Zalman VF3000A, believe it or not!

[drunkenmaster]

Its a great sink, I'm using the prolimatech Mk13 myself and am getting around 45C load with 1.3v 1050Mhz with SILENT fans, 2x92mm antec's,
the ones with low/med/high fan option and the difference between high and loud(but WAY quieter than the stock fan on 100%, way way quieter) and low
is only about 2-3C, just not worth it.

I was using mine with a Thermalright VRM cooler, which just barely fitted with the heatsink alongside a IFX-14, the cpu sink had to be tilted just right or the gpu
+thermalright heatsink wouldn't slot in.

I've since added a second card for crossfire, the thermalright heatsink had to go as the essentially triple slot fans + prolimatech blocked the 2nd 16x slot on the Crosshair.
I moved the proli 5850 down to the 16x slot and put the new Asus CU 5850(only one I could get with voltage control) in the first slot and theres a decent clearance.
I'm not sure the Zalman would be any better space wise on the Crosshair. Would be great if a set of jumpers could change the 16x slots to whichever ones you want,
got bags of room in the bottom of my Armour + so having it in the 1st/4th slot would be best.

I've seen other tests and all show a good 30-40C drop from stock sink with silent cooling using the Zalman, Prolimatech or the Spitfire. Zalmans the cheapest but prolimatech
the most chance to be compatible with future cards(if it works with my next 2 cards it will mean great silent cooling on 3 cards from release, for £15 a card which is great.

[Frogeye]

what is your gaming config ? Voltages? 1.3?

I run my cards @ 1.187v for a 900/1140 oc.

I'd like to get them at 1 ghz for gaming but I don't want to damage anything.

Its a great sink, I'm using the prolimatech Mk13 myself and am getting around 45C load with 1.3v 1050Mhz with SILENT fans, 2x92mm antec's,
the ones with low/med/high fan option and the difference between high and loud(but WAY quieter than the stock fan on 100%, way way quieter) and low
is only about 2-3C, just not worth it.

I was using mine with a Thermalright VRM cooler, which just barely fitted with the heatsink alongside a IFX-14, the cpu sink had to be tilted just right or the gpu
+thermalright heatsink wouldn't slot in.

I've since added a second card for crossfire, the thermalright heatsink had to go as the essentially triple slot fans + prolimatech blocked the 2nd 16x slot on the Crosshair.
I moved the proli 5850 down to the 16x slot and put the new Asus CU 5850(only one I could get with voltage control) in the first slot and theres a decent clearance.
I'm not sure the Zalman would be any better space wise on the Crosshair. Would be great if a set of jumpers could change the 16x slots to whichever ones you want,
got bags of room in the bottom of my Armour + so having it in the 1st/4th slot would be best.

I've seen other tests and all show a good 30-40C drop from stock sink with silent cooling using the Zalman, Prolimatech or the Spitfire. Zalmans the cheapest but prolimatech
the most chance to be compatible with future cards(if it works with my next 2 cards it will mean great silent cooling on 3 cards from release, for £15 a card which is great.

[Chickenfeed]

Very impressive. So far the only place in Canada I've found shipping them is Newegg. Waiting for NCIX to get them in... They are fairly priced for the performance they provide and the fact they may even work with future cards is encouraging ( unlike full cover water blocks ) My 5870 needs fair bit of voltage and as a result the stock cooler can get a bit louder than I like so this would be an solid option. Ive been worried about VRM temps on everything released so far but based on your info, it appears this cooler actually does better than the stock design in all regards

[Dark-Energy]

Damn you, I barely get over 19k GPU score on my 5870.....

[Onoff312]

yeah thats nice but its way to big. My mcw60 which has lasted me through three different gpu's so far and many more to come keeps my card at 23-25 idle and 29-32 max load on the cores with a 920 do in the loop as well vrms stay at about 50 with a fan this is a 5850 btw.