Experience of Zalman VGA heatsink

They make noise, too.

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Lliam
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Location: London UK

Post by Lliam » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

Hello,
<BR>
<BR>If you haven't made the change, I would suggest that you put a Zalman ZM17-CU VGA chipset cooler on your video card ! <!-- BBCode Start --><A HREF="http://www.zalman.co.kr" TARGET="_blank">Zalman Tech</A><!-- BBCode End -->
<BR>
<BR>I put one on a 32MB DDR Hercules card. I didn't appreciate until afterwards what a contribution my graphics card fan was adding to the general noise of my system.
<BR>
<BR>It wasn't too difficult to do with my card as the fan was held on with plastic bolts and coupled to the chip with thermal paste. I cut the bolts with a fine "nose" wire cutters and removed the paste with Acetone and a lint free cloth.
<BR>In the literature I have seen, (<!-- BBCode Start --><A HREF="http://www.quietpc.com/vgainstall.html" TARGET="_blank">QuietPC</A><!-- BBCode End -->) the fan is stuck on with epoxy or some such substance! So be warned some cards are more difficult to do than others.
<BR>
<BR>There is nothing easy in life that is worthwhile! <IMG SRC="modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">
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Dizzie
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Post by Dizzie » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

The only GFX card i've with a fan on it is my Radeon 8500 and I didn't really want to loose the fan due to cooking a £200 GFX card <IMG SRC="modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif"> All my other GFX cards [Voodoo3, TNT2, etc] already have fanless sinks. We'll see how it goes with a quieter HSf and PSU and then we'll see about banishing the GFX's fan <IMG SRC="modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif">
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Conroy
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Post by Conroy » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

yea that's about my feeling about my radeon8500 and a new heat sink.
<br>
<br>well that and what i hear about throwing the card in the freezer to get the heat sink off.
<br>
<br>
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Dizzie
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Post by Dizzie » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

I haddn't heard that one before. What about placing a papst 12db fan to cool the Zalaman VGA sink. At least it'd get a bit of air to cool it without adding lots of dbs to the noise.
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Lliam
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Post by Lliam » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

Zalman specify a separate fan to cool the VGA heat sink when used on cards like yours. <IMG SRC="modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif">
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Rusty075
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Post by Rusty075 » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

I've got a Zalman VGA heatsink on my GForce 2 Ultra, which is probably a more powerful card than they recommend using it on. Mine runs fine with no additional fan blowing on it. It probably gets some benefit from the fan over the flower HS, and the fact that I've got the 4 PCI slots next to it open.
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Dizzie
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Post by Dizzie » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

I think I'll leave the GFX card alone atm. Need to get a quieter PSU. I'm on a 350w one atm, thinking about the 300w quietpc.com one. We'll see. <IMG SRC="modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">
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pingu666
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Post by pingu666 » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

i put one on my radeon (first genoration not 8500) its really good <IMG SRC="modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">
<br>with a fan (i have 2 side blow holes) card doesnt get hot at all, just very slightly warm than ambiant, altho my card doesnt get hot
<br>works wothout fan on my card aswell...
<br>gonna get there new one for my gf4 <IMG SRC="modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif">DD
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Dizzie
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Post by Dizzie » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

well now that I've 7v'd the PSU fan and turned off all the case fans without much more addded heat it's time to turn off and replace that mini jet engine. It's quiet enough to leave on overnight now, but could always go that little bit quieter. It's still far from silent, but getting there slowly with the aid of a soldering iron <IMG SRC="modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif">
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pdoege
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Post by pdoege » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

Hello -
<br>
<br>I am using the Zalman VGA heatsink on my GF2. I have to use their add on fan to properly cool it. It is considerably quieter than the stock cooler/fan.
<br>
<br>My card would refuse to power up without a load on the builtin fan power header, so I soldered in a 220-ohm resistor.
<br>
<br>Works great.
<br>
<br>Peter
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Gxcad
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Post by Gxcad » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

Just remember Zalman is releasing a new copper heatpipe heatsink specified to run even geforce 4 ti4600 fanless
<br>
<br>-Ken
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atsang
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Post by atsang » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

whens it coming out? august?
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quokked
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Post by quokked » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

My favorite cheap video card cooling hack was to get a old pentium heatsink, this were the fanless pentium days, I stuck this heatsink onto my Geforce DDR with Artic Alumina. The sink goes into thermal runaway when the sink has no airflow on it, passive cooling couldn't cut it <IMG SRC="modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif"> so I stuck a 80MM Panaflow above it on the Zalman FB-123 mount and that manages to get keep it nice and cool and silent, I think the Zalman ZM17-Cu would have problems cooling the high heat output GPUs like my Geforce DDR, but I'm waiting for the Heatpipe Zalman to come out. <IMG SRC="modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif"> hope this helps <IMG SRC="modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">
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hutts
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Post by hutts » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

The original fan that came with my ASUS V7700 video card (GF2 GTS) was noisy as buggery. I removed the old heatsink and replaced it with the center section of the original heatsink that came with my slot A athlon (which I hacked up). I have a 92mm Panaflo on a bracket over it. Nice and quiet and works better than the original! I am thinking of attaching the outer sections to each of the sets of ram chips but I don't think I need to unless I want to overclock.
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<br>Hutts.
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Dizzie
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Post by Dizzie » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

well all being well my zalaman vga and northbridge sink's will be here tomorrow along with my silent drive.
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<br>It seems like this silencing act is one big journey. Every time you buy another noise prevention product it brings you closer to the end of the journey. Of well. There just leaves my modded PSU to swap for a special silent one and to dynamat the case and i think i'm about done. Then I'll be getting a slower CPU that gives off less heat! <IMG SRC="modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif">
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kamal
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msi 8851

Post by kamal » Mon Sep 16, 2002 9:55 am

For those considering putting the Zalman on an card slower than a Geforce 3, may I point out that MSI makes a Geforce 3 ti 200 model card without a fan, model number MS-8851, which I've seen for less than $80 (before shipping). It would save the trouble of installing the fan and be a video upgrade.

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