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Zalman ZM80D-HP GPU Cooler


Date
: 07/17/04 – 09:09:25 AM

Author
:

Category
: Cooling

Page 1 : Introduction

Manufacturer: Zalman
Price: $29.99

The current trend of coolers today is bigger, more quiet solutions. Coolers today are huge compared to what we were using just a few years ago. Has all this size come without merit? No, and in fact there seems to be no limit as to how extreme cooling will need to get to keep hotter and hotter microprocessors cool. With chips like the R420, NV40, and Prescott out there it is ever more important to use a reliable solution to protect your investment. This brings us up to where we are today.

Featured in this review is Zalman, a fairly young company founded in Korea back in 1999, who is a manufacturer that carries with its name a reputation for quality and high performing low noise solutions. Unfortunately it has been quite some time since we last had a Zalman product in our labs here at O², but today we begin looking again at Zalman's new line-up of CNPS (Computer Noise Prevention System) products.

On the plate today is the
Zalman ZM80D-HP
along with the optional
Zalman ZM-OP1
cooling fan. What's interesting about this heatsink is its large size and the ability to allow video cards like the 9700 Pro or older to run passively and newer ones to run quieter with very little airflow required. For the overclocker, a cooler like this poses a question as to how well a heatsink like this can perform with enough airflow. We're about to answer that and more on the next pages, so let's get started.

Page 2 : Package

The ZM80D-HP and the accompanying optional fan ZM-OP1 were shipped in a small box packed with foam peanuts. Inside were two individual products free of any damage and exactly as they would appear on retail shelves. The ZM80D-HP was in a blister pack. The good thing about this packaging is that the back of the blister pack is perforrated to allow for a more friendly experience getting it open.

Inside each package were a number of items which needed to be assembled. Included in the heatsinks package were eight RAM sinks, one front heatsink plate, one back heatsink plate, two types of front base heatsinks, two types of back base heatsinks, two heatpipes of different shape, spare parts bag, assembly parts bag, screwdriver, and finally two extra strips of thermal tape. The spare parts, spare thermal tape, and screwdriver are noteworthy inclusions that are very welcomed and applauded.

In the fans package there are a couple screws and nuts, the fan and grill, and a multi-connector.

Along with the parts needed to put things together, Zalman includes a detailed instruction manual with the heatsink that very much resembles a Lego set guide. The fan includes an assembly guide on the back of the retail packaging.

To insure compatibility Zalman also includes two sets of front/back base heatsinks; one for GeForce 4 cards and one for everything else I assume.

Page 3 : Specifications

For both the fan and heatsink, Zalman has these detailed specifications available via their website:

High quality materials and a large surface area are mandatory for optimal cooling. With the emphasis on noise levels this is even more vital and judging by what's on paper everything looks in place to allow just that. Compared to the previous model, the ZM80C-HP, the ZM80D-HP we have today increases the surface area 150 cm² as well as increases the weight of the cooler by 50 g. Another addition is a second heat pipe.

Heat pipe technology is explained in-depth at Power Electronics magazine.

The basic principle of a heat pipe is to transfer heat from one point to another quickly. Adding an additional heat pipe to a heatsink like the ZM80D-HP is intended to increase the efficiency of heat transfer to a large surface area. On top of that, combining these improvements with active cooling should further increase the benefits seen in the dissapation of heat.

The optional fan Zalman has included is a slim, 80 mm fan and grill with Zalman written across it. This fan is required for use on 9800 Pros and higher (you can always use a different fan though). Setting the speed of the fan can be done with the multi-connector included with the fan which will allow two modes: normal and silent. The difference between modes is obviously speed and noise. Changing modes while the computer is running is not an option as the connector does not have a switch and requires the user to un-plug and plug-in the fan into the appropriate line – something I wouldn't recommend doing with the computer on.

With all this attention spent on cooling the GPU core less attention is paid to cooling the video memory. The memory is outfitted with eight aluminum RAM sinks. The four for the front of the card are about twice the height of the ones that go on the back. These should at the very least increase stability of the video card in abnormally hot situations and maybe offer some minor gains in frequency. Zalman provides thermal tape to attach these to the video card.

Page 4 : Installation

Installing the heatsink was an enjoyable, but long process. Before starting and even buying a heatsink like this you need to first be sure that your video card has the required mounting holes for the installation. I began by preparing the video card, a 9700 Pro with the common mounting holes. Removing the old heatsink was a snap using some needle-nose pliers. The heatsink lifted gently off to reveal the R300 core underneath it. I then cleaned the core with some non-acetone nail polish remover as well as the memory chips. Next I prepared to install the Zalman heatsink.

It seriously reminded me of assembling a Lego set as I referred to the manual earlier. Putting everything together took under an hour, but anyone doing this should take their time and follow the directions. I ended up making a mess with thermal paste by the time I was done. Between the metal contacts that you join, the heatpipes, and the GPU core you are instructed to apply a thin layer of thermal paste (three small tubes are included).

Adding the fan to the cooler was very simple and very ingenious with how things were designed. Once everything was done and installed it made my recently purchased 9700 Pro feel like a million bucks. Laying the Zalman heatsink and fan next to the stock cooler really shows just how large this thing is.

Now that everything is setup lets see how well the Zalman solution compares to the stock ATi cooler and what gains it can provide us in overclocking.

Page 5 : Benchmarking

Testing was conducted with the following system specs and without the left side panel present:

Benchmarking analysis was limited to temperature performance. To gain the results, the card was first put under heavy load by ATi Tool for a period of one hour and then the peak temperature recorded. The card would then be allowed another 45 minutes to cool to idle temperatures with no user interference. The ATi Tool proved to be a more stressful application than FarCry gameplay and UT2k3 benchmarking and provided a consistent way to compare the cooler results. Room for error could then be primarily traced back to environment variables such as room temperature and any possible human error in taking the readings.

Measurements were recorded by hand using a SilverStone SST-FP52 for temperature monitoring of the GPU probe and a RadioShack digital indoor/outdoor thermometer for monitoring the room temperature. Tests were done across the span of three days and thus the room temperature fluctuated between 76.5°F and 78.8°F (24.8°C and 26.0°C) throughout the testing process.

Now, the numbers:

To be blunt, wow. With the passive cooling results the Zalman solution was able to come close to matching the stock coolers performance at default speeds and just a bit higher of a climb in temperature at overclocked speeds. At this point in the testing I was lowing my expectations for what this cooler could do and also what the 9700 Pro would be able to clock up to. With just the stock cooler the RAM couldn't do 320 MHz without producing artifacts and so the passive solution was tested at equal speeds.

Adding the fan to the Zalman heatsink really soared past my expectations even when the fan was on silent. The ZM80D-HP proves to be very efficient in heat dissapation. Eventually I couldn't hit over 390 MHz core probably due to its own limitations as the cooler was able to keep its temperature the same from the previous speed of 380 MHz. Overall results proved to exceed expectations and provide a quiet solution that was only slightly audible over the AMD reference coolers when the fan was in normal mode.

Page 6 : Conclusion

I believe Zalman has a great product on their hands here. If you're seeking silence or performance you definately can't go wrong with the ZM80D-HP cooler and some active cooling, specifically the ZM-OP1 fan looked at in this review. The optional fan is a nice addition to the cooler, but I should mention that even a regular case fan blowing across the heatsink was enough to substantially lower temperatures.

I already had a good level of respect for Zalman and their cooling products, but now after what I've seen from this VGA cooler they have raised that level of respect even higher. It's very hard to find a higher quality product than this one and it has earned its place in my rig for a while to come.

Thanks goes to Zalman for supplying the products for this review.