Zalman VF900 + Gainward 7900gt 512 GS

KWJay · 14 May 2006 at 22:35

Hi. Does anyone know if the VF900 will fit with the ransinks that are already on this card? received mine through from OCUK the other day and the fan on one of the coolers is making a REALLY annoying high pitched whine. I've been using them for 2 days now and decided the i can't put up with it and can't be bothered to organise an RMA as i've had enough of those recently but i was a little concerned as to if the fan will fit with these ramsinks. Anyone know?

Darkwave · 14 May 2006 at 23:45

The VF900-Cu comes with six Zalman RAMsinks, they're very nice.

OV3RCLOCK3R · 15 May 2006 at 01:52

Exsomnis said:
The VF900-Cu comes with six Zalman RAMsinks, they're very nice.

If the ones that are already on the card low-profile then no point removing them. Just install the zalman and your good to go

SteveOBHave · 15 May 2006 at 08:51

OV3RCLOCK3R said:
If the ones that are already on the card low-profile then no point removing them. Just install the zalman and your good to go

And when you do, can you post piccies? I have one hopefully arriving today and the cooler on my Gainward 7800GT GLH was painfully noisey, especially in game. So if it works for you I might do the same...

KWJay · 15 May 2006 at 08:57

Oh well, guess no one actually knows. I'll just have to order and hope for the best!

SteveOBHave · 15 May 2006 at 13:00

W00T - just arrived

KWJay · 15 May 2006 at 13:42

Yup, sure is a pretty sight! I've just ordered the Zalman so we'll see tomorrow if it fits, this whine is really starting to bug me!!

Can anyone tell me if the fan mate is mountable? from the pics i can't really see where i would be able to do this in my case (Thermaltake Tsunami Dream) and i don't really want stuff just flappin about in there and don't fancy stickin it to my nice clear window!!

SteveOBHave · 15 May 2006 at 14:14

KWJay said:
Yup, sure is a pretty sight! I've just ordered the Zalman so we'll see tomorrow if it fits, this whine is really starting to bug me!! Can anyone tell me if the fan mate is mountable? from the pics i can't really see where i would be able to do this in my case (Thermaltake Tsunami Dream) and i don't really want stuff just flappin about in there and don't fancy stickin it to my nice clear window!!

Double sided tape to the base of your case?

squiffy · 15 May 2006 at 14:16

Use a mobo fan header, if you can control in BIOS and/or Speedfan don't need the fan controller.

SteveOBHave · 15 May 2006 at 14:19

squiffy said:
Use a mobo fan header, if you can control in BIOS and/or Speedfan don't need the fan controller.

I am curious why we can't use the fan socket on the VGA card itself? Can't you control the fan speed through the card?

squiffy · 15 May 2006 at 14:21

I guess, if it's the same voltage fan, need to use a mini 3 mini to standard 3 mini adaptor though (the one on the GFX card is tiny)

OV3RCLOCK3R · 15 May 2006 at 17:55

I'm sure the header on the gfx card cannot provide enough ampage or power to handle bigger fans. I may be wrong though :confused:

Mekrel · 15 May 2006 at 18:21

The reason Zalman do not use the cards power header is the difference in voltage that cards produce to run their fans.

One card may not power it enough and could cause over heating, as remember these coolers fit older cards.

SteveOBHave · 16 May 2006 at 08:21

Mekrel said:
The reason Zalman do not use the cards power header is the difference in voltage that cards produce to run their fans.

One card may not power it enough and could cause over heating, as remember these coolers fit older cards.

True - that makes sense. Plugged the beastie in last night, ramped BF2 to full settings and proceeded to get a big dumb grin on my face. What a card!

Having said that, Oblivion still struggles

danceMB · 16 May 2006 at 08:29

I would have thought that card had the right silent cooler to be able to clock it highly without having to use an alternative?

KWJay · 16 May 2006 at 09:38

danceMB said:
I would have thought that card had the right silent cooler to be able to clock it highly without having to use an alternative?

It does, but as i said one of the coolers on my cards has a very high pitchwed whine that you can even hear outside my bedroom, and im not prepared to put up with that! Zalman it is!! lol! Should be here today so i'll see if it fits properly!

SteveOBHave · 16 May 2006 at 09:54

KWJay said:
It does, but as i said one of the coolers on my cards has a very high pitchwed whine that you can even hear outside my bedroom, and im not prepared to put up with that! Zalman it is!! lol! Should be here today so i'll see if it fits properly!

Mine is surprisingly quiet... very happy with it. I haven't bothered to look at the temps yet tho... thats going to be my decider on getting a Zalman...

SteveOBHave · 16 May 2006 at 19:41

Now here was my real surprise. Using NVTemp Logger, I ran a couple of games at full tilt, BF2 and Oblivion and the temps never went above 43C and idle is 33C - bizzare!

Anyone have similar temps on their cards?

KWJay · 16 May 2006 at 19:59

Right, just fitted the Zalman and...... it fits, but i had to remove the heatsink from the top set of memory chips as i didn't like the fact that when i tightened it all up the plastic clips that held the heatsink onto the board were being pressed out by the coppers fins of the Zalman. Bummer really as the heatsink itself fitted quite nicely under the cooler.

Oh well, fitted the zalman sinks to the mem on the top row, down the side is fine and have left the origianl sink on.

And, thankfully, the annoying whine has gone! WOOOOOOOOOOO!!! it was REALLY bugging me, like the noise when you leave a tv on and av channel but with no signal. But its gone now, so all is rosey!!

danceMB · 16 May 2006 at 23:35

I hope that issue doesnt happen with my one then. I am going with the 7800GS+ 512mb which is the AGP version of the 7900GT. I will be well ticked off if I get a whiny noise after paying top whack for probably the fastest AGP card I can ever hope of getting