Zalman VF700 AlCu VGA Cooler Review - PAGE 4

Test Setup (Relevant Components)

Gigabyte GeForce 6600 GT PCIe
Stock VGA heatsink
Zalman VF700-AlCu
Windows XP SP2

Ambient temperature during testing was 25 C / 76 F.

Measurements for the temperatures were done on an open work bench and not inside of a case. 3DMark 2005 is run on a endless loop for 20 minutes and then the temperature is recorded instantly after exiting the program. Temperatures fall seconds after 3D programs stop running, so there is about a three second window before the reported temperatures stop being the 'load' temps.

Temperatures

The temperature difference reported between the stock heatsink and the Zalman is nothing short of astounding - this can be attributed to a few factors. Firstly, the stock heatsink and thermal pad sucks. When removing the original heatsink, it was very obvious that the heatsink did not have very good contact with the GPU. Secondly, the Zalman requires you to apply (at the very least) their thermal compound, which should ensure better conduction of heat. Thirdly, the fan and the fins are much larger than the stock - to the point it will block off another PCI slot easily.

Noise

In our noise tests we threw in a few other cards into the mix to get a guage of the noise reduction gained from the VF700-AlCu. Subjectively, the VF700 in silent mode could not be heard in an open bench environment in our office from a distance of greater than 3 feet. Even though the noise levels of the different cards measured seemed similar, there was a noticeable difference in pitch, especially with the X700 Pro which sounded the most noisy. Even at loud mode, the Zalman sounds quieter than the other solutions - the pitch is lower than any of the standard heatsink/fan units. Zalman definitely continues their tradition of a low noise threshold with the VF700.

Conclusion

The Zalman VF700-AlCu is a very impressive kit. One of the major complaints about Zalman's video card heatpipe solution from before was that temperatures would skyrocket, to the point that cards would start to run with less stability due to much higher temps. The VF700-AlCu alleviates many of these problems by merely including a fan to make it an active cooling solution. However, noise levels are kept low, as the fan itself does not get any louder than the stock one. However, one missing feature is the ability to change fan speed on the fly. Whereas many other heatsinks come with fanbusses and other trinkets to control rotational speed, this cooler does not but it does include a silent and a loud mode that requires the fan to be unplugged. On the other hand, this card is compatibile with practically every card on the market (minus SiS, Matrox and a few other nVidia cards). The flexibility behind it and the performance it provides impresses me a lot, and this product earns my recognition as being one of the best aftermarket coolers available.