Final Thoughts
At first glance Zalman had a lot of things going for them with this case, the first thing was the cool design and awesome LED lights. The top part of the case really lights up from the blue LED fan and the overall design of the case is pretty cool and unique. The “3D” side panel window is something I haven’t seen on other cases before.
As far as cooling goes Zalman has you covered there with 5 included fans, but I guess after the fans is where I stopped liking this case. The fan connections did not make sense to me, the 2 side panel fans and the exhaust fan use a molex connector, while the top and front fans use 3pin connectors. I mean I guess I could see the 3 side panel fans using the molex connection, but the exhaust fan sits right beside your motherboard and a 3pin connector would make it so you could connect it to your motherboard rather than routing the cables to an open molex connector.
Another cabling issue I had was with the CPU power cable. Zalman was nice enough to include the CPU power extension cable, something that you normally don’t see with mid tower cases. The case does have the opening up top for the CPU power cable, but it really does not fit, it is partially blocked by the top part of the case. How could Zalman miss this?
This case uses the older USB 3.0 cables that you have to route around the back of your case, rather than the internal USB 3.0 connector. Sometimes this can be a pain to do, but Zalman has included a PCI slot cover with openings for the cables.
In most new cases we see all of the hard drive bays being able to support both 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch hard drives. This is not one such case, you can also fit two 2.5-inch hard drives inside of this case.
I really wanted to like this case, but after doing a full system install and using it for about a week I am disappointed. Especially since this case is selling for $84.99, there are many alternatives at around the same price that I would recommend over the Z11 Plus. Overall ThinkComputers gives the Zalman Z11 Plus Mid Tower Case a 7 out of 10 score.
Pros:
– Futuristic design
– 5 included cooling fans
– USB 3.0 support
Cons:
– CPU power cable opening is partially blocked
– Not a lot of room on the backside of the case
– Weird that the fans use different connectors
I have to agree with Bob here; I went straight to the “Final Thoughts” after getting to the point that there wasn’t native 2.5″ HDD support, at a price of $85, there are more than a few better cases floating around the online stores (that include USB 3.0 motherboard connectors).
Hi to everyone. I own a Zalman Z9 Plus (similar to this Z11) and I have to say:
>> Weird that the fans use different connectors
I’m DOUBLE WEIRD and agree with Bob. Why to use different connectors? It does not make sense to me! Could use a double version connector, molex & 3-pin. Bad choice for a good chassis (in my opinion).
Pros:
– Futuristic design
• Amazing desing of the case that’s why I’ve bought it + great cable management
– 5 included cooling fans
• my pc runs so cool
– USB 3.0 support
• Why they didn’t made USB 3.0 internal ? =/
Cons:
– CPU power cable opening is partially blocked
• yes, but guys to put correctly the 8 pin cpu atx connector, disconnect the 4+4 to 4 pin pass it and the second 😉
– Not a lot of room on the backside of the case
• Hell yes it’s true but when you do a better cable management it closes correctly
– Weird that the fans use different connectors
• yes but when you don’t have enought connectors on your motherboard and can’t buy a fan controller it’s a good idea
weird to see the usb 3.0 cables on the back I was so unhappy to see them there. I did some research and I found a 20 pins usb 3.0 header to a female usb 3.0 ,still waiting to receive it hopefully I will be able to connect the front usb 3.0 directly to the motherboard inside
bottom psu vent is not enough. my psu fan making noise when im install the psu downwards. i check the bottom and back of the psu with my hand and i dont feel any air flow at all, even psu fan is running at full speed. when i rotate the psu upwars sound disappeared. and i can feel the airflow from the back of the psu.
Noise coming from your PSU has nothing to do with which way your PSU is facing (up or down), just means your PSU fan is slowly dying.
You can do 1 of 2 things; get a new fan for your PSU (cheapest way), or buy a new PSU (from a reputable company).
its a brand new psu from zalman. noise coming from psu fan under load because of the poor design of bottom vent.