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Zalman VF1000 VGA Cooler is Available

eklock2000

eklock2000

Senior member
Sharka Computers has them...

http://www.sharkacomputers.com/zalmanvf1000.html

This is a cooler similar to the Thermalright HR-03 but has an integrated fan. It does not seem reversible like the Thermalright tho. Reviews always seem slow to surface on Zalman products.

The dimensions on the Zalman (160mmx80mmx30mm) seem slightly smaller than the Thermalright (156mmx133mmx58mm), so it may fit in tighter spaces.

Zalman's website is down so we can't get to the manual, etc.

Zalman USA said that "cooling is significantly better than the stock heatsink for 8800 cards", but of course they would say that.

Anyone bought one yet?
 
I just placed an order with them using UPS 2nd day air; total cost $106.50

I like it because it's small; it is probably just tidy bit larger than the stock cooler.
If they ship today I should get it Friday.

damn! it's better be better than the stock cooler!
 
@ nZone, I'm guessing you got the 8800 Heatsink for the RAM, right? Let us know how it goes!
 
Ahhh, clarity...you need to purchase the $29.95 8800 Heatsink seperately. Wow, that brings the price up to $85 for the 8800 series cards. Suxorz. At that price, this cooler should outperform all others. I think the Thermalright is around $45 now.
 
Originally posted by: PCTC2
@ nZone, I'm guessing you got the 8800 Heatsink for the RAM, right? Let us know how it goes!
Click to expand...

yes, i got the ramsink kit too.


however, after I placed the order they said they don't have the ramsink in stock yet because of the miscommunication at Zalman, USA. They said the two components should have arrived together but... anyway they do have the main cooler for GPU card less than the GTX/GTS.

 
Originally posted by: eklock2000
Ahhh, clarity...you need to purchase the $29.95 8800 Heatsink seperately. Wow, that brings the price up to $85 for the 8800 series cards. Suxorz. At that price, this cooler should outperform all others. I think the Thermalright is around $45 now.
Click to expand...

Technically in term of thermal conductivity characteristic between the two metals copper and aluminum; copper should perform almost 2x better. The disadvantage of copper is that it is expensive to manufacture. VF1000 = pure copper (main and ramsink cooler); HR-03 Plus = Pure aluminum (main and ramsink cooler). That is why we see the huge price differences.

Copper alone was not the main reason I buy this heatsink combo, I decided to buy it because it is smaller and the ramsink seems secured by screws not by sticky tape like the HR-03 Plus.

We'll see how copper performs in certain condition, in this case, inside a computer.


 
The stock coolers on 8800 series are very quiet and cool well. $50 is very expensive to spend on a cooler that might increase overclocks by what 30mhz on the gpu? Doesn't seem worth it.
 
Agreed RussianSensation...just got off the phone with Sharka and they have no outlook on the availability of the larger heatsink required for the 8800 cards. Sounds like they're a coupla weeks out. And yes, $85 is a lot for a VGA cooler especially when the stock performs adequately.

You know how it is tho...bling is king!
 
For the 8800 GTX, on average with the default fan speed the temperature in non-3D mode is around 68C. In gaming, it could go up to 80C. I agree, it's silent using the default fan speed but compromising on heat. At 80C, it's only 19.61C degree away from water get boiled (99.61C boiling point for water at standard pressure of 1 bar).

You know at this temperature the GTX could actually cook us a breakfast? A scrambled eggs that is 🙂

On fan speed of 100%, the max under load temperature on average is probably around 72C.
This is still hot IMO. At 100%, it's not silent anymore obviously.

If I can get a drop of 20C under load and maintaining quietness, I'm gladly to pay $85.
Heck I've paid $129 for a CPU cooler (Ultra ChillTEC specifically) to cool my Q6600. My Q6600 is now running at 24-25C in idle mode. I don't think even a watercooling can get this low. Anyway, back to VGA cooling, by looking at the VF1000 manual, Zalman indicated that it is the same size as the stock cooler. It will only use two slots.

 
We've explored this in different ways. You can water-cool the VGAs and use a separate cooling loop. You can stick with the air-cooled stock coolers. You can buy replacement coolers. There's the money, versus the limitations, versus the interior-case real-estate. Even if some enthusiast decides to stick with air-cooling, splitting hairs about a few dollars is worth the discussion, but there are other factors.

Like surfing -- if you think that a $20 can of surfboard-wax gives you the edge over the $5 brand and are willing to pay for it -- it's maybe one Chinese carry-out dinner you forego. Build a fire on the beach and roast some hotdogs.

If playing with toys didn't have meaning for the money spent, we wouldn't buy them. [And the topics and references raise attention to another unfortunate news-item.]

If you find any reviews for the Zalman VF1000, please post links here or PM me. I'm rebuilding the Heatsink Reviews link -- taking over for Lifeguard.
 
An exhaust blower can be had for $10-$20, lowers temps 10c. I hover 50c idle and 70c load on 600/2000 auto fan speed (60%) silent and within specs.
 
Doesn't an exhaust blower deprive you of a PCI / PCI-E slot? I can imagine that it wouldn't if it were mounted at a rectangular vent above the slot brackets and at right-angles to them.
 
yes it takes up either 1 or 2 slots (depending what you buy). Let me ask you this though.... how many slots does the zalman or thermalright take up? 😀
 
Well, we've touched on that -- I've mentioned it myself. At least with the TR HR-03-Plus, you can mount it so the fins and pipes are on the CPU-side. That may then have some ramifications for fan-deployment.

I'm going to start posting the saga of my '94 Proliant case-mod soon. I'd been holding off, because in my own opinion, the current paint-job sorta sucks. It derives from the naive approach of using a hardware-store black-enamel to provide the undercoat for an acrylic-enamel chrome-paint system. I'll explain that later.

When I drilled and tapped the ATX mobo standoff holes and built the frame for the fan-box at the case-bottom, the mobo bottom-edge came to within a quarter-inch of the fan-box top. This wouldn't be too different than what results with a lot of cases, but the '94 case had eight ISA/EISA/PCI slot-holes -- instead of the usual seven (?). The eighth slot is useless for a PCI card, but great for a USB-port-plate connected to the mobo.

So if I add another VGA for SLI, this issue about interior-space and heatpipe coolers resurfaces. I'll loose the bottom (seventh-hole, useable) mobo PCI-slot, depending on which cooler I decide to use with it. Right now, with one VGA card, every, single remaining mobo slot is available for use given the orientation of my TR HR-03-Plus.

It remains to be seen whether the Zalman VF1000 hangs over a slot, but you know that the TR cooler would, if the fins and pipes are installed on the component-side of the card. If they hang over the same side as the first VGA card (as it currently is set up), the cooler will interfere with cards already installed in slots above the remaining PCI-E slot.

Aesthetics leans away from having a TR cooler on one VGA card and a Zalman on the other, or using either cooler on one and the stock cooler on the other. So aesthetics also leans toward water-cooling -- in some combination with other "enhancements."

Then again, I've spoken to some IT-people I know who are "gainfully employed." They say they hate SLI. I hate my power-bills this summer. And I can envision that what nVidia did with the 7950 GX2 may emerge again as an 88xx incarnation. But when you compare the performance on a single 8800 GTX against 2x7900 GTX-SLI -- you'd wonder why you'd even want dual-88xx cards in SLI, unless they were 8600, or 8500 or more modest nVidia cards.

 
Well from the measurements it looks to be just as tall as the stock cooler. I would still like the hot air from my gpu to go out of the case instead of recirculating.
 
My hot air -- besides that which I vent on these forums -- takes an only slightly longer path -- under the foam board, past the NB and Mosfet heatpipes and fins, and out the rear.

The suction is so great, I'm thinking that the speed at which it's exhausted probably rivals a more direct route.
 
The manual indicated that the VF1000 will not use more slot than the stock cooler. The caution section said when installing this cooler, the adjacent pci-e or pci is not usable. But the installation of the ramsink said:

"In SLI or CrossFire setups, interference may occur
between one card?s cooler(VF1000 LED) and the other
card?s cooler fixing Nuts. In such a case, please use the
enclosed Fixing Nuts for SLI/CrossFire."


http://www.zalman.co.kr/Upload/product/ZM-RHS88_eng.PDF

 
I can't believe BD figured out a way to relate computers to spray vs. rub-on wax. Classic.

DO NOT EAT OR CHEW!

-z
 
Originally posted by: nZone

If I can get a drop of 20C under load and maintaining quietness, I'm gladly to pay $85.
Heck I've paid $129 for a CPU cooler (Ultra ChillTEC specifically) to cool my Q6600.
Click to expand...

GPU chips are rated to run well above their load tempreatures with stock coolers. I realize that lower temperatures will extend the life of the gpu but in 3-4 years when 8800 will be eclipsed by $65 graphics cards, do I really care? It'll easily last before the upgrade.

If you buy an aftermarket cooler to increase overclocking on GPUs, I also don't see that much benefit unless the price of the aftermarket cooler is cheap. In today's games, there is hardly any benefit. In tomorrow's games, 8800 won't be fast enough for a 15% overclock to matter.

To me the purpose of aftermarket cooling (other than chasing benchmarks) is to solve a heat instability issue if you have one or to lower noise. 8800 stock cooler covers these.

As far as your cooler for Q6600 the results are incredible but I have no problems whatsoever running my Q6600 @ 3.5ghz at 65-67*C in CoreTemp. The cpu is rated to run at 71*C, so unless there is throttling I dont see a problem (especially since mine runs under 1.35V). Similarly, it'll probably last me 2-3 years even at those temperatures.

Of course $130 to you might not be the same $130 to me. If you were making $1k a day, then obviously spending that much to lower temperatures was easily justifiable. When my last upgrade as a whole cost me $185, spending $130 on a cooler alone can't be justified.
 
I've been holding out for this cooler for my GTS, but unless I see some amazing reviews, I'm going to skip it. If I'm going to spend that kind of money I want it to bring me coffee too.

I don't think Zalman has an incredible amount of faith in this cooler...they're focusing it on silence instead of raw cooling. These notices are on the ramsink page (so they mainly apply to the 8800 series)...

"For stable performance while running the VGA card under full load (3D games etc.), the VF1000 LED VGA cooler must be used in Normal Mode.

"Zalman does not recommend overclocking of VGA cards."

I've never seen any warnings/notices like that on any of their products.

http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/pr...w.asp?idx=318&code=013

We'll see.

-z
 
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