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Zalman VF900-Cu Review May 04, 2006 |
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Summary: So you just bought a Radeon X1900 XT or XTX and you're looking for a high-end cooler that will do a good job of keeping your graphics card cool but will do so while running nearly silently? If so, you may want to check out Zalman's VF900-Cu. This heatsink fan unit is composed entirely of copper and has heatpipes for additional performance. OC guru Lenin22 from the forums takes it out for a spin on the X1900 XTX. See how it fares in today's review!
 Introduction | Page:: ( 1 / 7 ) |
Zalman: Silence is golden
However other system components had fans, so Zalman expanded their product line to include video cards, power supplies, and system cooling. Zalman Tech became well known in the video card cooling industry for their ZM80 heat pipe unit. The ZM80 brought silent operation to Sapphire’s Atlantis 9700 Pro Ultimate card, and like the CNPS3000, was a popular cooling solution among enthusiasts looking to build a silent PC.
In 2005 Zalman introduced their VF700 cooler. Unlike previous VGA cooling products like the ZM80, the VF700 was a heatsink/fan unit, although it retained Zalman’s emphasis on noise reduction operating nearly silently. Since the VF700’s release it has been used as an OEM cooler on some video cards, most notably Sapphire with their X800 XL Ultimate. Their new venture into silent system cases has begun positively as well. All of these products have silence, or as close or to it as possible as a top priority. The VF900-Cu video card cooler we’re reviewing today is no different, it’s Zalman next-generation video card cooler. With high-end video cards running at higher clock speeds and incorporating more shading units than ever, battling heat becomes more of a challenge and thus new cooling technology must be introduced.
The Radeon X1900XTX, ATI’s flagship video card offering is also its loudest. It shares the throne of video cards with NVIDIA’s GeForce 7900GTX. The X1900XTX consumes the most power and releases the most heat of any video card on the market. This is due to its 384 million transistors, the most of any video card. Top that off with a 650MHz graphics core with 48 pixel sharders and you have a blazing monster, both in performance and heat. Although its gigantic two-slot cooler effectively cools the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), it whines like a vacuum, and peaks at about 60dBa at full load. This is where ATI’s at a clear disadvantage to NVIDIA’s offering. NVIDIA’s GeForce 7900 GTX runs much quieter than ATI’s cooler. This is due to a larger and slower spinning fan, as well as a larger heatsink with four heatpipes. Of course, it also doesn’t hurt that the 7900 GTX consumes less power and is composed of only 278 million transistors. That’s roughly 38% less than the X1900XTX.
So Zalman introduced a cooler specifically to quiet the beast. However as you will now see it is compatible with much more than today’s latest and greatest graphics cards.
| First Impressions | Page:: ( 2 / 7 ) |
On paper, the VF900’s specs are quite impressive.
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The VF900 was made to be compatible with all video cards. This is good if you have a lower end card, so you can transfer the cooler upon an upgrade. Let’s get to installation.
Here’s what you get in the package:
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List of parts:
- Heatsink Assembly (VF900-Cu)
- Eight RAM Heatsinks
- Four Nipple
- Four Fixing Nuts
- One PVC Washer Plate
- Four Rubber Rings
- Four Springs
- Thermal Grease
- FAN Controller (FAN MATE 2)
- Cable for FAN MATE 2
- Dual-sided Tape(to attach FAN MATE 2)
- User's Manual - in English and Korean
The VF900 weighs 85g less and is 30mm less wide than the VF700. Many aspects are left unchanged though. The fan size is the same, as well as its dual ball bearing design. Zalman also uses the same ZM-RHS1 heatsinks for the RAM (a.k.a. ramsinks) for both series. The installation method and mechanism, which we will discuss later, remains the same as well.
Another important accessory is the Zalman Fan Mate 2 unit. This has been included with most of Zalman’s coolers VGA and CPU coolers. It is a mini fan controller, giving you full control of the fan’s speed, not just 12V/5V (full speed/silent) like many others. It is also extremely small, so it can be mounted almost anywhere in your case, as long as cable length permits.
The included thermal paste from Zalman by far isn’t the greatest. If you want another 2-3 degrees shaved off, use Arctic Silver 5. On top of that, you have to spread out Zalman’s thermal paste across the core, while with Arctic Silver, all you need is a drop about half a grain of rice size in the center of the core. The extra $5 for better paste is well worth it.
As you could see from the above diagrams, the Zalman VF900 is compatible with most video cards today – it can even fit on cards up to 4 years old! (Ti4xx). However because its price tag is about $40, the cooler would be worth more than some older video cards.
| Installation | Page:: ( 3 / 7 ) |
The installation of this cooler requires no tools, except for a Phillips head screwdriver to remove screws on the stock cooler. You’ll need a fairly steady hand though and a non-conductive surface to perform this modification.
To install the cooler, flip the X1900 card (applies to X1800 series as well). We see the following:
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ATI’s solution exhausts hot air out of the case, but has a smaller fan and no heatpipes, unlike the Zalman. A portion of ATI’s cooler is also aluminum, while as stated before, the Zalman is all-copper. We’ll see how it performs later in the review. Now let’s get back to the installation.
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Here we see how smooth the cooler’s contact surface is. The smoother the surface, the better cooling will be. Zalman’s surface is well polished. ATI’s solution is rougher, and there are some noticeable marks from the milling process.
| Installation (cont’d) | Page:: ( 4 / 7 ) |
First we must apply the ramsinks. This is where you’ll want to have a steady hand. Remove the protective film off of the ramsink and press it firmly against the RAM chip. Do not press the ramsink down too hard or you’ll damage the ram chip as well as the card. Make sure the ramsink is perfectly centered. You should get this when you’re done:
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Now attach the nipples to the cooler. That’s a strange name for these little parts, as these don’t look anywhere near what you might imagine them to be. Screw in the nipples to the appropriate holes (refer to the 2nd diagram on the second page). For our purpose (the X1800/X1900 series) we need to install each nipple in the outer holes (#5 on the diagram on second page). Screw in the shorter end to the cooler. Once you have done that carefully attach the black rubber spacers on the other, longer, end of the nipple and align the cooler to the holes near the GPU. You should get something like this:
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Now look back to flipped over card. You should see the end of the nipples. Take one PVC washer and put it on the end of nipple. There should still be enough of the nipple to screw on the nut with spring. Make sure you do not over or under tighten and tighten each nut one rotation at a time to ensure even pressure. The end result should be this:
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So finally the installed cooler looks like this:
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Now we should (optional) connect the supplied Zalman Fan Mate 2 to the cooler. Attach the connector from the VF900 to the extension cable, then the extension cable to the Zalman Fan Mate. Finally attach the extension cable to a 3-pin fan header connector on your motherboard. When installing the Fan Mate, make sure your Fan Mate’s controller knob is not in the off position, install the card, attach the power connector, and turn on your PC. You’re done!
| Performance and overclocking | Page:: ( 5 / 7 ) |
Now on to the testing. I had ATI Tool and Catalyst Control Center open at the same to make sure the temperatures aren’t different. My test system:
AMD64 3200+ Winchester @ 2.4GHz
DFI Lanparty nF4 Ultra-D
1GB Geil PC4000
Seagate 160GB EIDE
Enermax EG425P-VE SFMA
This smokin’ X1900XTX
| X1900 XTX Temp Results | |||
| Idle (degrees Celsius) | Load (degrees Celsius) | Delta T (degrees Celsius) | |
| Stock ATI Fan, dynamic speed | 48 | 69 (67 in CCC) | 21 |
| Stock ATI Fan, 100% speed | 46 | 65 (63 in CCC) | 19 |
| Zalman VF900-Cu 100% | 46 | 60 (58 in CCC) | 14 |
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Overclocking
The card reached 711MHz with the Zalman, and had a 2C increase over previous load. With the stock ATI cooler, it reached 708MHz, and had a 2C increase over the stock load temps. So the Zalman VF900 didn't drastically affect the overclocking headroom of the card.
| Ballistics Report | Page:: ( 6 / 7 ) |
Pros
Great Cooling Performance: The VF900 brought the temperature down and remained silent. That’s an amazing feat considering the X1900XTX consumes 120 Watts, versus about 85 Watts for the 7900GTX. Idle temperature doesn’t really matter, only the load temperature does, and it was reduced by 9 degrees Celsius.
Amazingly Quiet: The Zalman was almost inaudible at 3” away, at 100% speed, when I put my ear next to it. All my other fans were turned off. This is incredible. Not only did it cool up to 9 degrees Celsius better, but it was nearly impossible to hear. The 60% setting seems to be the sweet spot, here the fan was whisper quiet at a distance of 3”.
In contrast, the X1900 (and X1800) cooler sounded like a jet engine under load topping out at over 60dba, while the Zalman was in the low 20’s. This noise can get so loud that you HTPC users must buy one of these, or else you’ll be listening to your PC, not your TV. This was a given though, as silence is Zalman’s top priority.
Easy Installation: Not much to say here, except that virtually tool less installation makes life much easier. Very few parts and simple instructions make this cooler a top choice.
Relatively Small and Lighter: Zalman’s coolers keep getting smaller, while increasing in performance. The VF900 is really small especially when compared to the stock cooler, which is about twice as heavy and twice large. The heatpipes, as well as numerous fins and large fan help make the cooler smaller. ATI’s stock offering has a smaller fan, yet compensates with a larger fin area. Less pressure on the card and core than stock cooling keeps the risk of damage down as well.
Cons
Does not exhaust hot air out of the case: The Zalman VF900 raised my case temperature (ambient temperature) a bit. This is because the hot air is blown away from the card, not routed anywhere in particular. This has been an issue with all of Zalman’s video card coolers. ATI’s cooler however pulls cool air from within the case and blows hot air from the cooler out. This is found on the Arctic Cooling Silencers, which are also very popular with enthusiasts (full review coming soon!).
Relatively high price: There are many loud coolers, but not too many expensive cards. So buying a $40 aftermarket cooler for a sub $200 card may not always be a good idea. For more expensive video cards, this cooler is well worth it however.
| Final Verdict | Page:: ( 7 / 7 ) |