vf900-cu & vantec spectrum fan card

[fornowagain]

I'm a bit wary of the VF900. I've seen some very low temps, others not so

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=1839956&enterthread=y

 

[Darkwave]

Nobody on this forum has anything bad to say about the VF900-CU, fornowagain. I think you'll find it's an immensely popular piece of kit and does the job stupidly well.

 

[fornowagain]

He's talking about the NVSilencer.

These are better charts for current graphics board coolers: -

Something a bit odd there, the old VF700 beats out the X2 with its heatpipes etc, by 10C. Nah.

 

[fornowagain]

Nobody on this forum has anything bad to say about the VF900-CU, fornowagain. I think you'll find it's an immensely popular piece of kit and does the job stupidly well.

Oh well that's alright then, silly me.

The VF900-cu is not a good cooler for the X1900 if you wish to overclock. For stock speeds it manages but you will get high temps, however when you overclock expect some roasting hot temps. This is simply unavoidable, as the fan speed is fairly low and weak even at full whack, so much so that it cannot clear the heat from the cooler adequately enough... remember how hot the X1900 actually is

Or if you look a bit further a field.

My XT @ 650/775 with 1.35v (atitool) cooled by a vf900-cu, gave me 33 idle and 77 °C temps. I just dropped the voltage to 1.32v, to see if it wouldn't black out. Im now running atitool artifact tester, and guess what, my load temps are 62°C!. That's 15°C difference! And the room temperature is higher than when I tested 1.35v! I'll be testing 1.3v aswell, I hope it won't drop contiousness.

I used the same voltage with the vf900 that I used with the stock fan and the the vf900 was still 16 degrees higher. I run my x1900xt at 702/783 @1.4v with accelero x2 fan at 100%. Idle is 40C and load is 58C.

Just fitted mine to my x1800xt with some as5, idle temps are better around 8c down to 42c load temps are just as crap as before, peaked at 71c in a quick 3d06 run (2 minutes lol).
Think i will put the stock cooler back on as the heat coming off the vf900 i dont want inside my case to be honest, at least the stock cooler blows the air out the case!!

I was getting 75-76C in my X1900XT@VF900Cu, Now I get 63-64C with my AcceleroX2

I wasn't impressed at all either. I just got mine today and put it on my x1900xtx and the temps were almost around 10c higher than the stock cooler. This is what I got when running a little BF2.....normally in 2D i'll run the stock cooler fan around 40% with the clock speeds turned down, but kept the fan and oc both the same in 2D and 3D for a comparison.I know the VF900 was making good contact with the core because it got very hot to the touch, but it's almost like the fan on it couldn't cool it off fast enough. And my case has pretty good air flow through it. I ended up putting the stock cooler back on.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1402592&postcount=5
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=93803&page=7
http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1029309879&postcount=35
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33851653
http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=4412033&postcount=1
http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=4415328&postcount=28
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1365929&postcount=59


It maybe that some VF900's are better than others. Or the design can only dissipate a certain wattage and then starts to give up. It could indicate that it's more dependent on case flow than the others.

Oh and btw, I'd swear by Zalman quality from past coolers. I've had 3 AC coolers 2 failed, one killed a card. Had a VF700 on a x800xtpe and loved it. I just don't think it's man enough for the x1900xtx wattage. I've read a lot of anecdotes and its limited. I'd still buy a VF900 over the X2, blowing concentrated hot air on the MB is not a good idea IMO.

 

[PinkFloyd]

Just put my VF900 on my X800XL, its miles better than the stock heatsink, silent on low settings, and still quieter than the rest of my system on high.
allowed me to overclock much further, around 445-550 rather than 430-530, and the temps are between 15-20 degrees lower across the baord.
Looks great, and performs well to boot.
WIll have to test it on a X1900XTX when I get my hands on one

 

[wellibob]

A good friend of mine has the X1900XT, and he just last week got the VF900 , and he is most pleased with it performance, and noise levels, he a bit scared to ponder into the realms of overclclocking it, i told him, it would make his pc time go too fast, and he heeded my advise !!!

 

[chaparral]

My VF900-cu on my x1900xt-x at full fan speed with card overclocked.

My VF900-cu on my x1900xt-x with low fan speed and lower overclock.

 

[wellibob]

 

[jmke]

erm, who puts an expensive graphics card on a carpet full of static

I did not place the cards on carpet, I'm not that stupid

 

[fornowagain]

I did not place the cards on carpet, I'm not that stupid

Loved the review, great work. I'm a big fan of the site. http://www.madshrimps.be/

 

[squiffy]

I have a feeling those complaining of high temps with 900 have poor case cooling, due to stock being a exhaust in a poorly ventilated case stock could be cooler than the 900...generally mine has gone down by a few degrees at idle (roughly 4) probably 10-15 for load...can't really tell unless I have two identical PC's running one with stock, other with 900. If you get the 900 you'll need more air being blown onto the card and more out with a exhaust fan...but still should still be lower in noise of the 1900XT in "gaming" fan speed.

 

[jmke]

it's a table cloth, and a flashy one indeed

 

[fornowagain]

it's a table cloth, and a flashy one indeed

Ah, well that's alright then.

 

[pabloB]

Should have my X1900XT today, i've got some temp probes in my case so will do some thorough testing tonight hopefully. I've got a stacker so airflow shouldn't be a problem.

 

[squiffy]

Should have my X1900XT today, i've got some temp probes in my case so will do some thorough testing tonight hopefully. I've got a stacker so airflow shouldn't be a problem.

With stock cooling (but with 2x 4 in 1 modules) and stock X1900 cooler in windows at idle around 41 degrees, upto 85 degrees load playing FEAR (that game really cooks it!) With a case fan on the side window idle went down to 38. With the 900 same fan config 34 degrees at idle.