less PCI slot worked flawlessly. Overall/ConclusionHaving never used a Zalman case before, I was a little leery about purchasing this case, but it had everything I was looking for to fit my $70 budget. Zalman is known for making quality cooling products and now it looks like they are making quality cases as well. Pros:
Cons:
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stock cooler in the case and the cut out for the CPU cooler. The front panel connectors were all labeled and had enough length to easily be connected to their appropriate pins. Now it was time for the PSU: all the holes lined up and everything was good to go, however, most cases have either vents at the top or bottom of the case so the PSU can suck cold air through the unit, and exhaust through the back. Unfortunately, there is no ventilation at the top of the case so the PSU had to be mounted with the fan pulling hot air from inside the case and exhausting out.
| Our Rating for Zalman Z7 Plus Review (Hardware, PC Case) | |
| 8.0 | Construction This case feels great. It is solid and well-made. Ventilation at the top of the case as well as a painted interior would have really set this case apart from the competition. |
| 8.5 | Installation The case was really easy to work with. The tool-less bays were simple and functioned as they were supposed to. Having the HDD bays be tool-less would have been nice. |
| 8.0 | End-user All of the case buttons and inputs worked great and were very accessible. |
| 0.0 | Style |
| 0.0 | Functionality |
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8.5
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Overall This case is almost perfect for the price. Keep up the great work Zalman. |
