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May 28, 2003, 04:45 AM
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#1
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DriverHeaven Extreme Member
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 12,942
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Review: Zalman ZM80A-HP VGA Heatpipe
Tell me what's the first thing you think about when I mention the words GeForce FX ?. If you've been keeping up with the graphics card comings and goings, you'll know that the FX, although a fully-featured DX9-compliant video card, is much-maligned for having cooling more akin to a home vacuum cleaner. OK, that may be going a little too far, but if you understand that one of the chief criticisms is about its noisy operation, you'll also understand that today's power users want power and quietness in one package.
Aren't these two terms mutually exclusive ?. Power in the PC world has usually been accompanied by more than its fair share of noise. Zalman, the purveyors of quiet PC components, don't seem to think that this necessarily has to continue. Perhaps best known for their PSUs, heatsinks, and fans, they've also been active in the graphics card cooling field.
Pretty much every card that considers itself to be a part of the performance sector requires additional active cooling above and beyond a standard heatsink. Due to the limitations of fan size imposed by the real estate available on any modern GPU, smaller, high RPM fans tend to be used for cooling duties. The majority of manufacturers try to strike a balance between noise and performance, but what if one could get rid of the noise completely ?. That's been Zalman's goal with their range of large, passive heatpipe-equipped coolers.
We'll put the Zalman ZM80A-HP silent heatpipe cooler through its paces as we strap it on top of a powerful ATi Radeon 9700 Pro graphics card. Will it work (it better, this is my personal card  ), and just how effective is it ?. Let's find out.
Full review at Hexus.net
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May 28, 2003, 09:42 AM
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#2
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Live from the Dungeon
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Between the SubWoofers
Posts: 1,395
Rep Power: 0
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I own this Heat Pipe and have it mounted on my Asus V9280 TD Ti4200 8x AGP which is OCed to the Ti4400 speeds. I also run a Y.S Tech TMD 70x70x15 Fan mounted with the Zelman FM123 mount. This allows the Y.S. Tech fan to blow right across the Heat Pipe and it's heatsinks. Running AC2 at it's highest graphic levles my video card never seems temps above 95 F. I have a temp probe from my Digital Doc 5 taped to the back of the VPU to give me the temp readings. Before I had this Heat Pipe I was seeing temps in the low 120's F so this has helped alot. The big thing that helps is the fan blowing across the Heat Pipe. I did try with out the Heat Pipe and had a side fan blow across the Video card but my temps only went down to the upper teens (117-119) So all in all this Heat Pipe may be big but install it with a small side fan and you will not be sorry you did.  |
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May 28, 2003, 09:48 AM
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#3
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DriverHeaven Newbie
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Curitiba-PR Brasil
Posts: 12
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does it end up using two pci slots?
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May 28, 2003, 10:51 AM
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#4
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Live from the Dungeon
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Between the SubWoofers
Posts: 1,395
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Yes it does but in all actuality you should not use the slot right below the AGP slot since they share the same IRQ. This can casue conflicts and performance issues in some systems. I never use the first slot below the AGP... it is a useless slot to me... |
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May 28, 2003, 11:31 AM
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#5
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DriverHeaven Senior Member
Join Date: May 2002
Location: in the hidden place
Posts: 1,975
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I tried one and it sucked in a big way! I am POSITIVE I installed it correctly with proper amounts of thermal paste etc... It simply did not perform at all! Even with a 120mm side fan blowing cool ambient air across it my stock hsf still outperformed it with same 120mm fan! Card was r9700 pro BBA. For me, this Zalman suXored...
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May 28, 2003, 11:59 AM
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#6
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Live from the Dungeon
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Between the SubWoofers
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Quote:
Originally posted by shuki
I tried one and it sucked in a big way! I am POSITIVE I installed it correctly with proper amounts of thermal paste etc... It simply did not perform at all! Even with a 120mm side fan blowing cool ambient air across it my stock hsf still outperformed it with same 120mm fan! Card was r9700 pro BBA. For me, this Zalman suXored...
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Guess I have a hard time beleving this but stranger things have happend ...... When I ran the Heat Pipe with no side fan my temps were about the same as they were with the stock fan.... I guess I should also mention I have 2 front 80mm fans and 2 rear exaust 80mm fans in my case. I have NO fan hole on the side of my case!! The Y.S Tech relies on cold air coming from the front 2 intake fans. You can see what I mean with this picture. Case Picture |
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May 28, 2003, 10:17 PM
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#7
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Banned
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Gurnee Illinois
Posts: 4,677
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My Hp80 works fine. Just sucks that my 9500np won't clock past 370 without small whites dots during games.
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