Many of you know Zalman as a manufacturer of cheaper computer cases. In today’s review, we have chosen the S5 from this company. It got into my hands thanks to Ľubo, who picked it for his own needs and before he uses it, I will carry out a little autopsy of it. This was also the original intention, to make a general overview and compare with the price-equivalent Chieftec Hawk or MSI Forge 100M cases, which we have already tested.
Conclusion
The test results make it clear that changing the position of the fan is not very important. When top mounted, you decrease one degree from the processor, which is added to the graphics card, which is less desirable for gamers. Other temperatures also fluctuate in the range of one degree, except for the M.2 SSD, which is shortened of cold air more significantly with the fan mounted on top. In general, the airflow of the case is average and I would definitely buy another fan and try to experiment with other layouts.
In my opinion, the case has succeeded in terms of appearance, it is not intrusive or extremely attention-grabbing. For example, the Forge 100M is more attention-grabbing, and for a little extra charge it offers greater benefits. Hawk from Chieftec is decent on the other hand, and more investment is to be considered. It is a great pity that Zalman used Molex powering for the fans and made it impossible to control the speed. On the other hand, they are set to acceptable noise. Thanks to good build quality, even vibrations from the fans are not transmitted to the metal sheets and thus do not resonate. However, it could be worse when installing mechanical drives, which would lack anti-vibration elements. After all, for casual users, a case for 45 euros is an acceptable choice.
| Zalman S5 |
| + up to three USB ports |
| + promising price |
| + nice cable management |
| + likeable look |
| - no dust filter at the air intake |
| - complications with a thick 24-pin connector at the passages |
| - fans with no speed control |
| - two of three USB ports are 2.0 standard |
