Zalman ZM-80D-HP Silent VGA Dual-Heatpipe Cooler

Messiah Khan · 3 Apr 2006 at 19:47

Is the Zalman ZM-80D-HP Silent VGA Dual-Heatpipe Cooler compatible with a pci-E 6600gt, 7800gtx or 7900gt gpu's, also is it compatible with a SLI setup? The reason I ask, is that ive got 2x6600gt's in SLI, one of which needs a new heatsink/fan, as the old one burnt out. Which I wouldnt mind keeping hold of for a while, however im wanting to upgrade to a 7800gtx/7900gt in the future sometime, and would like to use the HSF on that as well.

ajgoodfellow · 3 Apr 2006 at 21:22

According to their website here, they can be used on any card that has heatsink mounting holes

They say that it cannot be installed on the "nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT and 6800 Ultra because they do not have 3mm heatsink installation holes. Also, this product cannot be installed on nVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT AGP, 6600 AGP, and PCX 5*** series"

They don't specifically mention the 7800 series.

Why not get the VF900?

Messiah Khan · 4 Apr 2006 at 12:34

Thanks, I was hoping for someone who could deffinately confirm that it would fit. I hadn't actually considered the VF900, as I liked the idea of a passive cooler. How is the VF900 for noise. Also is the Zalman FS-V7 Fatal1ty Copper VGA Cooler any good, as im concerned with clearance between the 2 cards in SLI, as well as the clearance between the GPU and the Northbridge(I have an Nforce4 board with the Zalman ZM-NB47J Northbridge Cooler) This one is also made more attractive due to it being on offer this week.

ajgoodfellow · 4 Apr 2006 at 12:59

You won't be able to use this cooler passively with those cards unfortunately - Zalman state that a fan must be used for cards faster than an FX5800, 9800Pro or a Matrox Parhelia

I've got the VF700Cu and it's very quiet on 5V. It's noisy on 12V but it does a decent job of cooling at 5V

The Fatal1ty is noisier than the VF700Cu and not a huge amount better - you're just paying for the branding IMO

Not sure about the clearance issue - here's a pic of my X800Pro with the VF700Cu fitted

Messiah Khan · 4 Apr 2006 at 14:11

Thanks. Do you recon any of these coolers will fit in an SLI setup?

ajgoodfellow · 4 Apr 2006 at 14:22

I would have thought so - SLI setups are designed to fit dual slot coolers

Messiah Khan · 4 Apr 2006 at 17:39

Cheers mate, Ive ordered 2 VF900's. That should do the trick better than these dodgy default MSI coolers. Both have had the bearings go within 1 week. I bodge fixed one of them using an old cpu fan, but the other one im having to run passive by massively underclocking it and keeping a very close eye on the temperature.

Lord Alibaski · 7 Apr 2006 at 00:46

I eventually went for the Zalman heatpipe.....you will have no trouble what soever installing it onto a 6600gt i installed it on my Gainward 6600GT SLI quite easy. Though i only have the 1 card you will need a bit more room on your m/b than me.

Plus if your not o/c the card which i didn't need to cos its running @ 540/1050 straight out of the box, and you want silence in your pc then you will not need the extra fan. as long as u've got good air flow through ** case it will be ok. since installing this heatsink the temps on the GPU have never gone over 52....which is 13 less than the stock fan on the card.

Also your Northbridge cooler as to be at least 5mm or cm away from the PCI-E slot or you might have problems fitting it.

Tho it fitted on mine and just look at my Northbridge cooler.

You can read more about my questions on this cooler here
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17547576