Testing

All testing was performed on an ATI Radeon 9600XT utilizing the Catalyst 4.1 drivers. Room temperature during testing was 24-25°. Idle temperatures were taken after rebooting the computer and letting it sit for 10 minutes. Load temperatures were taken after playing UT2004 demo for 30 minutes. All card temperatures were taken from the Overdrive tab in Display Properties > Advanced.

To really test out the cooler, I did a series of tests. First, I tested the 9600XT with stock cooling. Next I tested the Zalman VGA cooler with no fan and then with the fan on @ 12V. Next, I tried doing what Zalman suggested and removed the PCI slot cover directly under the VGA slot. With the slot cover removed, I tested the Zalman with the fan both @ 12V and @ 5V using the handy molex converter cable that comes with the fan.

9600XT Temperatures
(Show All Graphs) (Collapse Graphs)

Idle

Load

Stock Cooler

Zalman (Fan Off)

Zalman (Fan High)

Zalman (Fan Low; PCI cover removed)

Zalman (Fan High; PCI cover removed)

35

36

34

33

32

0

Temperature ( °C )

60

 

 

Idle

Load

Stock Cooler

Zalman (Fan Off)

Zalman (Fan High)

Zalman (Fan Low; PCI cover removed)

Zalman (Fan High; PCI cover removed)

49

45

42

41

40

0

Temperature ( °C )

60

 

 

As you can see in the graph, the Zalman cooler outperforms the stock cooler under Load conditions even without the optional fan. With the fan, you can a significant drop in temperature. Turning the fan on low had very little effect on the temperature (only 1°C), but it made the Zalman completely silent. If you remove the PCI slot cover below the AGP slot, you will notice a slight temperature drop, but nothing as major as what Zalman claims... The numbers speak for themselves, this is a really great cooler.

Conclusion

All in all, the Zalman's heatpipe VGA cooler is a great product. Even without the optional fan, this cooler will rip your stock cooling a new one. I would, however, recommend getting the optional fan, and just running it @ 5V to get a nice temperature decrease with no added noise. One thing I would like to see, perhaps on a future version of this cooler, is some included heatsinks for the RAM. Aside from the size of this cooler and the lack of cooling for the RAM, I absolutely love it, and I very highly recommend it.

Pros

Absolutely silent without optional fan
Very quiet with fan @ 5V
Performs very well
Easy-to-follow installation manual
Thermal paste and screwdriver included

Cons

HUGE (takes up an extra PCI slot)
Heavy (May cause damage while transporting)
No cooling for RAM

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