Zalman CNPS 7700 ALCU, Zalman VF700 review - Results: VF700 vs. Stock Cooling
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Comparing the VF700 to my stock cooler -- well, there is almost no comparison. The stock cooler is a very small aluminum heatsink with a loud 40mm cooler. While the VF700 is much larger and has a larger 80mm fan, you can expect your GPU to run much cooler with the VF700 installed. With the replacement of the stock cooler on my FX5700 I have been able to overclock my video card much higher. On stock cooling I was only able to achieve an artifact free clock speed of 508 MHz on the core. With the VF700 I was able to overclock the core up to 587 MHz artifact free. This is the voltage limit of my card; increasing 1 MHz causes extreme amounts of artifacts.
On the memory without RAM heatsinks I could run 705Mhz. With the heatsinks installed I was able to achieve an overclock of 728Mhz. Again, this was limited by voltage. The results are still considerably faster than stock cooling, and should easily handle newer and faster series cards without heat being an issue. With it overclocked so high, the heatsink was barely getting warm, meaning it dissipated the heat as fast as it was produced.
Pros and Cons of these Heatsinks:
Pros:
- Near Silence.
- Great looks.
- Great temperatures due to larger surface area and larger than normal fans.
- Despite their size, the heatsinks remain very light.
- CPU and GPU are overclockable with fans in normal mode.
- Fans in normal mode are considerably quieter than stock cooling.
- Long list of compatible CPU sockets motherboards and graphics cards.
- Multi connector may be use to control optional case fans for more sound control.
- Both heatsinks are also available in pure copper versions.
- Easy to follow instructions.
Cons:
- Compatibility issues with certain model motherboards and video cards.
- Temperatures reach above stock cooling in silent mode. (CNPS 7700 only)
- Fan speed controller and multi connector are difficult to adjust on the fly.
- No fan grill to prevent any wires from coming in contact with fan.
- Areas around heatsinks get very warm at 100% CPU usage (low case airflow).
- No protective cover over the base of heatsink to prevent scratches before installation.
Conclusion
The absolute first result I noticed was that I had finally reached my goal. I now have a quiet computer. It may not be totally silent, but with both fans set in silent mode I cannot hear them over other fans in my system. And my system's temperatures are mostly lower than stock cooling. In silent mode, temperatures remain very close to the OEM’s load temperature -- although a little bit higher it remains much lower than Intel's maximum temperature specifications.
I am sure if I had more airflow in my case I would have even lower temperatures. But with added fans comes added noise. So you must find a balance; not everyone has the ability to run a few 120mm fans into their case to keep the air circulating. But for the combination of cooling performance and near silence, you can’t beat the CNPS7700 and VF700.
Without a doubt both Zalman coolers are great performers. Both are highly compatible with the newest CPU sockets and video cards, and both provide enough cooling to give headroom for overclocking with the fan in normal mode. We recommend both the Zalman CNPS7700 and VF700 to anyone looking for a quiet cooling solution for their computer.
We would like to thank Zalman for donating these amazing heatsinks for review and suggest that anyone who is looking for a high performance yet quiet cooling solution should check out Zalman’s line of cooling products at Zalman’s website.
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