Introduction

We would like to thank OCZ for supplying the review sample.

At first OCZ was mostly in the memory market and after many successful years in this field they decided to follow the SSD path which looks really promising. However since they own PC Power&Cooling, a legendary company in the PSU market, they also enjoy a very active presence in the power supplies field. Lately there was a major renovation in OCZ’s power products since many new models were announced/released while some older ones were withdrawn. In chronological order the high-end ZX series was released first, the budget-oriented ZS followed and now the ZT is out to fill the gap between the two aforementioned product series.

The members of the ZT line feature a fully modular cabling design, meet the 80 PLUS Bronze requirements, are backed by five years of warranty and finally their prices classify them in the mid-range category. Today’s review sample is the ZT Series 750W (or ZT 750W) which plays in a really tough category where strong competitors like the Corsair TX 750M dominate the field, at least till now. The strongest card of the ZT 750W is definitely the fully modular design, something that many users will greatly appreciate and that none of the equally priced competitors feature. Will be the fully modular design enough to take down the competition?

Specifications

The efficiency is entry level, being only Bronze, while the available protections are suffucient although we would like to see Over Temperature Protection (OTP) included. The choice of max operating temperature is rather strange since till now we were used to see either 50°C or 40°C as max and not their mean value, 45°C. Case size is larger than usual, for a unit of this capacity, however 175 mm will not be a problem for most chassis out there. Without any doubt the most interesting characteristics shown in the table above are the long warranty period and the price which looks really good for a fully modular 750W unit.


There is only one +12V rail which can deliver almost the total power of the unit. Also the minor rails are quite strong with 170W max combined power and the same applies to the 5VSB rail too, which is above average with 4A max power. Almost all of the competing 750W units are restricted to 3A at 5VSB.

Cables & Connectors, Power Distribution

This time OCZ decided to include an FDD adapter for those few that will need one. The two EPS connectors can be used at the same time along with the four PCIe ones, something that is very welcome in a 750W unit. The number of SATA connectors is ideal and the same goes for the peripheral ones, too. Regarding cable length we would like additional 50mm length to the 24pin ATX and PCIe connectors. Also the SATA and peripheral connectors are a little short too since the first connector, on each of them, is located at only 400mm. Another 100mm here would be ideal. Thankfully the distance among the individual connectors is the recommended one. Finally all connectors use 18AWG wires, the gauge size that ATX spec recommends.

Since this PSU features a single +12V rail we do not have anything to comment about its power distribution.

Packaging

The packaging features a black background and the heavy use of yellow makes a striking contrast. On the front there is an angled photo of the PSU along with the distinguished reference to its capacity and the fully modular design. There are only two badges on the face of the box, one for the 80 PLUS Bronze certification and one for the five year warranty. On the rear side we find the technical specifications and a brief description of the unit's crucial characteristics. There is also an angled photo of the PSU's modular panel along with the power specifications table. Finally, on one of the packaging's sides you will find an illustration showing all available cables/connectors and their lengths.