This is a nice power supply for the average user that wants to buy a decent power supply for his or her mainstream PC. ZM460-APS offers very good efficiency (around 85% if you pull between 40% and 60% from the labeled power, i.e., between 184 W and 276 W), which will help you to reduce your electricity bill and has all its protections up and running, meaning you won’t burn it if you try to pull more than it is capable of handling.

Like it happens with other products from this manufacturer, Zalman was conservative when labeling ZM460-APS. It is clearly a 500 W power supply with a 460 W label! In fact internally this power supply is identical to SilverStone Strider ST50F (some components are different but they have exactly the same specs).

But this isn’t a perfect product. There are two main drawbacks. The first one is the limited number of peripheral and SATA power plugs, only four from each. This won’t be a problem for most users but it would be nice if this unit came with six peripheral and six SATA power plugs. The second problem is pricing. It can be found in the US for USD 80, which is not a bad price for a product with this quality, but SilverStone Strider ST50F can be found costing USD 10 less and has six peripheral and six SATA power connectors – and, as mentioned, internally they are the same product. So between the two our recommendation is obvious: buy SilverStone ST50F instead.