The Z machine has produced bright x-ray sources by imploding gas puff or wire array loads. A frequently fielded argon gas puff platform has a 1:1.6 outer-to-inner mass profile from an 8cm dia. nozzle, 1.0mg/cm mass, and a 2.5cm height. These experiments produce similar x-ray powers and K-shell yields >300 kJ [1] . The 2-D MHD Mach2+TCRE code reproduced the measured powers, yields, and emission region. Also, the ratio of the Lyα to the Heα+IC lines from the simulation had good agreement to the experiments after peak power. Yet, the simulation had higher line ratios prior to the peak. This difference was attributed to 3-D effects or on the assumption of steady-state kinetics [2] . This presentation will explore the effect of time-dependent kinetics using the NRL DZAPP code. DZAPP is a coupled 1-D MHD, non-LTE level kinetics, and radiation transport code that incorporates a transmission line to drive the load. Simulations using steady-state and time-dependent level kinetics will be presented and compared with experiments.