Silverstone Zeus 560w ST56ZF ATX PSU

Introduction

Only a few weeks ago I took a look at Silverstone’s 560w Strider series power supply. In testing this unit faired very well, and actually managed to score a respectable 8/10 in our review.

You would think that Silverstone couldn’t do much to improve on this score, however, today I’ll be taking a look at their highly acclaimed Zeus series power supply. With the same output rating of 560w, can this unit actually be any better than the Strider?

Packaging

On removing this unit from its cardboard shipping box, the first thing I noticed was how much bigger the Zeus’s box was compared to the Strider. With one box in each hand I could also clearly feel the weight difference between the two boxes. Maybe this is a sign of some extra quality components inside the Zeus? We’ll soon find out!

The ST56ZF follows the same packaging design as all previous power supplies from Silverstone, and many of their other products. The packaging gives plenty of information regarding the power supplies specification as we can see above.

Most interesting of all features listed on the top of the box is that the Zeus ST56ZF actually has only a single +12v rail. This is indeed a surprise, considering that the Strider 560w featured 2x +12v rails.

No mention of efficiency nor noise (dBA) ratings has been made on the packaging, which may be slightly worrying for those of us who enjoy silence or want to keep our energy bills low – but we’ll find out for sure later on in the review.

Flip around to the other sides of the packaging, and we can see that Silverstone have included some information regarding the rail layout, incorporated protection features and the power supplies supported standards (EPS, SSI..).

Included in the box are the following items:

– ST56ZF Manual
– Power Cord
– 4x ATX Screw
– 1x EPS12v to ATX12v (8pin-4pin) Converter
– 1x Power Supply
– PSU Mounting Rail

The bundle of cables are contained within a bubble-wrap sleeve and tied together with a large cable-tie.