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85%
Abstract: Zalman's VF900-Cu offers wide GPU compatibility with the large variety of ATI and nVidia videocards that on the
market.
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Page: 360° View - Zalman VF900-Cu VGA Heatsink
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360° View - Zalman
VF900-Cu VGA Heatsink
Information on
Frostytech's test methodology is available
here. | |
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The
Heatsink Fan:
The eleven bladed impeller on this
15mm thick 80mm fan creates a moderate amount of airflow through the copper
cooling fins, and practically no noise. Compared to some stock VGA heatsink fans, the
VF900-Cu is refreshingly quiet. The fan can be controlled with the Zalman Fan
Mate 2 to operate at between 1350-2400RPM. Power comes via a standard 3-pin motherboard fan
header which supports RPM monitoring. When installed, the Zalman VF900-Cu
VGA heatsink will occupy one additional PCI slot worth of space adjacent
to the videocard. |
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Heatsink Top: With the 80mm fan removed from the Zalman
VF900-Cu we have a clear look at how the unit is assembled. Two 5mm
diameter copper heatpipes jut out from the base plate and then wrap around
in circle along the
outer edges of the copper fins. The copper cooling fins actually
float above the base of the heatsink, and it's only the two heatpipes
which connect each section and in fact hold the whole assembly together. The copper fins
are 30mm long, 0.1mm thick. A specialized cast aluminum mounting bracket accomodates five different
mounting hole patterns.
Additionally, because the heatsink is set off-center to
the base, exhaust airflow blows down onto the VGA memory which is located adjacent
to the GPU. |
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Heatsink Side A: The
copper fins are spaced 1.5mm apart along the outer edge, and stand
18mm high. The entire VF900-Cu heatsink is only 30mm tall. The heatpipes are
soldered to the copper fins to reduce thermal resistance at the joint.
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Heatsink Side B:
The thin
4mm thick copper base is soldered to the two 5mm diameter copper heatpipes,
and the aluminum frame is subsequently screwed into place on top. |
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Heatsink Base: The base of the VF900-Cu VGA heatsink is 30mm in diameter,
and the two heatpipes both pass close to the GPU core. This size base
should cover the
vast majority of GPU's on the market, from both the Geforce and Radeon
stables. The surface finish is excellent, no doubt because the copper base has been copper plated
after it was machined. Surface roughness is at or better than ~2 microinches, which is
excellent. The base is perfectly flat in both axis... so be sure to only
apply a very thin layer of thermal compound.
The five sets of mounting holes for different
videocard configurations flank the base here. A small metal post screws into the aluminum
frame, and that passes through the videocard PCB.
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