VGA Cooler Roundup April 2006 - Zalman vs Arctic vs Sytrin review

[RPGWiZaRD]

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=1&artpage=1774&articID=405

Some results are pretty much biased tho like the VF700-CU, performed worse than XFX 7800GT stock cooler, yea right, my nvidia stock cooler keeps my card under 10C. :rolleyes:

Too bad V1 wasn't included:
"As mentioned in the introduction, I’m still missing a large name: the Thermalright V1 Ultra arrived too late to be included in this roundup, expect a follow-up review soon where I’ll test it head to head to some of the products tested today."

[jmke]

biased how? I have no $ interest in any company I review products from.
my nvidia stock cooler keeps my card under 10C

from your sig: 6800GT ... not the same vcard, not the same stock cooling.
I don't know what CPU cooling you have, what PSU, what case cooling, so a direct comparison is simply not possible:)

the VF700 peforms worse in low-airflow case, worse than the others in the test.

[RPGWiZaRD]

biased how? I have no $ interest in any company I review products from.


from your sig: 6800GT ... not the same vcard, not the same stock cooling.
I don't know what CPU cooling you have, what PSU, what case cooling, so a direct comparison is simply not possible:)

the VF700 peforms worse in low-airflow case, worse than the others in the test.

I was being ironic saying that, since I yet wanna see VF700-CU perform worse than stock 7800GT cooler on any 7800GT card in any situation. It just shouldn't be like that. More likely at least 5 - 10C better load temp than stock cooler.

[Fission]

jmke, best avatar ever! I am in love with that picture.

The VF700cu with enough air does a hell of a job, IMHO. I have a 115CFM Panaflo on mine for benching, and it leaves me voltage limited, no complaints.

Seriously though, Still staring at that awesome avatar.
http://img426.imageshack.us/img426/4672/slide5eq.gif

[jmke]

since I yet wanna see VF700-CU perform worse than stock 7800GT cooler .

you just saw it...

[RPGWiZaRD]

you just saw it...

How come a simple googling around shows a different result, up to 10C improvements. And no, I just won't buy that a 7800GT stock cooler performs better than VF700-CU, was it even reseated? You can't be 100% sure you're correct either like I'm not either of me being right but the majority would prolly agree that VF700-CU performs better. :p:

[jmke]

I just won't buy that a 7800GT stock cooler performs better than VF700-CU, was it even reseated? You can't be 100% sure you're correct either:

you don't need to buy, it's free info :banana:
I redid each test several times, dont believe, fine by me, I know what I saw, tested, recorded, and retested and end up with same result.in a very low airflow area the VF700-Cu is overwhelmed by the heat produced from the 7800GT...

How come a simple googling around

now hit me with those "other" VF700-Cu reviews which use a higher end VGA card...

[RPGWiZaRD]

now hit me with those "other" VF700-Cu reviews which use a higher end VGA card...

I didn't say reviews, I was refering to homeusers who have swapped their stock 7800GT cooler to VF700-CU and commented in forums, since 7800GT cards aren't that much talked about anymore as they were at launch it's harder to find but since you asked for reviews here is one I found after 1min googling, 7800GT was used and VF700 the LED version:

http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=28&page=5

Only by looking at stock cooler and VF700-CU I just see it should perform better but enough of this discussion now, I could go on forever tho when it's something we're discussing which I'm very confident in. :p:

VF700-CU on 7900GTs are commonly used still tho, but that's another card but on those it shows a clear improvement, but heastsink design on those 2 are pretty much the same anyways.

Last but not least, if VF700-CU can handle my 6800GT @ 440/1155 at 67C load it can certainly handle a 7800GT and 7900GT since those runs a bit cooler even if they are newer models. Check here for a comparision with different coolers on both 7900GT, 6800GT and 6800 for example:

http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/wed-apr-12-2006-325-am-vp552193.html

[jmke]

http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=28&page=5


not tested inside a case. or he forgot the mention his case and casecooling...


http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/wed-apr-12-2006-325-am-vp552193.html

no VF700 tested, VF900 is a whole other model...

in a very low airflow area the VF700-Cu is overwhelmed by the heat produced from the 7800GT.

statement still not challenged:)

[Fission]

Not to fan the flames (pardon the pun) but the stock cooler on my ultra with the copper Extreme Edition heatsink and the stock fan on max cooled better than my VF700cu, it was just noisy. With a decent Fan (http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/de92ff.html), the VF 700 cools very well, but wit hteh stock pooh fan, it was worse than my stock cooler, just quieter. Worse didn't mean overheating, but higher temps at idle, and load (@ 450).

The results speak for themselves. (http://ualuealuealeuale.ytmnd.com/)

[jmke]

@RPGWiZaRD; you have to understand that the aim of my roundup was to find the most quiet cooler which kept the GPU from overheating in a very (XTREME) silent system;

since Fission is casually suggestion to install a 38mm delta/vantec inside a case as a solution I don't think XS is very much interested in silent computing.

If you have 3-4 large high speed casefans, then I'm sure that VF700 will outperform the stock cooling as the larger fins on the VF700 can be easily cooled by your casefans. the stock cooler doesn't benefit as much from the extra airflow. in your first post you link to the first page of my roundup, you can see a chart there if you scroll down a bit where I compared the VF700 with case panel open/closed. there's a 10°C!! difference, if you have amply case cooling that VF700 WILL outperform stock cooling easily; BUT I did not test with ample case cooling installed.

I have a single 1000rpm 80mm installed in the rear, in the PSU are 2x <1000rpm 80mm also; overall the system, without VGA fan, is only 2dBA over ambient at ~30cm. That's dead quiet. the VF700 in a low airflow case did not perform as good as the stock cooling, also check the Fatality version of the VF700, very similar results, so I'm VERY sure that the results I got ARE repeatable:)

[RPGWiZaRD]

not tested inside a case. or he forgot the mention his case and casecooling...

"Just so you know, the fans in the case were a single 80mm Papst over the memory and two 120mm fans running at 5V for case air flow. The case is closed for testing to give real world results. The rest of the testbeds specifications are as follows" it says on 5th page.

no VF700 tested, VF900 is a whole other model...

Take a closer look, VF700-CU was also tested on 7900GT and performed only 2C worse than VF900-CU. But the point was to show how 6800GT is hotter than the newer 7800 and 7900 series cards.

And why would the stock cooler perform better in bad airflow than VF700-CU, should perform just as bad since it doesn't exhaust the hot air at back. I still think VF700-CU would perform better even in a case with 1x80mm fan or none at all when comparing stock vs VF700-CU.

[jmke]

he fans in the case were a single 80mm Papst over the memory and two 120mm fans running at 5V for case air flow

ow :/ was looking at the test setup details but didn't see it there. 3 casefans + PSU is still a lot more than (3xtimes as much) as 1x80mm. It's a world of difference, the case is like a small oven, the side panel gets quite warm after good 30min under load.

Take a closer look, VF700-CU was also tested on 7900GT and performed only 2C worse than VF900-CU.

I must have been reading diagonally yesterday, sorry:)

"That's a nice effort, but was the room temperature the same throughout testing?"

that is of course a good Q, but also what case was used, what case cooling.

if my tests of the VF700 are flawed, as you think they are, I would have gotten seriously different results with the FS-V7, but I didn't, they are in-line. I retested the VF700 , on an open testbed it's much better than stock cooling (stock @ 12v = VF700 @ 5v) but inside a case with no airflow (compared to all those 120mm fans and 92mm delta.. single 1000rpm 80mm equals "no airflow" ;)) the stock cooling does better.

I still think

sure, but what would it take to convince you? what setup would make you change your mind? you are "thinking" about the performance, while I spend close to 2 months testing the performance of different VGA coolers, I did each test several times to prevent errors in my tests and not get silly results.

the VF700 performs better at higher airflow because the fins are openly exposed and will cool down faster. The stock heatsink has the advantage of DUCTED airflow, where the air is guided over the fins which can do a lot for the performance.

as I said, you don't have to believe me, but I haven't seen one GPU test/review/roundup where they used a low/no airflow enclosure and tested on a higher end VGA card... if you look at TomsHW for example, they state that the KuFormula at HIGH speed is "pretty quiet". oooookaaay then

[RPGWiZaRD]

ok lets just say VF700-CU performs bad in cases with bad airflow. It's still not a bad fan, for such low price and performs much better than stock in cases with at least decent (3x fans or more) which most ppl use.. :)

For me it dropped my load temp on 6800GT @ 430/1140 with stock cooler from 90 - 92C or 83C with 1x80mm seated on the edge of the card and 2x120mm which I added around the card due to the heat to 67 - 68C load (without extra case fans around it) with VF700-CU at speed 440/1155MHz. Nice temp drop huh? I've reseated it like 5 times. This is how it looked like with stock cooler and 3x extra case fans around the card and this still kept the card at 83C.
http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/5596/stockcooler9mq.th.jpg (http://img157.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stockcooler9mq.jpg)

I still have a hard time believing that with a good amount case fans the result might be up to 20C better with VF700-CU than in a bad cooled case. Can one or two case fans really make such a difference. Well seems so.

[jmke]

Can one or two case fans really make such a difference.

you'd be suprised:) with good case airflow you can get better temp results INSIDE a case then outside:) it all depends. But once you cross the border to http://www.silentpcreview.com/ it's hard to come back to the screaming Delta's and high speed Vantec fans. Silence is golden, and not hearing your PC run when you are at your desk is close to heaven ;)

I think a small duct mod for the VF700-Cu where you lead air from the in-take to the HSF will increase performance over the stock cooling and still keep things quiet. but it's not feasible to do for a review; 6 coolers, 3 fan speeds, 2 VGA clocks, 40minutes min. per test, each test repeated several times... it adds up very quickly:)

[Overconfidence]

you'd be suprised:) with good case airflow you can get better temp results INSIDE a case then outside:)
Errrr, no.

Unless you're using peltiers or bong cooling, you're never going to cool down the air. Sure, it may be warmer at a point outside the case that's close to the exhaust than inside the case next to the intake fan, but you aren't going to magically cool something below ambient by simply pushing air around.

[r3w4]

The Accelero looks like a great cooler. I hope the next generation of graphics cards are more efficient because there really isn't any room to keep increasing cooling like with cpus.

[cirthix]

Errrr, no.

Unless you're using peltiers or bong cooling, you're never going to cool down the air. Sure, it may be warmer at a point outside the case that's close to the exhaust than inside the case next to the intake fan, but you aren't going to magically cool something below ambient by simply pushing air around.

he's not saying below ambient, he's saying that gpu and cpu temps in a case with good airflow will be lower than in a benching situation, which makes perfect sense. a benching situation doesnt really MOVE air from front to back or side to side, it just sits there and moves away through convection or wind

[jmke]

you are correct cirthix :)

Errrr, no.

Unless you're using peltiers or bong cooling, you're never going to cool down the air. Sure, it may be warmer at a point outside the case that's close to the exhaust than inside the case next to the intake fan, but you aren't going to magically cool something below ambient by simply pushing air around.

errr yes.

what I stated was "better temp results" , the temp result != ambient temp result, but the VF700/VGA temps.

With good airflow inside a case you can get lower VGA temps, then if you were to install the system outside a case.

[hkcadcam]

@RPGWiZaRD; you have to understand that the aim of my roundup was to find the most quiet cooler which kept the GPU from overheating in a very (XTREME) silent system;

since Fission is casually suggestion to install a 38mm delta/vantec inside a case as a solution I don't think XS is very much interested in silent computing.

If you have 3-4 large high speed casefans, then I'm sure that VF700 will outperform the stock cooling as the larger fins on the VF700 can be easily cooled by your casefans. the stock cooler doesn't benefit as much from the extra airflow. in your first post you link to the first page of my roundup, you can see a chart there if you scroll down a bit where I compared the VF700 with case panel open/closed. there's a 10°C!! difference, if you have amply case cooling that VF700 WILL outperform stock cooling easily; BUT I did not test with ample case cooling installed.

I have a single 1000rpm 80mm installed in the rear, in the PSU are 2x <1000rpm 80mm also; overall the system, without VGA fan, is only 2dBA over ambient at ~30cm. That's dead quiet. the VF700 in a low airflow case did not perform as good as the stock cooling, also check the Fatality version of the VF700, very similar results, so I'm VERY sure that the results I got ARE repeatable:)

Hey jmke, Your test method is very detail and the result also very reasonable, thanks for your effort. :toast:
There is no question that 7800 is more hotter than 6800 card, It is also reflected by the material of stock cooler, For example, ATI X1900 is using improved 90nm production but the cooler also bigger than X850 cooler.
Why?., As soon as they improved the production techanology, they also push the clock speed much higher and increased the power consumption of the card. So, the new generation of VGA card will become more and more hotter.
So, I also agree that old model of VGA cooler is not suitable to be used on new high end VGA card, If you checked the VF700Cu compatibility list, they have not added X1900XT and 7900GTX support althrough VF700Cu can mount on these two cards.

[Fission]

since Fission is casually suggestion to install a 38mm delta/vantec inside a case as a solution I don't think XS is very much interested in silent computing.


My Delta stays turned off unless I am benching, or if I want my girlfriend to leave me. I just have the stock (garbage) Zalman fan, and a regular (40cfm antec) 80mm @ 7v on the VF700 for 24/7 operation. With practical air cooling , silence has to be considered a priority, but for extreme air cooling it must be the first thing to be compromised.

[CPLB]

I agree with HKcadcam, thanks for the great review jmke. Really helped me choose my next video card heatsink.

[Cobalt]

I'm probably going to get the Artic cooler but I just wish they'd flip it round so the air exausts the other way. I have perforations in my case right next to the GFX slot so that would be perfect for me. Unless it could be modded but I doubt that.