Zalman VF700 - not up to par?

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lkal32

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Jan 30, 2006
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I have a Zalman VF700AlCu attactched to my Asus N6800XT 128 MB card and am dissapointed with the temps Im getting. I even bought Arctic Silver 5 recently in hopes that it would make a difference, but it seemed to have raised the temps slightly. Its idle around 50 C and under load around 55 - 56 C. If Im lucky, it doesnt artifact or restart my computer. From all of the reviews Ive read about the Zalman, Id expect it to be cooler than it is. (For note, my cpu runs at ~40 with stock cooler). Im pretty sure that I have it installed right and I have the right amount of thermal paste, but does anyone know if this card is just prone to running hot or if the HSF needs anything special to keep lower temps? Any and all help is appreciated.
 
Reseat it, is it on silent mode (5v) ? The zalman is really only good in a decent case with plenty of airflow.
 
lkal32 said:
I have a Zalman VF700AlCu attactched to my Asus N6800XT 128 MB card and am dissapointed with the temps Im getting. I even bought Arctic Silver 5 recently in hopes that it would make a difference, but it seemed to have raised the temps slightly. Its idle around 50 C and under load around 55 - 56 C. If Im lucky, it doesnt artifact or restart my computer. From all of the reviews Ive read about the Zalman, Id expect it to be cooler than it is. (For note, my cpu runs at ~40 with stock cooler). Im pretty sure that I have it installed right and I have the right amount of thermal paste, but does anyone know if this card is just prone to running hot or if the HSF needs anything special to keep lower temps? Any and all help is appreciated.
Click to expand...

I have two Zalman VF700 Copper coolers (7800GTX) and my temps do not exceed 39 C. I would double check the amount of AS5 you applied.
 
Ive taken it off and put it back on about 3 or 4 times, and Ive followed the directions perfectly. And I have it on the normal mode, not silent. I thought of popping out the pci slot bracket which the fan could then pull cool air back in to use. Could this make a noticable difference?

Would it be better to have too much or too little AS5?
 
lkal32 said:
Ive taken it off and put it back on about 3 or 4 times, and Ive followed the directions perfectly. And I have it on the normal mode, not silent. I thought of popping out the pci slot bracket which the fan could then pull cool air back in to use. Could this make a noticable difference?

Would it be better to have too much or too little AS5?
Click to expand...
neither

:(
heh
 
theseeker said:
I have two Zalman VF700 Copper coolers (7800GTX) and my temps do not exceed 39 C. I would double check the amount of AS5 you applied.
Click to expand...

I find that hard to believe.
Download this and run it for ~10-15 minutes with the nVidia temp monitoring tool open at the same time and post back. Same goes for the OP. When you're playing a game, and you minimize to view your temps, they drop a lot, so it's not really telling you your max load. My 6800GS with a VF700-Cu and AS5 @ 520/1250 hits close to 60°C and it's pretty cold here.
 
hmm what is ur load temps w/zalman. Since I installed it on my 6600GT my load temps have dropped from 75C to 39C-42C depending on whether the heating is on.
 
Im using a program that came with Asus software package called Smart Doctor to check the temps, and Im not sure how accurate it is. But I took the HSF off again, reapplied AS5 and stuck it back in. Let's see how it goes now. Im also downloading the program you said right now, so I'll see how that goes.

The one thing I dont really understand is that once this card starts to hit in the mid 50's, it really starts acting weird. You said your card hit 60, but did you see any problems?
 
lkal32 said:
Im using a program that came with Asus software package called Smart Doctor to check the temps, and Im not sure how accurate it is. But I took the HSF off again, reapplied AS5 and stuck it back in. Let's see how it goes now. Im also downloading the program you said right now, so I'll see how that goes.

The one thing I dont really understand is that once this card starts to hit in the mid 50's, it really starts acting weird. You said your card hit 60, but did you see any problems?
Click to expand...

tahts a bit odd
my friends BFG 6800GT actually idles around 55C and he plays his games fine...kinda weird how its starting to crap around there because from waht ive heard the 6 serious GPUs run quite a bit hotter than the 7 series and can still easily handle it (my 7800gtx idles around 53)
 
After running the HDR program, I found that on the default settings, Im getting ~22 FPS and staying around 49 C gpu / 44 C ram. That was with the side of the case off though, so Im not sure if that would change it much.
 
theseeker said:
I have two Zalman VF700 Copper coolers (7800GTX) and my temps do not exceed 39 C. I would double check the amount of AS5 you applied.
Click to expand...


What!? How is this possible?
 
My X800XT AIW never exceeds over 39C on load


32 Idel :D


Love that little Heatsink/fan
 
lkal32 said:
Would it be better to have too much or too little AS5?
Click to expand...
But you said you followed the "instructions" perfectly... otherwise, you shouldn't need to ask this question. More Arctic Silver is not better.
 
lkal32 said:
I have a Zalman VF700AlCu attactched to my Asus N6800XT 128 MB card and am dissapointed with the temps Im getting. I even bought Arctic Silver 5 recently in hopes that it would make a difference, but it seemed to have raised the temps slightly. Its idle around 50 C and under load around 55 - 56 C. If Im lucky, it doesnt artifact or restart my computer. From all of the reviews Ive read about the Zalman, Id expect it to be cooler than it is. (For note, my cpu runs at ~40 with stock cooler). Im pretty sure that I have it installed right and I have the right amount of thermal paste, but does anyone know if this card is just prone to running hot or if the HSF needs anything special to keep lower temps? Any and all help is appreciated.
Click to expand...

If your card is artifacting at 55C, then something is very wrong. Those temps are DEFINITELY within the limits of your card, and are actually quite good. Most cards in the 68xx series can get into the 80s with their stock coolers and be fine. You've said that you've reseated the heatsink a number of times, but to no avail. Did the card ever artifact with the stock cooler? Did you make sure to replace the extra power connector for the card when you reinstalled it into your pc? What were the load temps with the stock cooler?

Also, since the temps seem to be more than fine, have you checked your voltages? What is your CPU loading at (use a program such as prime95 to stress your cpu @ 100% load)? Please list your complete system specs, and be as specific as possible in how/when the computer is crashing.

Morale of this story is that it is certainly not the fault of the VF700's cooling capacity that your computer is having issues.
 
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