X-bit labs

Roundup: AeroCool Double Power, Thermaltake DuOrb, Zalman VF1000 LED and a Few Other Good VGA Coolers (page 9)

Category: Coolers

by Sergey Lepilov

[ 02/26/2008 | 04:13 PM ]

Installation Tips

Zalman VF1000 LED can be installed on almost all contemporary graphics cards except AMD Radeon HD 3870 X2. The installation procedure is very simple. First you have to open the installation schematics and determine what two or four retention holes you will be using. Then screw in the bushes:

The rubber rings go on top of the bushes, which are then inserted into the retention holes on the graphics card PCB. The cooler is tightened to the graphics card with uniquely shaped screws through plastic pads:

We recommend tightening the screws evenly little by little: two diagonal screws at a time.

Once the cooler is installed onto a Radeon HD 3870, it looks very neat:

Zalman VF1000 LED on a graphics card is not any bigger than a standard Radeon HD 3870 cooling system:

This way only the mainboard slot next to the PXI-E gets blocked:

The fan highlighting is not as bright as the one we saw on Thermaltake DuOrb, but will also be a pleasing sight for modding fans:

Zalman VF1000 LED turned out the most expensive cooler of all we tested today, as its recommended retail price is set at $55.