VF900 on X1900XTX

I just redid the installation. 3DMark06 looped 3 times, stock X1900XT speeds.

before:
idle- 38-40C
load- 77C

after:
idle- 38C
load- 74C

Pretty much the same thing. I put a little more Arctic Silver 5 on this time. I took my time and made sure the heatsink didn't move at all during the installation and tightened everything down slowly.

My opinion, it's not the hardcore overclocker's choice. I'm keeping it though, it's quiet, which was my first objective. It's cooler than the stock HSF set to variable speed by about 6-10C depending on the load. I wouldn't recommend anything higher than 660/780 clock speeds with the VF900-CU, there's maybe a 1-2C change under load with this clock, but anything higher would probably be harmful in the long run, the fan can't move air any faster to offset the increased heat.

hey booger.... what was the voltage on that run?

Never touched the voltage, whatever it is by default.

I just ran Quake 4 for 2 hours. 1280x960, ultra settings, 2xAA, 4xAF, adaptive AA, vsnyc, pretty much everything you can do, no lag or crashes. Highest temperature was 69 at 660/780, no problems. The biggest benefit was not hearing the lawnmower sounding stock HSF through my headset while playing.

DeathBooger said:

I just redid the installation. 3DMark06 looped 3 times, stock X1900XT speeds.

before:
idle- 38-40C
load- 77C

after:
idle- 38C
load- 74C

Pretty much the same thing. I put a little more Arctic Silver 5 on this time. I took my time and made sure the heatsink didn't move at all during the installation and tightened everything down slowly.

My opinion, it's not the hardcore overclocker's choice. I'm keeping it though, it's quiet, which was my first objective. It's cooler than the stock HSF set to variable speed by about 6-10C depending on the load. I wouldn't recommend anything higher than 660/780 clock speeds with the VF900-CU, there's maybe a 1-2C change under load with this clock, but anything higher would probably be harmful in the long run, the fan can't move air any faster to offset the increased heat.

Click to expand...

I also recorded 75C from my X1900XT@VF900Cu before, Now, I'm using AcceleroX2 and recorded 64C-65C at load by setting the fan speed at 2000RPM(use riva tuner to unlock the fan speed control).
My friend also recorded Max temp 61C@AcceleroX2, becasue he also installed Arctic Fan 12(gift of AcceleroX2 promotion in Taiwan). Damn'

SEE?! I told you! But NOO one wanted to hear it. Everybody wanted to disbelief the AC's solid cooling capability. It does as well as stock @ 100%, but it's done silently.

WTF is up with all the reviews that have 2 graphs for the Zalman's to show speed, yet ignore the speed capabilities on the stock and AC solutions? Shady...

I'll still have this sucker for another couple weeks if anyone wants me to play with voltages/speeds/benchies for temps.

Jod

Jod said:

SEE?! I told you! But NOO one wanted to hear it. Everybody wanted to disbelief the AC's solid cooling capability. It does as well as stock @ 100%, but it's done silently.

WTF is up with all the reviews that have 2 graphs for the Zalman's to show speed, yet ignore the speed capabilities on the stock and AC solutions? Shady...

I'll still have this sucker for another couple weeks if anyone wants me to play with voltages/speeds/benchies for temps.

Jod

Click to expand...

I just want to know what the difference is for max overclock for AC & stock cooling.

No one seems to have a V1-Ultra we can compare too...

BWR said:

No one seems to have a V1-Ultra we can compare too...

Click to expand...

The looks of the V1-Ultra, as if it would be a very efficient\effective selection for GPU coling in terms of Ocing. I have not seen one review of it on OCForums though, and third party hardware sites cannot be trusted because you don't kow what kind of deal they have the the manufactuer.

I just got my hands on the best air cooling solution, a modded Dynatron BH-610. It pees on stock ATI@100% and Zalman VF900.

From what I hear, the V1 is a royal PITA to install....

M Diddy said:

From what I hear, the V1 is a royal PITA to install....

Click to expand...

Definately not for noobs.

The Zalman VF900-Cu might perform worse than stock ATI cooler, but has anybody noticed the difference in noise production? the Zalman at 12v is dead silent compared to the stock cooling at 100%, no wonder that stock cooling does better with such a high speed fan

I think some custom ducting job to get cool air to the VF900-Cu will increase performance, would require a bit of ghetto style modding, but here at OC Forums that shouldn't worry anybody

Hello there jmke. I read the article posted yesterday, good work. Not many sites (if any others at all) are doing these comprehensive VGA cooler round ups and its greatly appreciated. As far as I can tell, your findings agree with what has been said in this thread. Disregarding the fact that you used a 7800GT and thus a lesser stock cooler of course.

The Accelero @ 100% is the best aftermarket cooling solution on the market when one considers both noise level and performance. Another thing the article points out that many here seem to have missed is the VF900 is significantly lighter than every other model in question. The cooler is quite efficient in that sense. This of course won't be a concern to most people but may be to some. The only question I have is, where is the V-1 Ultra?

Gnerma said:

The only question I have is, where is the V-1 Ultra?

Click to expand...

read the second paragraph of the article

Gottcha

I'm looking forward to the results.

I also mentioned it at the end of the roundup, as I knew that question would be raised

Well here is my take on the VF900.

You guys saying or implying that Zalman has screwed up in some way are totally off. What has Zalman done wrong? As I see it, Zalman has introduced a new flagship cooler that performs quite a bit better than their previous flagship offering. Especially at high heat loads. And they did it with significantly less copper. Did they present false performance numbers? No. Did they make any claims it would outperform everything else in the world? No. Not that I've been made aware of anyway.

The VF900 may not be able to outperform the stock coolers set to 100% on high end offerings from either IHVs, but I have little doubt it would outperform or equal either when configured to the same noise level. Remember that Zalman has always designed their products for both good performance and quiet operation. You won't find any Zalman cooling products that aren't a good balance of both. If you slap one of these on a huge GPU that is putting out almost as much wattage as the CPU above it, sure it'll get overwhelmed.

If you ask me, aftermarket cooling makes far more sense on midrange performance or lower high end cards. These cards still put out a lot of heat but usually get cheaper, single slot coolers. I'm talking about the X1800 GTOs, the 7600GTs, and the 7900GTs of the world. The coolers on these cards are a far cry from the well designed monstrosities ATi and Nvidia have been putting on their high end parts these days.

I saw that you didn't get great results from it, but is it significantly quieter? That might justify keeping it on. Were you getting good contact between the base and the core?

I tried the vf900 twice and the temps under load were 16 degrees hotter than with the stock cooler. I went ahead and gave the accelero x2 a try. I put a slot fan under the video card in my case. My load temps with it are 6 degrees cooler than the stock fan at 100% and my chipset temp only went up 2 degrees under load. With a slot fan, I think the accelero is a better option than either the stock or the vf900.

Any other cooler from AC except accelero?

As far as I know ther are no others from AC that will work. HIS has the iceq3 cooler that looks very similar to the older AC coolers but I don't know if it has heatpipes.

UPDATE:
I read on this site that iceq3 from his does have heatpipes:
http://www.ccgr.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=38054