The Zalman VF700-AlCu LED videocard graphics processor heatsink is intended to cool quietly, with a little blue LED illumination to spice things up. The heatsink is constructed of the same fan-shapped fin design that has made Zalman a well known manufacturer, and it's a design that has many positive thermal attributes. The low profile aluminum and copper cooling fins will occupy an additional slot in front of the videocard, and will also eat up a free fan header on the motherboard, but otherwise the unit is pretty compact and easy to drop in.

With its mix of aluminum and copper fins, the Zalman VF700-AlCu LED is a slightly lighter option for GPU cooling than its VF700-Cu cousin, weighing 180 grams. The 80mm illuminated fan is set askew slightly from the center of the VF700-AlCu so that exhaust air passes through the copper and aluminum cooling fins to adjacent videocard memory, offering some nice additional cooling to these warm components. The Zalman VF700-AlCu LED is compatible with most ATI and nVidia videocards if there are at least two mounting holes for it to attach to; the Zalman website specifically lists which VGA models are compatible here.

Included along with the VF700-AlCu LED VGA heatsink are eight small 13x13mm blue aluminum DRAM heatsinks, which can be stuck onto the videocard memory. The installation process for the VF700-AlCu LED heatsink is not very complicated, but because there are a great many little screws and washers we'd suggest you flip through the instructions right from the start. The Zalman VF700-AlCu LED VGA heatsink retails on average for about $30USD ($36CDN).

Zalman VF700-AlCu LED VGA Heatsink

HEATSINK SPECSHEET Manufacturer: Zalman Model No.: VF700-AlCu LED Materials: copper and aluminum fins. Fan Mfg: Zalman ZF8015BTM Fan Spec: 1350-2650RPM, 12V, 0.25A Fan Dim: 15x80x80mm Heatsink & Fan Dim: 30x126x91mm Weight: 180 grams Includes: (8) memory heatsinks, thermal compound, mounting hardware, 3-pin power multi-connector, instructions. Compatible Videocards: various ATI/nVidia models with at least two through-PCB holes by the GPU. Est. Pricing: $30USD ($36CDN)

The Zalman VF700-AlCu LED VGA heatsink is looks quite similar to the CNPS7000A processor heatsink, albeit on a much smaller scale. The same basic principles follow through however. The heatsink is constructed from 50 or so think metal fins which have been clamped together at the center for form a solid block of metal.

Heat energy from the GPU transfers to the VF700-AlCu at this point, and then as the heat is conducted by the copper and aluminum what was a solid base becomes individual fins. The beauty of this simple approach is that there are no joints between the GPU mounting block and the cooling fins - they are in fact one and the same.

The weight of the VF700-AlCu is lessened by utilizing aluminum fins for 2/3rd of the heatsink, while copper fins are situated over the hottest portion of the GPU for ideal conduction. Flipping the small VGA heatsink over reveals a perfectly machined base for the least possible thermal resistance between the heatsink and GPU.

Next up, we'll discuss which kinds of videocards you can install the Zalman VF700-AlCu LED heatsink on to...