- Jul 18, 2003
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Finally! Firingsquad reviews the VF900 with an X1900XTX as the test card.
- Thread starter Golgatha
- Start date
zalman dropped temps at load by 9 degrees C over stock and was inaudible 3" away at 100% fan speed while, well, we all know how loud the stock fan is. also gave th core an extra 5 mhz on OC
Quieter, a little better cooling wise 5-9 degrees off of stock. Did not do much for the overclocking on that card, although they did not talk about any voltage adjustments for the GPU.
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/zalman_vf900-cu/page7.asp
Final Vertic
"Zalman does it again. The VF900 has everything any enthusiast would want. It?s quiet, quality, easy to install and performs well. Its Computer Noise Prevention System (CNPS) works exceptionally well as always. The VF900 inherited all of Zalman?s positive qualities and technologies, and created no new negative ones. The silence, performance, ease of installation, and small size were all there.
Just about anyone can install this cooler. Installation took about 15 minutes, and included eight short and simple steps and 11 different parts in total. What more could you want? The VF900 cooled down the hottest of all video cards. It is definitely recommended for midrange to high range cards, since another $40 in addition to the $400 to $500 spent on the video card isn?t much more. It currently is quite an expensive addition to a budget video card though.
The max temperature was reduced by 9 degrees Celsius. The change in temperature (Delta T) was reduced by 50%, to 14 degrees Celsius as well. The cooling performance of this product is incredible, tackling by far a higher load than anything before. This feat is escalated by the temperature to noise ratio. While ATI?s was 69C:60dba or 1.15-1, Zalman?s was 60C:22dba or roughly 2.73:1.
Don?t expect to overclock much further than stock speeds however, as by about 700MHz (+/- 5%), the X1900?s R580 core seems to be maxed out. The default speed is 650MHz. The VF900 doesn?t do much to help here. The same 700MHz max was reached with both coolers. But then again why overclock one of the fastest video cards available?
The Zalman VF900 won?t help your case temps; it actually does the opposite. However if you?re looking for a cooler to silence your existing graphics card while running cooler to boot the Zalman VF900 would certainly be a good choice."
Here A5
Final Verdict It scored 91%
ohh they also say "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!)."
Hmmm... they must have gotten a "special" zalman vf900, because from my own testing the vf900 definitely did not cool as well or better than the stock cooler at 100%.
I remounted it twice, using AS5. I touched the cooler and it was plenty hot under load, it just couldn't get rid of the heat fast enough. I've read other report of users also not getting good results for the x1900xtx and the vf900's.
Also seems their system is a lot cooler than most, 69C load with the stock cooler dynamic fan speed is pretty low for an X1900XT.
He used ATITool and the Cat control center to make sure temps weren't different, lol how would they be different if the data comes from the same probe..... Anyway I say bunk review since a thermal probe was not used. I mean come on, the card has a shim, it isn't that hard to mount a probe to get reliable temps. God knows how reliable smart guardian is : )
There are simply way too many reports of users experiencing poor results on the VF900 for this to be the problem.
From the reports I have seen of the VF900, it either performs really well or really poorly. Unfortunately it is difficult to isolate why some users are experiencing great results and why some users are experiencing terrible results (overheating, crashes, lockups, etc).
Their stock cooler auto temp of 69C is also unusually low compared to most users, who are getting load temps of 80-90C. Then when the stock fan is cranked to 100%, the load temp tends to drop to 60-70C. But I find it very peculiar that FiringSquad only has a 4C difference between auto and 100% on their card, when the difference tends to be much greater according to many users.
Anyway, just a warning for those people looking to buy a VF900 for their X1900s. If you go by the reviews posted it looks like a great cooler, but if you look for actual user experiences on different forums then the results show a much different story.
I agree. I think with the VF900 you need to be prepared to return it if you end up being one of the unlucky one's with horrible results. If it ends up working well, then great. But just be aware that it might not do so.
By the way, I have posted an updated compilation of Accelero/VF900 X1900XT results over on Rage3D:
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33854396
I would much rather have the Accelero. I have never been a fan of Zalman's stuff, for one thing it isn't "silent" as they would lead you to believe and thier are other comprable products that are cheaper and cool on par with or better than their's.
when will they catch on! surely someone working there can see that an exhuast would be a good idea.
still the VF900 is a pretty nice piece of kit, 9 degree drop is pretty nice, especially on a card as brutal as the x1900. but its getting rid of that heat in the case, where other components are picking it up.
maybe certain R580 chips run hotter than others? i dunno, like say chips produced at a later date somehow run cooler? its just a though, wether its true is another thing. either that or the X1900 is simply to beastly for zalmans latest effort
I don't think it would be possible for cores to run hotter than others, I think it all depends on the enviroment and how the cooler is setup.
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