MaximumPC 2006 06

reviews TESTED. REVIEWED. VERDICTIZED

76 MA XIMUMPC JUNE 2006

Z

alman’s amazing VF700-Cu ruled the

graphics card-cooling roost with a

copper fist for nine months, until Arctic

Cooling’s fantastic Accelero coolers assumed

top-dog position last month. Now we find

out Zalman has revamped its flagship GPU

cooler, to juice even more performance from

its benchmark-proven design. This month the

revamped Zalman cooler faces off against

Sytrin’s KuFormula VF1 Plus—a new addition

to the GPU-cooling arena—but the real ques-

tion is how will this month’s developments

impact the Acceleros’ standing? Let’s find out.

—JOSH NOREM

ZALMAN VF900-CU

The VF900-Cu is an evolution of Zalman’s

previous design, rather than an extreme

makeover. While the previous model used

a copper base plate with thin copper fins,

the new model adds two copper heat pipes

to improve heat transfer from the base to

the fins. Zalman also changed the way you

control fan speed. Previously, you had just

two options for fan speed, either slow or fast,

which you set by plugging in one of the fan’s

two power leads. There

was no in-between—and

the slow mode ran hot and

the fast mode was louder

than we like. The VF900-

Cu includes a knob that’s

capable of incremental

fan-speed adjustments,

without having to open

the case. It’s a far supe-

rior method. The VF900

includes the same RAM

heatsinks as the previous model, but unlike

its predecessor’s, these stuck like glue to our

videocard’s memory.

Installation was incredibly simple, with

no tools required. You place the cooler onto

the GPU core, and then secure it from the

other side with small thumbscrews. During

testing, the VF900 did an amazing job cool-

ing our card, with an acceptable amount of

noise, even with the fan cranked to the max.

It ran 26 C cooler under load than the stock

heatsink/fan, which is stunning. Still, the

VF900-Cu was 3 C hotter under load than the

Accelero and Sytrin coolers.

The VF900-Cu is a fantastic GPU cooler,

no doubt. But its nifty adjustable fan isn’t

enough to topple Accelero’s product. After all,

you have to adjust the VF900-Cu to its slowest

setting for silent operation, while an Accelero

is silent without requiring any adjustment.

SYTRIN KUFORMULA VF1 PLUS

Sytrin is a newcomer to the cooling scene, and

this is the second product we’ve seen from the

company. The first product we sampled was

its air-conditioned PC case (reviewed March

2006), which impressed the hell out of us.

Sytrin’s VF1 Plus GPU cooler is also impres-

sive, although it has a few faults.

Its construction is simple, consisting of

a copper base plate with two heat pipes sol-

dered to a gigantic aluminum heatsink. We

don’t often comment on a heatsink’s looks,

as they’re usually polished and clean, but the

grungy, discolored appearance of this one

is noteworthy. Compared with the elegant

VF900-Cu, well, there’s no comparison.

Installation was relatively straightfor-

ward, but definitely not the easiest we’ve

experienced. You mount little arms to the

copper base plate, place the cooler onto the

GPU core, and secure it from the other side

with two screws. Eight RAM heatsinks are

included, but their low, flat profile doesn’t

provide much surface area for cooling. At

least they adhere to the RAM as well as the

Zalman’s heatsinks.

Now for the bad news: In order to cool the

unit, you have to mount a massive cross-flow

fan on top of the videocard. It performs very

well, but the fan apparatus is difficult to install.

You have to mount the fan to a frame, then

push the frame onto the heatsink, ensuring

that the parts are perfectly aligned, an exceed-

ingly delicate proposition. The huge fan frame

renders this cooler incompatible with SLI. It’s

loud at full-tilt, but very quiet at low and medi-

um speeds. You can adjust the fan speed,

but the included knob is located on a PCI slot

cover, where it’s tough to access.

This cooler outperformed the Zalman,

but its difficult installation and unwieldy

design make it much less desirable.

Cooler Catfight

Fur flies when two videocard coolers bump fins in the Lab

The VF1 Plus features a massive cross-flow fan that’s awkward

and bulky, but it delivers outstanding cooling performance.

The new Zalman VF900-Cu has beauty

and brawn to spare. Not shown here is

its case-mounted fan-speed controller.

$36, http://www.sytrin.com

SYTRIN KUFORMULA VF1 PLUS

CROSS-FLOWING

Fantastic performance;

affordable.

CROSS-DRESSING^7

Fan is cumbersome, and it’s

hard to adjust the fan speed.

$50, http://www.zalmanusa.com

ZALMAN VF900-CU

COPPER

Impressively cool; tool-less

installation; elegant looks;

adjustable fan speed.

ROBBER

Not as cool as its competitors.

9

MA XIMUMPC

KICKASS

BENCHMARKS

VF900-CU VF1-PLUS ACCELERO STOCK HSF

IDLE (C) 46 43 46 60

100% LOAD (C) 59 57 56 85

Best scores are bolded. Both coolers were tested on an nVidia GeForce 6800 GT. All temperatures were measured via the card’s onboard sensor and measured within

the Forceware drivers. Fan speeds were set to “high” for testing. Idle temperatures were measured after 30 minutes of inactivity and full-load temps were achieved

looping 3DMark06 for one hour.