Quiet, Effective& CHeap Cooling for 8800 series Cards

Nickinakinu · Apr 10, 2009, 04:43 PM

HI
I just thought I'd add a quick note to say you don't have to spend much cash at all to get quiet & effective aleternatives to stock 8800 coolers.
Some time back I mistakenly bought a Zalman VF900-cu for my 8800GTS after misreading a '6' for an '8' on Zalmans' site when checking what cards it could be used for. I thought I'd give it a go anyhow and used the 8 RAM heatsinks included in the pack ( I also bought a pack of Thermaltake's RAM heatsinks to get eh extra 3 or 4 RAMsinks needed to cover all the RAM + FET chips for about £3.00) and it's worked just fine ever since. I have been getting idle temp of 48c and it gets up to about 56/58 under load depending on what's happening.
I've only bothered to mention this as I recently bought another 640MB 8800GTS as a company in London were selling them off for £85.00 through their EBay outlet ( it's XFX's 'XT' version too, with 580MHz clock and a free game, bargain - they had some 320MB versions for £75.00 as well, bargain)
As it was to be put in my HTPC I thought I'd go the whole hog this time and bought Zalman's VF1000/ZM-RHS88 combination which I thought would be even more effective, given that it has twice as many heatpipes, so I was pretty surprised to find the VF900cu/cheapo RAM sink combo actually gave me marginal 1C cooler temps., both Idle and under load - The other difference is that by the time you've paid the delivery charges, the VF900cu etc is almost half the cost. I notice it also appears on Sapphire's HD4850 'Toxic Edition' and there is something very similar on Gigabyte's HD4850 GV R485Zl-512H model too, so I guess it goes to show you don't necessarily always need a large heatsink/fan/ lots of heat pipes to get decent cooling.
As the VF900cu has worked fine for me on the 8800GTS, I'd have thought there will be a good chance they'll be fine for the single-core 9800 series too, although I've not seen how wide the screw holes around the GPU are spaced on those models. The 8800 only just managed to fit the little cooler, btw, I was on the very outide holes for attaching the 'nipples', if that gives any kind of guide. Obviously anyone modding a card does so at their own risk, and no doubt voiding your warranty too etc., etc.

Tipstaff · Apr 11, 2009, 01:17 PM

Just a couple things to note.

1) Sometimes replacing the cooler with a 3rd party cooler won't void your warranty, so take a look to see if they allow it or not. Also, keep the original cooler for RMA purposes, and if you ever need to RMA the card never tell them you used a 3rd party one.. just in case.

2) Gigabyte GV R485Zl-512H uses a really cheap Zalman cooler. The fins are not copper, but aluminum painted copper/gold color. As a matter of fact, it's just as crappy as the ones Asus uses on their mid-range Nvidia/ATI cards. The Sapphire Toxic card you mentioned, on the other hand, does use a copper cooler.

Mac Daddy · Apr 11, 2009, 02:58 PM

Interesting thread this doesn't have copper fins either but about 50CAD I sent one to my buddy in Croatia for his 8800GTS and it works great

Arctic Cooling

Apr 10, 2009, 04:43 PM	#1
Nickinakinu DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Planet Earth Posts: 8 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Quiet, Effective& CHeap Cooling for 8800 series Cards HI I just thought I'd add a quick note to say you don't have to spend much cash at all to get quiet & effective aleternatives to stock 8800 coolers. Some time back I mistakenly bought a Zalman VF900-cu for my 8800GTS after misreading a '6' for an '8' on Zalmans' site when checking what cards it could be used for. I thought I'd give it a go anyhow and used the 8 RAM heatsinks included in the pack ( I also bought a pack of Thermaltake's RAM heatsinks to get eh extra 3 or 4 RAMsinks needed to cover all the RAM + FET chips for about £3.00) and it's worked just fine ever since. I have been getting idle temp of 48c and it gets up to about 56/58 under load depending on what's happening. I've only bothered to mention this as I recently bought another 640MB 8800GTS as a company in London were selling them off for £85.00 through their EBay outlet ( it's XFX's 'XT' version too, with 580MHz clock and a free game, bargain - they had some 320MB versions for £75.00 as well, bargain) As it was to be put in my HTPC I thought I'd go the whole hog this time and bought Zalman's VF1000/ZM-RHS88 combination which I thought would be even more effective, given that it has twice as many heatpipes, so I was pretty surprised to find the VF900cu/cheapo RAM sink combo actually gave me marginal 1C cooler temps., both Idle and under load - The other difference is that by the time you've paid the delivery charges, the VF900cu etc is almost half the cost. I notice it also appears on Sapphire's HD4850 'Toxic Edition' and there is something very similar on Gigabyte's HD4850 GV R485Zl-512H model too, so I guess it goes to show you don't necessarily always need a large heatsink/fan/ lots of heat pipes to get decent cooling. As the VF900cu has worked fine for me on the 8800GTS, I'd have thought there will be a good chance they'll be fine for the single-core 9800 series too, although I've not seen how wide the screw holes around the GPU are spaced on those models. The 8800 only just managed to fit the little cooler, btw, I was on the very outide holes for attaching the 'nipples', if that gives any kind of guide. Obviously anyone modding a card does so at their own risk, and no doubt voiding your warranty too etc., etc. __________________ If it aint broke rip it apart and find out why

Apr 11, 2009, 01:17 PM	#2
Tipstaff HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Real capital of Canada: Torauna Posts: 6,773 Rep Power: 190 System Specs	Re: Quiet, Effective& CHeap Cooling for 8800 series Cards Just a couple things to note. 1) Sometimes replacing the cooler with a 3rd party cooler won't void your warranty, so take a look to see if they allow it or not. Also, keep the original cooler for RMA purposes, and if you ever need to RMA the card never tell them you used a 3rd party one.. just in case. 2) Gigabyte GV R485Zl-512H uses a really cheap Zalman cooler. The fins are not copper, but aluminum painted copper/gold color. As a matter of fact, it's just as crappy as the ones Asus uses on their mid-range Nvidia/ATI cards. The Sapphire Toxic card you mentioned, on the other hand, does use a copper cooler. __________________ Portal: The Flash Version _________________________________ Brain: So, you sacked the cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker? Mr. Sackett: The second cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker I've sacked since the sixth sitting sheet slitter got sick.

Apr 11, 2009, 02:58 PM	#3
Mac Daddy DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 7,950 Rep Power: 79 System Specs	Re: Quiet, Effective& CHeap Cooling for 8800 series Cards Interesting thread this doesn't have copper fins either but about 50CAD I sent one to my buddy in Croatia for his 8800GTS and it works great Arctic Cooling __________________ "My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance." - Tim Allen