Soldato
Hey guys
You may remember a few months back when Zalman released the VF3000 coolers for ATI 5800 Series GPUs and the GTX 280. Well I have a nice new shiny toy that I have played with tonight.
I have tested the new VF3000F cooler for GTX 480 cards
As most of you know the GTX 480s run very loud and quite warm, the cards are designed to be perfectly stable at those temps, however the noise does annoy some.
Anyway, lets get on with it.
Installation
This was easier than the older VF3000 ATI 5800 and GTX 280 cards, the main reason is the MOSFET and RAM chips on the card had a seperate cooling block for each chip - which was secured by the heat pad alone (which didn't feel 100% secure). However with the GTX 480 cooler from Zalman you have 1 single large heatsink shaped to fit over all the chips, they are also secured by spring-screws and you even are given small rubber rings to protect the GPU circuit board when screwing the heatsink on.
I did find the Zalman STG2 paste very thick and it doesn't apply easily, it's thick consistancy meant that applying the paste to the small chips would result in the chance of a small bit of paste going onto the PCB. I would recommend a steady hand and something to dab the paste off the end of the syring to ensure no excess paste gets onto the PCB - the paste isn't conductive so not a major issue if it does anyway (clean it off if you can though)
Other than that the cooler was easy to fit.
Performance!
Here is a screenie of the stock cooler running furmark - I left the cooler fan speed as standard and left the card to speed up the fan.
Stock Cooler Results
GPU Temp - 92
PCB Temp - 72
RAM Temp - 86.8
Fan Speed - 74%
I run the same test with the Zalman cooler fitted and set the fan speed to max (45%) using the Fan Mate controller (included). The fan noise was no louder than the stock case fans in my Corsair 800D.
Zalman Cooler Results
GPU Temp - 73
PCB Temp - 55
RAM Temp - 67
Fan Speed - 46%
Other comments.
The only thing that did let me down was the LED's on the fans, I thought great, a green LED to light my case up a little, giving a nice ambient glow. However the LED lights were that dim that they were hardly visable. The cooler also takes up space over the next expansion slot, so running SLI will be tricky
Conclusion!
Overall for anybody running a single GTX 480 GPU this is a great purchase, as it gives amazing cooling performance and is hardly audible. A stock GTX 480 is majorily let down by the noise it generates so for anyone looking for a quiet system this is your choice!
You may remember a few months back when Zalman released the VF3000 coolers for ATI 5800 Series GPUs and the GTX 280. Well I have a nice new shiny toy that I have played with tonight.
I have tested the new VF3000F cooler for GTX 480 cards
As most of you know the GTX 480s run very loud and quite warm, the cards are designed to be perfectly stable at those temps, however the noise does annoy some. Anyway, lets get on with it.
Installation
This was easier than the older VF3000 ATI 5800 and GTX 280 cards, the main reason is the MOSFET and RAM chips on the card had a seperate cooling block for each chip - which was secured by the heat pad alone (which didn't feel 100% secure). However with the GTX 480 cooler from Zalman you have 1 single large heatsink shaped to fit over all the chips, they are also secured by spring-screws and you even are given small rubber rings to protect the GPU circuit board when screwing the heatsink on.
I did find the Zalman STG2 paste very thick and it doesn't apply easily, it's thick consistancy meant that applying the paste to the small chips would result in the chance of a small bit of paste going onto the PCB. I would recommend a steady hand and something to dab the paste off the end of the syring to ensure no excess paste gets onto the PCB - the paste isn't conductive so not a major issue if it does anyway (clean it off if you can though)
Other than that the cooler was easy to fit.
Performance!
Here is a screenie of the stock cooler running furmark - I left the cooler fan speed as standard and left the card to speed up the fan.
Stock Cooler Results
GPU Temp - 92
PCB Temp - 72
RAM Temp - 86.8
Fan Speed - 74%
I run the same test with the Zalman cooler fitted and set the fan speed to max (45%) using the Fan Mate controller (included). The fan noise was no louder than the stock case fans in my Corsair 800D.
Zalman Cooler Results
GPU Temp - 73
PCB Temp - 55
RAM Temp - 67
Fan Speed - 46%
Other comments.
The only thing that did let me down was the LED's on the fans, I thought great, a green LED to light my case up a little, giving a nice ambient glow. However the LED lights were that dim that they were hardly visable. The cooler also takes up space over the next expansion slot, so running SLI will be tricky
Conclusion!
Overall for anybody running a single GTX 480 GPU this is a great purchase, as it gives amazing cooling performance and is hardly audible. A stock GTX 480 is majorily let down by the noise it generates so for anyone looking for a quiet system this is your choice!
