ZALMAN VF3000A Enter VGA Cooler

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installed effortlessly,i was able to use all the ram heat sinks but 1.the card i have is a his 5850 and what a difference.stock cooler would let the card get to about 80c playing battlefield 2,now i cant get it more than 50c!and its ultra quiet.if you have under no circumstances accomplished a thing like this dont be intimidated it was simple. cmon zalman quit being stingy with the thermal compound. make confident you have everything you need(acetone modest phillips head screw driver,thermal compound.when attaching the main gpu unit.get all your screws began b4 tightening.

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Cools properly, dropped my temps ten-12 degrees. I idle at 30c in 2d and whilst operating Undesirable Business 2 at 1920x1080 everything maxed out I reach a maximum temp of 40c (used to idle at 39c in 2d and max out although gaming at 52c with stock cooler on ati XFX 5850 running at 80% fan speed). It is Quite very even with fans a max speed. I really can't hear it over my other fans. This issue is Big!!! Its about a 1 1ǚ inches longer than a XFX 5850 Black addition. I have a mid tower case and had to move 2 of my HDs just so I could get in in. CAUTION: Do not use the memory heat sinks that come with it. I took the guidance of a different persons post on here and employed the stock back plate that covers the memory and just installed the heat sink on the GPU and removed the red shroud cover to assist decrease the length. This all worked out effectively for me. It could have simply been made shorter. They need to come up with a better resolution for memory cooling, I bet that's why people today have bricked their cards. Just use the stock back plate from you card and you need to have no dilemma, I didn't. I also used Artic Cooling MX-2 thermal compound as an alternative of the stuff Zalman supplied with it.The only purpose I purchased this cooler was my stock fan on my XFX 5850 Black Edition (bought here at Newegg) started squealing and generating a grinding noise after only 9 months. I didn't want to RMA it and have no card/computer for a week as XFX stated they had no replacement fans they could send me. So I was forced to purchase the Zalman at a neighborhood store for ผ additional than neweggs sale cost because I also didn't want to wait over the weekend for it.

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These VF3000A coolers are truly created for reference cards Ƒst gen) only. But with small mods it has drop temps on my powercolor HD5850 PCS+ idle to around 38c. Loaded it hovers at 58c and ran at 53c with 2010 Aliens vs. predator and crysis max out. Not a massive improvement over the stock PCS+ except when more than clocking. Despite the fact that it is sufficient to spend for itself! Under no circumstances goes above 64c with any game or video I have applied on it. Twin blue 92mm fans help cool also the ram and board, get rid of the red shroud to lessen size and help evacuate any heat buildup. Didn’t use the supplied fan controller rather utilized one particular leg of my 3.five slot 4 fan controller. I adore this cooler! Only for Ist gen reference cards. Have to mod for newer cards. Cut the only long ram heat sink in half to fit onto any a single of the memory ram chips (you'll comprehend when you see it). Also removed the stock DrMOS ram heat sink at the rear due to size and fitment and replaced with Enzotech BCC9 copper heat sinks: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835708009&Tpk=EnzotechຈBCC9Its big size will make trouble for these who will run in crossfire. I cannot fully grasp how a VGA cooler could brick a card when the cooler is absolutely independent from all electrical elements of the card it is a physical mechanical device. Possibly unless the original cooler was removed harshly and the new was installed poorly. Always apply your thermal grease evenly across the chipset, sit the cooler on and see if it makes a impression in the grease with the rubber o-rings on; if not then get rid of the rubber o-rings, tighten the screws up evenly in a x pattern slowly. I constantly use GPUZ to monitor the temps of the VGA soon after installation, if it appears to get hot speedy then shut off the laptop or computer and eliminate the VGA and examine the cooler mounting or if the thermal grease is applied properly (not to thick and not to thin either a nice even coat).

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It's red, which matches my ATI 5850 which is now bricked since of this card. At least it died looking excellent. Initial of all, this thing BRICKS your video card. Immediately after installing this card, the motherboard would give a 2b error code, meaning it can not detect the video card. After trying it on a friend's personal computer, we realized the video card is bricked. Following deciphering this scenario with two other Pc Science main and a Personal computer Engineering major, we can\'t locate why this card is bricked. I have been placing together my own personal computer for years now and have never ever encountered such an error. I've taken all the safety precautions important. This leaves me to wonder, how can anyone sell this item that can brick 300+ dollar video cards?I even tried putting back the stock cooler and the circumstance did not strengthen. Immediately after searching at a number of forums and assessment web-sites, I realized this card does brick video cards for a significant quantity of folks. Guess I should have bothered to verify this out before I get a item from what I believed was an esteemed firm. A word of assistance and caution here is to not get this product unless you want to risk a considerable chance of bricking your video card. Just buy from an actual firm rather of 1 who is selling a product that can and will brick your video card. Thanks Zalman for costing me 300 dollars.I even contacted Sapphire (my manufacturer) and they've been getting a lot of people today who have bricked the video card from this product. So danger it if you want. I am pretty positive I'll get from this business again...

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This cooler has provided me no complications whatsoever, I can\'t see how it would brick any individual's card...but stranger points have happened. Personally I am incredibly satisfied with the outcomes; pulled my temps down from 75-80C to around 45-50C with fan speed set to 70%. It's also a lot quieter than the earlier fan (it was dying and making all sorts of noise). Only 1 I can believe of is space, I have a little bit of trouble unplugging the 6pin connectors from the end of my card (XFX 5850). I did NOT use the ramsinks that came with the cooler, I used the stock backplate in conjunction with the fans...it works. I'm fairly positive the brickings may be from a single of the smaller sinks or improper tightening of the heatsink to the GPU. I'm not implying any individual is bad at installing GPU coolers...but it was sort of scary tightening down the cooler with the thumbscrews.

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Bought this to replace the stock blower-style cooler on my XFX 6870. With the stock cooler, idle temps had been about 45-50C, and 75-80C below load. With this installed, idle temps hover at 28-30C, and load hasn't gotten above 45C. The other benefit - even at 100% fan speed, it's utterly silent, significantly quieter than the stock cooler at 30%. Size - it's just massive sufficient to hit a card two slots beneath it. Not a problem with some boards, but a thing to be conscious of. Works fine with a 6870 - you just have to use the major FET heatsink as a normal memory heatsink.

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Look good and fit nicely on my Stock HD5870. Like some other men and women have stated. It brick my Asus HD5870 and the card now have BSOD. I've attempt installing this in two hd5870 and 1 is unrecoverable and the other consistently have BSOD. I've installed numerous Heatsink just before and this is the initial item that kill not a single but both my video card. If you have an HD5870 and don't' want to threat it, don't obtain this cooler. I can't actually return this for a refund because it past a month. No point of replacement RMA for something that doesn't perform appropriately for Stock HD5870. I'm 2 graphic card short and 1 useless heatsink. HD5870 owner steer clear of at all price!!!

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ive been using it for sometime and i really enjoy it

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Dropped all my 5850 temps by at least 15c and some up to 25c. Cant hear it over the rest of my fans unlike the stock cooler wich anything at all of 40% would leave you deaf.Looks great. only issue I can assume of as for a con, the cooler really should have came with some sort of bracket to keep the card from bending. when the base plate is remved the card feels a small additional flimsy. Acquire it, follow directions, inspect anything although putting in. Do it proper and you wont end up with a paper weight.

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Kept the card cool for about a week. Immediately after a week, the card exhibited signs of failure. Now it won't operate in 2D for longer than an hour. Instant blue screen when switching to 3D.Tried the card in other desktops and exhibits the exact same problems. I have used various Zalman coolers more than the years, beginning with a Zalman CU9000 and ending with this model. By no means again will I purchase another Zalman product. Spoke to an individual at Zalman at the telephone quantity listed in a prior evaluation, he essentially told me there is nothing they can do for me other than stick a replacement Zalman cooler on the card.He even had the gall to ask if I could place the cooler on a distinct card and test it. I practically fell on the floor in laughter.

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Fantastic cooler runs about 20c+ cooler beneath heavy load than the Asus DirectCU cooler. My PCB is not a ref style and has metal shim about it's GPU. That metal shim seems to be the essential to installing this cooler correctly, see below. none. This cooler took five minutes total o install. Direction are a little unclear about the O rings. I have heard persons complain about this bricking/ Killing their video cards following installation. If your 5000 series card has a metal shim around your gpu you can not use the black rubber O rings beneath the heat sink post or the base will not make speak to properly causing a dead video card. The O rings take the spot of the shim if a single isn't present to guard the gpu from becoming crushed. I know what the directions say but don't use them. So only use them devoid of a shim. Before you install this cooler for great. Make confident you do a dry run and make sure suitable speak to has been made with the gpu by checking the impression of the heat sink in the thermal paste. Hope this helps. P.S if you have a VRM heat sink on your PCB the black 3000N mounts precisely the very same as the Red 3000A and will fit on a 5000 series card, but once more you require a voltage regulator heat sink.

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Cools 5850 greater than stock. Takes a total of three slots with gpu.

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Cools differ fantastic dropped my 5870 temps down over 20C None other then my 1st one the holes in the mounting exactly where drilled to modest had to RMA. Second one particular I got was great. Now all you men and women that say zalman RMA and assistance sucks your incorrect I called 3 instances talked to the guy that does the RMAs for like 45min one of the times about the cooler and the problems folks are saying they are having. All you guys that bricked your card your undertaking one thing incorrect they have tested a lot of now in California and absolutely nothing has happened. I place mine on and workplace twice nowadays no issues you need to clean and do every thing correct. Also if you heat up the thermal pads on the ram sinks they stick good you just got to know how to use this stuff.

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- Pretty cheap compared to other aftermarket coolers.- Fans @ Low (barely audible). Idle 32°c - Load 78°c. (about 10-14°c lower than stock cooler)- Fans @ high (audible like stock cooler @ 60%). Idle 31°c - Load 62°c. (about 11-30°c lower than stock)- Extremely straightforward to install.- You will be satisfied with the results. - Big, takes 1 more slots than the stock cooler, nonetheless keeps your card significantly cooler. Not a cons in my opinion. - To those who claim that the cooler broke their cards, your incorrect. Quite incorrect. This is merely metal and little thermal pads, nothing else, nothing at all that can break your cards but your operate.- Those who didn't get POST soon after installation, tighten OR loosen the Fixing Nuts, this is a incredibly frequent difficulty when the cooler is sitting to tight or not tight adequate. This will in most circumstances fix peoples dilemma.- I would generally choose Arctic Cooling ahead of Zalman when it comes to GPU cooling solutions, but this one was 15$ less expensive than identical AC cooler, but significantly easier to install.

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looks cool fried my 5850. i employed a anti static mat and gloves through installation. followed the directions specifically. when i installed the card into my laptop or computer and booted up, i got nothing from my monitor. since my card is from gigabyte i most likely wont get something from them. i am in the approach of talking to zalman with their rubbish consumer help. do not purchase this product, i am not the only one particular whos card died soon after placing on this heat sink. Google this product with other key phrases like difficulties and dead card and you are bound to see a couple of of my posts on numerous forums along with many others. Manufacturer Response:Dear Worth Client,Please get in touch with our tech assistance @ 714-530-0700 ext 227. Thank you.Sincerely,Team Zalman USA

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Excellent cooling, quite lightweight, sound impact is minimal, not too high priced, effortless installation. Want to seriously make sure the syncs are attached firmly, they don't stick incredibly effortlessly. They must have produced it all one piece rather of the principal heat sync and fans plus the smaller syncs. Fantastic product overall although; a lot quieter than my stock fan. I just hope I don't have to buy one more a single for my other video card.

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I've been eye-balling this cooler for a couple weeks. Newegg lastly got them in and I jumped on this. Delivers what it promises. There is now noticeably additional headroom for OC'ing my XFX Radeon 5870. The blue LED's are pretty boss as nicely. I also love the shiny red metal cover, but... I had to remove the shiny red metal cover to preserve one particular of the fans from hitting it. I'm still tweaking this, but for now it's off. The noise it made when it was on was unbearable. Other than that, the fan noise is negligible. Also, read all the directions very carefully as there are variations between the 5870, 5850 & 5830 installs, addendums, and so on. General I'm satisfied with this cooler. It lost an egg due to the fan hitting the cover. Once more, I got it this morning, just attempting to give other people some very first impressions on it. Manufacturer Response:Dear Value Consumer,Please contact our tech help or rma relating to about this matter. You may well reach us at 714-530-0700 or e mail us at rma.usa@zalmanusa.com. Thank you.Sincerely,Team Zalman USA

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Does a cool job ( man that's funny). Immediately after the valuable critiques right here and other locations I didn't bother with the tape it came with and used 3M. No complications with this cooler and it runs my ASUS 5870 nice and chilly 39C idle suitable now. none So perhaps attempt it you may like it. Be the EGG

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So far no problems. Keeps 5850 cooler than stock and is quite quiet. None

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Quiet none Not crazy about the external fan speed controller, but it isn't genuinely a con

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It is red! I believed it was supposed to be 4000 series backwards compatible . You still suck, Zalman Manufacturer Response:Dear Value Customer,Both on our internet site and NewEgg's specification under this product we in no way mention it will be compatible with the 4000 series. Please kindly let us know exactly where you get this facts so we could appropriate it. Thank you for your help.Sincerely,Team Zalman USA

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Easy to installFan ControlBlue lights Destroys video cards Bricked my 5870. I spoke with XFX support and they have been acquiring a lot of RMA requests due to this cooler. I'm nonetheless at a loss as to how a heatsink can brick a video card. But I've built dozens of computers more than the last 10 years and upgraded the cooling on at least a dozen video cards, so I do know what I'm doing. I applied a non-conductive thermal compound (AC MX-3) so I'm pretty sure I didn't brief anything out (I checked soon after removing the cooler and all the compound was in location anyways).Replaced the stock cooling and card is still bricked. I initially laughed at all the evaluations about bricking your card and now I want to cry.

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-Quite quiet cooler-Cools noticebly much better than stock cooler-Assembly is not too complicated -A small louder than I thought, but not poor I ordered this cooler to replace the stock cooler on a Sapphire HD5850. The card I have is not the reference design, but a custom Sapphire card that is longer than the reference HD5850 and utilizes a single fan in the center of the card. I wanted this cooler so that I could run the fans on the card extremely quietly but also keep the temps of the GPU relatively cool. The VF3000A succeeds at performing this. I only applied the GPU cooler, I didn't use the supplied RAM or VRM heatsinks. My card already had a simple VRM heatsink installed. The installation went fine, just go slow and be gentle with everything. I utilized the heatsink grease that came with the card. Results: my temps went from 49C to 39C at idle, and from 65C to 53C below load. This is with the fans of the VF3000A on the LOWEST setting and in a closed case. Also, this is with my HD5850 overclocked to 790mhz (core). At the lowest setting, the fans are really quiet. Overall, I am pleased with the performance of this cooler.

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None This cooler bricked my card new 5850 right after installing according to the directions. I employed to check and repair test meter boards so am confident in my abilites, as nicely as I posses an electronics engineering degree. I see other people have had the very same complications, to poor these evaluations weren't up before I purchased it or I would have stayed with the stock cooler and not have a two month old 跾 paper weight. Zalman support is non-existant. Soon after not answering me for pretty much two months at all, they basically mentioned they are not responsible, but don't provide any support as to why the cooler didn't function as instructed. No a single explaination at all. Zalman wll never ever see a dime of my or any of my clients money again.

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Dropped temps over 20CQuite easy to installFairly quiet even at full speed A little pricey but par for the course for a GPU heatsink Installed on a non-stock Sapphire 5870 pcb layout with few problems other than the VRM sink not fitting, but the stock VRM sink looked just as decent as the Zalman supplied 1.