Monday, October 27th 2014
Streacom Announces ZeroFlex 240W Fanless Power Supply
Streacom is pleased to announce the ZF240 (ZeroFlex), a 240W, no fan, no noise, internal PSU that is based on the Flex form factor.The challenge has always been to supply high power, not only in a small package but also without any active cooling. To do this we have used extremely high quality components and developed an innovative power circuit that is more that 93% efficient. 240W may not seem a lot, but to put things into perspective, if this PSU had active cooling, it could easily run at 450W, and its still less than half the size of a standard ATX PSU.
Even with the high levels of efficiency, heat is inevitable, which is why we have the unique 'L' bracket which connects the PSU directly to the case heatsink, and is designed to dissipate the heat outside the chassis. The AC socket is also mounted on a cable instead of being fixed to the body of the PSU, allowing for flexible positioning and more innovative future case designs.
The ZF240 is compatible with the Streacom FC5 Evo, FC9 and FC10 and will remove the need for an external power supply whilst increasing the maximum power available to components.
Even with the high levels of efficiency, heat is inevitable, which is why we have the unique 'L' bracket which connects the PSU directly to the case heatsink, and is designed to dissipate the heat outside the chassis. The AC socket is also mounted on a cable instead of being fixed to the body of the PSU, allowing for flexible positioning and more innovative future case designs.
13 Comments on Streacom Announces ZeroFlex 240W Fanless Power Supply
Really quite interested in seeing what this unit could do, would love to read a TPU review of it!
It shows some promise, and we need to know if it delivers.
Will think about it, though. Just don't wanna give any promises especially this period that I have so many samples on the pile and everyone (PRs) is pushing.
As to the heat sources, the aluminium angle iron on the outside is actually mounted on approximately 3 mm high studs and is except for the 3 small screws only in contact with the power supply through a thermal pad at the top side corner where the logo is. Underneath that thermal pad is a smaller piece of aluminium sticking through a hole in the top cover, which cools a power mosfet (presumably the primary one). Under the cover are two other similar heat sinks which is only connected to the cover itself, through thermal pads.
I had hoped the design was optimized a bit better/more for passive cooling, although there should be less than 20 W heat to get rid of based on the claimed maximum power and efficiency. My impression of the quality is that it is above average compared to other power supplies I have looked at, although when considering the price I think it is barely adequate even when allowing for it being a small volume unit, especially since the modifications to an existing design seems minor. In comparison I paid about the same for a Corsair HX750 a few years ago, which with fully sleeved modular cabling, 7 years warranty and similar efficiency with significantly higher power seems to represent much better value. An external "brick" is however not acceptable to me, and since I have not seen any comparable options for something like the FC5 series cases, I think the ZF240 is to be recommended.
I will unfortunately not get to test it for a while yet as I intend to wait for Broadwell for this build, I bought the PSU and case early because of a sale offer.