[RangerXLT8]

Ok first impression of the VF900, it has an excellent lapjob.

Next up mounting onto card:

And now for the temp comparison. Load temps were achieved by running 3 loops of 3dmark06 graphics test, skipped the cpu test. ATI stock cooler fan was run at 100%(sounds like a jet engine like you all know). The stock ATI cooler w\ fan at 100% outpreforms the VF900 under load.......

[Rattle]

i'm sorry dude but i told everyone it wouldnt perform any better than when Ross put the old version zalman on his x1900, its just not possible.

[RangerXLT8]

Originally Posted by Rattle

i'm sorry dude but i told everyone it wouldnt perform any better than when Ross put the old version zalman on his x1900, its just not possible.

VF700 on this card under load heats up to 110c!
I don't know If I'm gonna put back the stock cooler or what! .

[RangerXLT8]

Come to think of it I'm going to lap the stock cooler and stick it back on. I saw a thread somewhere about a guy who lapped his stock cooler and got great results from it....I guess I'll put the VF900 in the classys later!

[Rattle]

yeah there have been reports of people getting a few degrees after, but as of now nothing is better than a lapped stock cooler apparently. Sorry man, but thanks also !

[M Diddy]

Sucks to hear... I have two of these coming....

[Kunaak]

was the heatsinks on your Vregs, when you tested with the stock cooler?

you should give a shot to the Accelero X2.
people seem to like to doubt its performance, cause its not a DHES design anymore...
but then again neither is the Zalman... so whats to worry about?

my X2 got me about 10C lower at under game load from Doom 3 and 3dmark2006 then the stock cooler did, and my stock cooler is heavily modded.

[RangerXLT8]

Well I did a pretty good lap job on the stock heatsink and it gave me a 7c drop in idle temps(haven't had a chance to run any 3dmark.. The stock heatsink at 100% is seriously a beast! I'm putting the VF900 up for sale in the classys right now for a decent price.

[dominick32]

Sorry about the poor results bro. I would be utterly dissapointed if this happened to me.

Dom

[RangerXLT8]

Originally Posted by Kunaak

was the heatsinks on your Vregs, when you tested with the stock cooler?

you should give a shot to the Accelero X2.
people seem to like to doubt its performance, cause its not a DHES design anymore...
but then again neither is the Zalman... so whats to worry about?

my X2 got me about 10C lower at under game load from Doom 3 and 3dmark2006 then the stock cooler did, and my stock cooler is heavily modded.

yes the balck MicroCool Chipsinks were on the vregs throughout both test!

[RangerXLT8]

Originally Posted by dominick32

Sorry about the poor results bro. I would be utterly dissapointed if this happened to me.

Dom

I am but now the VF900 is in the classys. I'm selling it for 34.00 shipped and it cost me 49.00+19 for 2nd day shipping. I want it gone. It's def better than VF700 by alot, 20c on my card.

[HousERaT]

Sorry to hear about those results. The things we do in the name of science.

[Jod]

Damn, sorry this didn't work out bro. If you get sick of the noise, give the Accelero a shot. I found it to do as good as stock@100% (unlapped) and it's silent. Provided you have the external cooling of course.

Hopefully we'll get an update from Thermalright called the V1K KnightMARE with front and back "card length" aluminum soon!

[funnyperson1]

It doesn't really surprise me, the Ati cooler is a freaking huge heatsink with tons of copper surface area, and a really high speed fan. The Zalman is more probably meant to provide adequate cooling at low noise levels rather than provide better cooling than the stock cooler, the Zalman is rated for 25dba at high speed, from what I have read the Ati cooler is much louder than that. That Zalman doesn't really have the surface area to cool better with that quiet fan.

The Accelero X2 does seem like a better choice though:
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Ha...elerox2/4.html
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1033360

[M Diddy]

Ranger, just have to ask... You were running the 900's on full fan speed and not half, right???

[Shuzzy]

im not surprised. the zalmans are small, low profile heatsinks made mostly for silence and space saving.

[M Diddy]

Reading the reviews on this thing, I was really expecting more.... I'm wondering if something wasn't right....

[RangerXLT8]

Originally Posted by M Diddy

Reading the reviews on this thing, I was really expecting more.... I'm wondering if something wasn't right....

bro I had the fan plugged directly into a 12v header, which is a few hundred rpm more then 'high' with the fan controller.

[RangerXLT8]

Today for lapping the stock heatsink I had it apart, That thing is very well designed. It has 2 heatpipes directly above the part that contacts the GPU, which delivers the heat to the sink fins, and then of course the fan we all know.

[funnyperson1]

Now that I have read some reviews, it is really odd that the VF900 is performing worse for you than the stock cooler.

I saw this review:
http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=743&pid=2929
And the VF900 performs the best, don't the X1800XT and X1900XT have the same stock cooler?

[Capt_Caveman]

I believe that the stock cooler in reviews have the fan set to auto and not 100% like RangerXLT8

[funnyperson1]

Originally Posted by Capt_Caveman

I believe that the stock cooler in reviews have the fan set to auto and not 100% like RangerXLT8

Ah, that makes sense.

[Jod]

And it's exactly the same for the Accelero. They probably ran it at 10% or whatever ATI defaults too. Hardly a fair competition.

I tried the VF700 and got temps above 95c
I tried the stock @ 100% and got temps around 67
I tried the accelero @ 100% and got temps around 67

It's only 30 bucks guys. Give it a shot and save your ears!

[SKiNNiEH]

I have a Sapphire X1900XT and i tried 2 different VF900's on it to make sure it isnt related to a production error on behalf of the heatpipes. My card is running hot (can get 90+ C degrees during artifact scanning!) with the VF900.

I currently think it has got to do with the vRegulator, which seems to be mirroring the core temperatures every step of the way. When the core is 81 degrees, so is the vRegulator etc etc.

The zalman does not seem to be helping out in any way to cool the vRegulator at all and maybe the Accelero X2 does. This is something i have to find out.

Anyways, at 1.425 voltages it is undoable, so i am now running 625 / 720 @ 1.225 V stable and that seems to be keeping everything comfortably cool. This prevents me from OCing the card (artifacts and unstability at 631 core), so i will try again and let you all know when i get me an accelero X2 and set it back to the "stock" 1.425 volt.

[RangerXLT8]

Originally Posted by SKiNNiEH

I have a Sapphire X1900XT and i tried 2 different VF900's on it to make sure it isnt related to a production error on behalf of the heatpipes. My card is running hot (can get 90+ C degrees during artifact scanning!) with the VF900.

I currently think it has got to do with the vRegulator, which seems to be mirroring the core temperatures every step of the way. When the core is 81 degrees, so is the vRegulator etc etc.

The zalman does not seem to be helping out in any way to cool the vRegulator at all and maybe the Accelero X2 does. This is something i have to find out.

Anyways, at 1.425 voltages it is undoable, so i am now running 625 / 720 @ 1.225 V stable and that seems to be keeping everything comfortably cool. This prevents me from OCing the card (artifacts and unstability at 631 core), so i will try again and let you all know when i get me an accelero X2 and set it back to the "stock" 1.425 volt.

The core is running hot because it runs hot. Has nothing to do with vreg temps. With the stock ATI cooler @ 100% the gpu loads at about 70c, give or take. The vreg is consistently 80c+. With the VF900, it allowed the core to get into the high 80s.

[SKiNNiEH]

Just look at your own screenshot and tell me why on your stock cooler, your vRegulator is one degree off the temperature of the cooler (both 72 +/- degrees). The temperature of the VF900 is right on the temperature of the vRegulator (both 81 degrees).

Edit: this tells me the stock cooler does participate in vRegulator cooling, which in turn helps core temperature. I might be wrong in my views, but i still think it is odd that both temps mirror each other, even in your screenshots.

Here is a screenshot of ATITools on my card:

This is @ 1.225 volt, fan speed at slow.

[HousERaT]

wow.... I only saw 70° using stock. I guess those new Zalmans just can't handle the beast.

[hkcadcam]

I also tested the temperature of X1900XT with ATI stock cooler,AcceleroX2 and VF900Cu by 3D marks 06 and recorded the temp result by riva tuner 15.8(unlocked support for X1900)

Just give you guys a result summary

ATI stock cooler(5060RPM) at X1900XT Full load: 69-70C
AcceleroX2(2100RPM) at X1900XT Full load: 65-66C
VF900Cu(2600RPM) at X1900XT Full load:75-76C

I come from Guru3D forum and we also noticed the VF900Cu problem review from sudhian.com by Tuan Huynh.
We concluded that the review is actually nothing more than a product promotion exercise.

FYI: other Vf900CU owner also recorded 69C in X1800XT, we had posted our temp log file for your reference.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=176582
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=176760

[HousERaT]

Originally Posted by hkcadcam

I also tested the temperature of X1900XT with ATI stock cooler,AcceleroX2 and VF900Cu by 3D marks 06 and recorded the temp result by riva tuner 15.8(unlocked support for X1900)

Just give you guys a result summary

ATI stock cooler(5060RPM) at X1900XT Full load: 69-70C
AcceleroX2(2100RPM) at X1900XT Full load: 65-66C
VF900Cu(2600RPM) at X1900XT Full load:75-76C

I come from Guru3D forum and we also noticed the VF900Cu problem review from sudhian.com by Tuan Huynh.
We concluded that the review is actually nothing more than a product promotion exercise.

FYI: other Vf900CU owner also recorded 69C in X1800XT, we had posted our temp log file for your reference.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=176582
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=176760

thanks for the info bro and

to the forums!!!!!!!!!!!

[HousERaT]

My personal opinion is that people who've purchased these heatsinks should be writing Zalman and telling them of the experience..... and for those websites that have lied about the performance of the heatsinks, they should be held accountable. I know if this was me, I'd be writing internet articles which document my experience and I'd dare Zalman to complain about it. It doesn't appear that there are any objective reviews for this heatsink using any new highend cards.