Review of an VF900 on an X1900XTX in case you missed

ok... is something wrong with me card or their methods? I get 94C at maximum load, thats with a vf900 and a 1900xtx. What am I doing wrong? Or is this normal temp? Not sure what stock cooler temps were, cant put it back on to check due to the ramsinks and me not having extra thermal tape.
 
ludachaz said:
ok... is something wrong with me card or their methods? I get 94C at maximum load, thats with a vf900 and a 1900xtx. What am I doing wrong? Or is this normal temp? Not sure what stock cooler temps were, cant put it back on to check due to the ramsinks and me not having extra thermal tape.
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Are you running the fan at maximum? That seems pretty damn toasty.
 
yeap, maximum. Its stable but doesn't OC much, I have it running at stock speeds right now and it hits 94 max. Ticks me off when I hear of people getting around 65 on their xtx

EDIT: any chance of the heatpipes being broken? The temps rise slowly from 70 till they linger around 94, so any chance of the heatsink malfunctioning?

Edit #2: I have hit 105 with the case open and fan at 100%. This is with the ATItool test, yet the heatsink feels cooler than the stock one when I touch it.
 
ludachaz said:
yeap, maximum. Its stable but doesn't OC much, I have it running at stock speeds right now and it hits 94 max. Ticks me off when I hear of people getting around 65 on their xtx

EDIT: any chance of the heatpipes being broken? The temps rise slowly from 70 till they linger around 94, so any chance of the heatsink malfunctioning?

Edit #2: I have hit 105 with the case open and fan at 100%. This is with the ATItool test, yet the heatsink feels cooler than the stock one when I touch it.
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Something sure is wrong. Did you use the thermal grease included with the cooler or something like Arctic Silver 5?
Try removing the cooler and clean of all the thermal grease and apply new grease again.
When you apply the thermal grease use just a few drops and spread it out in a very thin layer, to much grease can have opposite effect.

The thing that it go up to 70 and then slowly rise to 94 bothers me. Sounds a bit like a build up of hot air. Where to you have your computer? If it is under your desk it is very possible there is a build up of hot air.
 
I used thin layer of AS5 and I have reaplied it earlier to make sure thats not the problem. I have a P180 case so I have a 120mm fan blowing air directly on the card and the side of the case is open. Can heatpipes break?

EDIT: 75 with stock heatsink. I blame broken heatpipes
 
Don't know if the heatpipes can break, never heard of it myself.

Think your best bet is to contact Zalman tech support and let them help you out.
If everything was working ok you should get that card down to at least low 60 C.
 
Perhaps one or more of the heatpipes don't have water in them i.e. a manufacturing defect

Check to see if cooler is resting on the core properly and not being restricted by som capacitor or somthing on the card.

You can end up with high temps if thermal grease is making contact with heatsink and core but heatsink is not pressing on the core like it is supposed to.

Edit: spelling error
 
Yes it could be a defect.

Also, rememberm yoou need to have CONTACT with the CORE. The stock HSF has a bump out that assures solid contact with the core.

If the SHIM is too high, the 3rd party coolers, that are all FLAT may rest across the SHIM and not actually touch the core. You need to use a straight/flat edge to make sure your core is at or above the level of the SHIM.

If the core is to low, oyu will have to pop the SHIM to make it possible to get good contact with non-stock coolers.

This used to be a common issue with 9700-X800 cards.
 
probably should take the heatsink off then clean core and heatsink.
 
I agree with the review. Simply lapping and applying AS5 dropped my temperatures 10C. I don't think it's worth it [for me] to get a VF-900, but it certainly performs beautifully.
 
Well, thats wonderful. I'd love to know what kind of shit he's doing because it sure doesn't work for me. 80c load temps right now on the ATITool artifact test with stock voltage (1.425v). 100% Fan, proper seating, thin (as far as I can remember) layer of AS5, and very tight retention screws. :mad:
 
Chops,

Im still trying to figure out if the VF900 is great or BS.

You are getting lousy results, a couple things that could lead to this (assuming the VF900 IS a good product) would be, bad airflow around the VF900 so it sits in the hot air it produces, and just stews.... getting hotter and hotter.

To solve this, temporaily take the side door off, and rig a fan to blow on it to remove this potential issue from the equation.

Next, take it off, use a straight edge, like a ccard and a flashlight. Lay the ccard across the SHIM and over the core, then shine the flashlight from behind. IF you see a line of light coming through over the core, the CORE is not as high as the SHIM and the VF900 mating surface is simply NOT making the kind of contact with the core it requires in order to work....regardless of how tight you make the screws.

If this is the case, you will have to pop the shim to solve the problem. Only way to know is to GO LOOK. If you do have this problem, only the STOCK HSF has the bumpout over the core to assure contact, all the 3rd party coolers are flat.

Please report back your findings. I'd like to settle this once and for all, is the VF900 good or does it suck. The viral marketing campaign of semi-fake reviews for this product has blurred reality.
 
Ill post my results when I get back, I got it cause the stock fan is tooo loud for me even on idle :p
 
Bona Fide said:
I agree with the review. Simply lapping and applying AS5 dropped my temperatures 10C. I don't think it's worth it [for me] to get a VF-900, but it certainly performs beautifully.
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Seems like you got a good and cold system there and I agree that unless you are
bothered with the noise of the stock coller there would not be much of a gain.

You would probably see another 5-10 degree drop but the main gain would be an almost
silent cooler. :)
 
sounds like bad contact of the heatsink on the GPU...

I know there is a spacer around the core on the x1x00s maybe this is keeping the heatsink from making good contact.
 
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