Zalman VF700-Cu GPU Cooler Review Posted!

[Darko]

Hi all, this being my first post I felt compelled to offer some suggestions concerning the Zalman VF700-Cu review.

The release of the Zalman VF700-Cu has been much anticipated and I would dare say that most people would want to see a review of the Zalman VF700-Cu with the obvious contender, the Arctic Cooling Silencer.

To be completely honest, ANY after market cooler would do a better job than the stock 9800 HSF.

I'm sure also that many if not most readers would rather see and better understand the actual card temp differences when comparing coolers, rather than the temp difference between the GPU and case.

I appreciate that it takes a great deal of time and effort to put a review together and hope that you can take on board the suggestions from the average readers perspective.

[Chai]

That is completely true. Almost any after market coolers are better. But I can easily find one that's worse than stock cooler.

Why do you want to see the card temperature when my ambient temperature is so much higher and fairly inconsistent? If I show GPU temperature alone and the ambient temperature keeps swinging up and down, what's the point of comparing then?

Yup, the obvious contender is Arctic Cooling Silencer series, but I don't have one for testing at the moment. I will consider adding it in the future.

As for showing the GPU temperature in future articles, I will consider, but I think this method is the way to go, people should learn to understand delta results better because the temperature results from each cooler are directly comparable with the other coolers.

[Olle P]

Originally Posted by Chai

... Other than Arctic Silencer coolers, all other coolers shouldn't change the case temperature, CPU temperature because the ammount of heat dissipated from the graphics card SHOULD be the same despite using different coolers, ...

You're absolutely correct about the heat dissipation being equal no matter what cooler is used.
What differs is the impact they have on the airflow, which in turn decides the actual temperature in different parts of the cabinet. (The airflow is in no way homogenious throughout the cabinet and the temperature vary a lot between different locations.)
Thus can a different VGA cooler result in more/less warmer/cooler air passing the CPU.

See for example this (stock) cooler:

It obviously blows most of the heated air back to the front of the cabinet.
The VF700 on the other hand is more likely to blow most of the heated air off to the side of the graphics card.

If you have an ordinary computer with a graphics card like the one on the image above and replace the cooler with a VF700 it's likely to have an impact on the CPU temperature since the airflow moves in other directions.

Cheers
Olle

[Chai]

I know about the impact a graphics card cooler would do to CPU cooling, but my objective here is to test the cooler's performance, not CPU. If you start considering all the factors that the cooler would do to the rest of the system, it will never end. Measuring CPU, HDD, RAM temperature and measuring the motherboard, CPU RAM overclockability? I think that's really beyond the main topic.

Don't forget, different cases will certainly affect the temperature! I didn't close the case and I don't have any case fans. In fact, I don't even have CPU fan! (water cooling)

What if I use Lian Li V1000 with rotated motherboard tray? What if the case I'm using has a fan inlet directly blowing on the card? Or what if I test the cooler in open air without a case? Hope you understand there's no point in testing CPU temp.

[Darko]

Originally Posted by Chai

Why do you want to see the card temperature when my ambient temperature is so much higher and fairly inconsistent? If I show GPU temperature alone and the ambient temperature keeps swinging up and down, what's the point of comparing then?:

I understand your reasoning and it may be a more "scientific" way of testing however, most readers can relate to the actual GPU temp difference, it's simpler to understand and it's how they compare it at home.
My suggestion was to show both the GPU and ambient temp, rather than GPU only.

As for ambient temp. fluctuations, testing in an airconditioned room kept at a constant temperature would reduce any fluctuations to a minimum wouldn't it?

Originally Posted by Chai

Yup, the obvious contender is Arctic Cooling Silencer series, but I don't have one for testing at the moment. I will consider adding it in the future.

Since there isn't a review (at least not in English) comparing the two, I look forward to it.

Originally Posted by Chai

As for showing the GPU temperature in future articles, I will consider, but I think this method is the way to go, people should learn to understand delta results better because the temperature results from each cooler are directly comparable with the other coolers.

You may be right but as I stated before it's too confusing and doesn't provide a clear and simple result that most readers are looking for.

[Sin22]

The readers will have to learn to read these newer more accurate results. Why ? Because its done for the readers sake. To give them accurate reviews such that they can make informed buying decisions.

And even in an air-donned room, there are localised temperature fluctuations, its a common misconception that if you switch your aircon to a certain temp, your whole room will stay at that temp.

[Darko]

Originally Posted by Sin22

The readers will have to learn to read these newer more accurate results. Why ? Because its done for the readers sake. To give them accurate reviews such that they can make informed buying decisions.

And even in an air-donned room, there are localised temperature fluctuations, its a common misconception that if you switch your aircon to a certain temp, your whole room will stay at that temp.

Fair enough, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree, who am I to suggest how you should conduct your reviews.
Thanks for taking the time to reply to my friendly suggestions.

[Sin22]

No worries mate, just another point to add abt the presentation of results in the form of temperature deltas.

Most of the trusted websites which give reliable and trusted reviews on heatsinks/waterblocks(Procooling, O/cers, PCPerspective,FrostyTech) present their results in the form of either temperature deltas or C/W ratings, degC per watt which in itself is a temperature delta vs the known wattage of a particular CPU/testbed.

As such its a step in the right direction that ARP has gone along that route.

[Chai]

GPU temp is still pointless. How many out there owns the same card as I do? What sort of comparison can they make even if I posted GPU temp?

We are always open for suggestions and comments, there's no right or wrong. We have to make compromises.

[playahata123789]

maybe you could add max oc results? this is what some sites do.