so, what's the consensus on the Zalman VF-900

sdat1333 · Post by **sdat1333** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 4:37 pm

well, I love high performance, but I hate noise
so how is the VF-900 as a cooler? and how quiet is it?

This is for my evga 7800GTX

Thanks
Sean

openwheelformula1 · Post by **openwheelformula1** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 5:11 pm

At the moment it's just too expensive for me to try. $49 is the lowest I can find. Unless someone has seen a lower price.

sdat1333 · Post by **sdat1333** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 5:24 pm

well if price is ignored, how is it on performance and noise?
(but I too prefer to save money anywhere and everywhere that I can.)

Stacey Melissa · Post by **Stacey Melissa** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 5:29 pm

Sudhian did a roundup of VGA coolers, which included the VF900-Cu, VF700-Cu, and AC Accelero X2. Quick summary: the VF900-Cu smacked the crap out of the other two coolers, regardless of whether the fan was at high or low speed.

The roundup unfortunately left unanswered the question of whether the new Zalman is better than an AC VGA Silencer.

sdat1333 · Post by **sdat1333** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 6:08 pm

how is it on noise?

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 1:31 am

According to one of the reviews I read (don't know exactly which is was but I think it was linked to in the VF900-thread), the noise was about the same as the VF700. Since all reviewers measure differently, no conclusion about the absolute noise signature can be drawn.

sdat1333 · Post by **sdat1333** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 12:54 pm

and how quiet is the VF 700?

I mean, i can go onto review sites and see that the reviewers say it is 'pretty quiet' or 'virtually silent', but I trust the judgement of the ppl here. If someone on a review site says its quiet, I may or may not consider it quiet.

if someone on SPCR says its quiet, then i KNOW i will consider it quiet

Stacey Melissa · Post by **Stacey Melissa** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 1:07 pm

The bigger question in my mind is how easy is it to replace the fan with something quieter. Zalman fans are reasonably quiet at low speed, but they certainly can't match a Nexus.

The VF900 looks like it uses an 80mm fan. If so, there's hope.

pony-tail · Post by **pony-tail** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:31 am

On a Radeon 9800 XT in a Thermally challenged Sonata case -
It cools the card impeccably down to about 7v (does not make much difference dropping from 12 - 7v ) at 5v (fanmate minimum) it cools ok for a while but if I loop 3D mark 03 demo it starts to artifact (sparkly dots on the Rhino and elephant ) after the third run .
At 5v is just audible from outside the case at 12v it has a slightly whiny signature (unpleasant but better than the Sapphire cooler at it's slowest ) at 5v if you get close (about 18 inches ) to the case the whine is still faintly evident .
I replaced it with a ZM80D-HP with a Slow quiet 92mm fan .
When I get some time I plan to have a go at fan swapping it , as it is an excellent cooler let down a little by the noise signature of the fan.
the other cooling components in the case are a Phantom 500 (fan at lowest setting) and a Panaflo 120 l1 (old faithful) no other fans present. So it is pretty quiet and not the best ventilated .
Just a note the mounting system is excellent . and the fan is not noisy at 5v , it just that I (personal opinion ) found the sound irritating over time - Excellent cooler - so-so fan

sdat1333 · Post by **sdat1333** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:30 am

is that with a VF900 or a VF700?

sdat1333 · Post by **sdat1333** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 11:56 am

So I guess the big question is, should i go for a silencer, or a VF900, or something else?

(IT HAS TO BE GOOD PERFORMANCE, none of these passive coolers taht keep the card between boiling temp and the temp of the sun)

hightower · Post by **hightower** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 2:17 pm

I got one today. The fan @ 5v were making a very irritating sound "swoosh" - worse than my accelero x1 at idle which is not that brilliant. Also, it is not temperature controlled (compared). So it went back and I do not recommend it. I simply don't get it - zalman spends so much time innovating and comes up with nice products - and uses horrible fans. This is just like their 7700...

TheAtomicKid · Post by **TheAtomicKid** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 2:27 pm

I have one mounted on my sapphire-bred x800xl card... modded the power to run from the card instead of from the psu, so I can control the speed via ati tray tool, etc.

all that notwithstanding... at max speed, the noise is there, but it's not hideous. in 2d mode I run the fan at about 50% power, and it's not very audible at all... mind you, I have other, noisy components in my system... but manual testing, involving stopping northbridge fans with my finger, etc, in order to ascertain what noise is coming from where...

it's not 'dead silent'... that's hard to achieve with a fan active but.. it's pretty quiet... MUCH quieter than the stock cooler ever was... (and dropped the temps considerably, as well, idle and loaded)

TAK

sdat1333 · Post by **sdat1333** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 5:24 pm

so do you guys think i should get a silencer 5 rev 3?

hightower · Post by **hightower** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 5:39 pm

Nope. Either thermalright ultra (and put a different fan on) or accelero x1. I had the silencer 3 - cooled poorer and was a bit louder than x1.

sdat1333 · Post by **sdat1333** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 5:48 pm

all the reviews i see involving a V1 have like 70+ load temps even with a decent fan

i guess ill go read some X1 reveiws then.

sdat1333 · Post by **sdat1333** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 7:33 am

alright so i guess im gonna order an accelero since it seems good

I will probly order later today, but tell me, how quiet is it?

KnightRT · Post by **KnightRT** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 4:05 pm

I've said this before, but if you undervolt a VF700 to ~3v, it's completely inaudible.

Load temps on my 7800 GT are below 75C.

DI

computergeek22 · Post by **computergeek22** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 5:03 pm

Same problem for me, the 7900 gt cooler is hideously loud. I need a replacement but the vf900 is the only vga cooler with official support for my video card. The acceleros aren't supported. Is the vf900 really that loud or is it in on par with the older vf700?

depravedone · Post by **depravedone** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 5:04 pm

I'm running a eVGA 7900GT superclocked @ 591/1625 and the VF900 running at 7V. With 22~24C room temps I get 39C Idle and 44C under load. Its nice and quiet too.

wyldwynd · Post by **wyldwynd** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 4:06 am

Presumably I can control the VF900's fan speed off a 3 pin mobo header through speedfan?

My Case/CPU temp only is really rising during the same sort of intensive activity that would require my GPU anyway, usually...

depravedone · Post by **depravedone** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 5:14 am

It uses a standard 3-pin motherboard fan connector, or you can use the Fan mate and crank it down as low is it will go.

kabanan · Post by **kabanan** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 7:28 am

I recommend you to choose the AC Silencer IF it is possible to set the fan speed to zero while idling.

I had one on my X850XT PE and with ATItool set the fan to start running at 5% when it reached 50Â° celsius. While in 2D it never got to those temps and the noise while playing a game did not bother me since the game sound easily overpowers the fan noise.

I do not consider the AC Silencer to be quiet at any fan speed except zero.

Igor · Post by **Igor** » Tue May 09, 2006 3:44 am

Just installed the VF900 on my X1800XT OC (in Antec P180), and the difference if huge!

I'm using the fanmate, and at full speed the VF900's fan noise is about the same - although less annoying - as the original cooler's at idle

After the initial test I set the fan to the minimum setting of the fanmate, and while it's not silent, it's still way more quiet than an Antec TriCool fan on low setting. And the temps are still a bit lower than with the original leafblower: 45c/85c vs. 60c/90c (idle/3DMark06 loop).

CPU and chipset temps on the other hand went up a bit as expected. CPU went from 47c to 52c and chipset from 55c to 62c in 3DMark06 loop. The CPU temp is not yet alarming, but I'm a bit worried about the chipset temp... also I don't like the idea of air being sucked in to the case from the X1800XT's pack panel (where the original cooler's exhaust was), so I will try if an intake fan in the P180 will help.

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Tue May 09, 2006 8:44 pm

There are coolers (at least one, anyway) that are cheaper than the VF-900 and perform better.

so, what's the consensus on the Zalman VF-900

so, what's the consensus on the Zalman VF-900

In answer to the question about the 700...