Christmas Present: ZM80-D

Tiamat · Post by **Tiamat** » Mon Dec 27, 2004 9:15 am

I got the Zalman ZM80-D for Christmas and have a couple of questions:

1.) Is it supposed to be somewhat of a pain to install? I spent a good hour or so installing it - very slowly and reading the instructions twice or three times. It is on my 9800 Pro 256. I had also received an additional ramsink set which came into handy very quickly in the installation. I used Artic Céramique instead of the Zalman TIM supplied.

2.) Case/CPU temp according to Winbond Hardware Doctor rose by 5C each.

3.) How do I know if my Zalman doesnt have proper contact with the GPU. There is a shim there and I wasnt sure how tight to make the bolts.

So far, with exception of the 5C average increase in temps on idle and load, I have had no problems, and a big noise maker was eliminated somewhat. I have a panaflo L1A @ 5V rigged onto the zalman with twisty ties.

Pjotor · Post by **Pjotor** » Mon Dec 27, 2004 11:46 am

1.) "A pain to install" depends on your skills. The installation can be done in shorter time than an hour -- but taking your time on this baby is a good thing.

2.) Nothing out of the ordinary, really. Temps do rise a bit. It's the price of silence.

3.) Try stressing the card a bit (3DMark). If it's still stable, chances are you mounted it well. Tightening the screws is a good thing -- the only times I've had trouble is when being overly careful.

Tiamat · Post by **Tiamat** » Mon Dec 27, 2004 12:53 pm

thanks for your reply!

So far, 2 hrs of CS:S and Dawn of War each have not shown any wierd dots or screen abnormalities. My CPU did reach 62C

Thats when I raised the 92mm Panaflo M1BX on my cpu to 12V for a lil while. Other than that brief 62C temp, nothing else out of the ordinary.

Does removing the back couple PCI Slot bay covers help with exhaust? or will this not do anything but let noise leak.

scara · Post by **scara** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 3:47 am

Tiamat wrote:Does removing the back couple PCI Slot bay covers help with exhaust? or will this not do anything but let noise leak.

Zalman recommends removing the slot cover beneath the card/the slot the the heatsink takes up. If you rig the panaflo so that its pointing slightly toward the back of the case rather than parallel with the card your temps should come down a few degrees.

Tiamat · Post by **Tiamat** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 1:02 pm

thanks scara, ill keep that in mind. Perhaps I can make some sort of lexan plates to duct to pci slot holes in addition to what you suggested.

tay · Post by **tay** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 8:28 pm

I'd actually like some help from owners of the ZM80 wrt the install as well. Having recently installed it, my 2 main sinks are completely off. There is about a 0.5-1.0 cm difference in the angle of the two main sinks. I cant really put those two metal brackets that they give you to install an OP-1 on top of your card because of this.

I used liberal amounts of the supplied thermal grease and temperatures are comparably better than the previous heatsink which was a stock cooler with its fan 5volted (however I am at a different location with 7C cooler ambients so I cant make a real comparison till getting back home). There is a 1600 rpm fan blowing at it from about 10 cm (4") away and the slot plate below the vga card is removed.

Anyhow, should I bother reinstalling this? Or if the temps are fine just keep running? It doesnt seem like there is excess force on the gpu core because of this but I could be mistaken.

Thanks in advance!

scara · Post by **scara** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 3:18 am

I think it would be worth reinstalling it. With anything, when parts don't fit as they should, you know something's wrong. You could chance it and carry on and maybe have no problems whatsoever, but is it worth the risk?

Try re-seating a few times before you clean it up just to get the hang of it and to make sure it will fit properly. Then once you're comfortable that it will install correctly, clean it all and start again. It'll take some time but then its best to take your time with these Z80's.