Replacing my noisy graphics card HSF (56k warning)

[Konovalov]

When I built my new system over the Christmas break my choice of graphics card was based around price and something that would get me through the next year until DX10 cards mature. I purchased this XFX 7900GS card. At just GBP £100.00 it was good value for money. However there were a few downsides with the card. The stock HSF is a tiny little thing which spins at a fast rate. As a result it was noisy and given that my three 120mm case fans and AC Freezer 7 Pro fans spin at low speed it was by far the noisiest component in my pc. In order for my PC to be near silent I would have to replace this noisy little bugger.

Enter Zalman and their VF900-Cu LED HSF. I purchased it here at scan.

The boxed retail package dying to be unpacked and installed.


All the goodies in the box.


The stock XFX 7900GS card removed from my system ready to be modded (top view). Note the slogan "See it:Hear it:Feel it". They are definately right about the hear it bit which is not something to be proud of.


And rear shot of stock card.


The removed stock HSF. All I needed to do was unscrew the four screws on the back of the card and then use some careful man power to unseat the HSF from the GPU and memory. It took a bit of effort as it was well stuck to the card.


And this is what the video card looks like with the stock HSF removed finally.


After removing the old thermal paste left on the GPU.


Then I installed the 8 blue ramsinks onto the memory of the card.


After this I applied Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste to the GPU of the card. I used AS5 rather than the small tube of paste that Zalman provided.


A picture of the business end of the Zalman HSF prior to seating it on the XFX 7900GS.


And finally the end product of my labour with the Zalman VF900-Cu sitting pretty on the XFX 7900GS graphics card.


Installed in case (Please ignore bad cable management. Another project.


My initial impressions after install are great. The fan is running at full speed yet I can barely hear it. With the stock XFX HSF I found that the card ran at about 42-45 degrees C idle and at load this jumped to 55-65 degrees C. These temps are as viewed in the Nvidia control panel within display properties. Now after installing the Zalman VF900-CU my temps have come down considerably. My idle temperature is around 30-32 degrees C while at load it runs at around 40-45 degrees C. And I would expect this to come down a touch once the Artic Silver 5 settles in over the next 72 hours.

So in summary I have to say that this is one of the best products that I have ever bought. It was easy to install and the instructions were clear and easy to understand. It did exactly what I wanted. Most importantly it reduced the noise from my system dramatically. Secondly it also reduced my graphics card temperatures in a major way which I hope will give me some headroom to overclock this card down the track. The 7900GS has a reputation as an overclocker and hopefully now with this GPU cooler from Zalman I am in a position to unlock that potential. Definately £25.00 well spent and it gets the Konovalov seal of approval.