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Product:
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Zalman ZM80C-HP Heatpipe VGA Cooler + ZM OP1 |
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Price:
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$46 (CDN) / $35 (U.S) + ZM OP1 $13 (CDN) / $10 (U.S)
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Supplied By:
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Zalman Tech
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Author:
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Shennon
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Date:
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October 16th, 2002
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Rating:
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The small items include the gold plated copper heat pipe, a Phillips screwdriver, a small bag of various
sizes of screws, rubber and steel washers, a tube of thermal grease, two plate links to attach the front
heatsink to the rear, a blue and gold Zalman case badge, and two nipples. A second bag has been included
containing a smaller selection of spare parts, such as extra screws, washers and a second tube of thermal
grease. For a short, but comprehensive description to heatpipe technology, check out MTB's write-up about
it in the Cooler Master HHC-001 CPU Cooler review, found here.
Lastly in the package is the user manual. Zalman usually has a comprehensive manual that should help
novices assemble their products, and the one in this package doesn’t disappoint. The manual, printed in
both English and Korean, is well written (at least the English half) and has clear, easy to follow
diagrams.
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At an extra cost, Zalman has an optional 80mm fan that attaches to the back heatsink and cools both
sides of the card. The Zalman ZM-OP1 80mm Fan Kit is packaged in formed Perspex, glued to a cardboard
backer with all the pertinent information such as mounting it to the Zalman Heatpipe VGA Cooler ZM80C-HP,
as well as the various specifications of the fan itself.
The 12 bladed fan is capable of pushing air across the heatsinks at a respectable 20 dBA of noise in
silent mode, or at full with a level of 33 dBA. Unfortunately there is no airflow information available,
however, the ZM-OP1 is an optional kit to the ZM80C-HP, therefore with the added fan, the total package
only exceeds the intended thermal conditions. The fan grill with the company name cut into it is made
from the same dull grey aluminum as the heatsinks, matching the overall "industrial" feel to the
heatsink. With the 80 mm fan, Zalman has included the ZM-MC1 or multi connector that attaches to a spare
power supply Molex connector and separates the 5 volt (red wire and the black ground wire) from the 12
volt (yellow wire and black ground wire). The fan can be attached to either voltage and will run in
full speed (12 volt) or silent mode (5 volt). The usage of the ZM-MC1 is completely optional and is
included in the optional ZM-OP1 80mm fan kit.
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Before starting the installation, I opened up my (my extremely dusty) HX08 tower, I made sure that the
Northbridge heatsink would not interfere with the installation. If it was situated closer and higher,
then the heatsink wouldn’t allow the card to sit properly into the AGP slot. The card in question is my
blue XFX GeForce 4 TI 4200. The stock heatsink does provide sufficient cooling for gaming, however over time
dust has impeded its ability to spin at maximum speed and it was only a matter of time until I had to
do something about it.
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Once the stock heatsink has been removed, I cleaned off any residual compounds using some lighter fluid.
Lighter fluid tends to evaporate quickly, which is what you want when cleaning any GPU or CPU. Since this
is a NVIDIA based card, I'll be using the larger of the two heatsink bases. The smaller one wouldn’t
allow the arms to reach the mounting holes while holding down the base. Instead of using the included
thermal grease, I will be using Arctic Silver’s newest product, Ceramique Thermal Paste and applying it
according to the instructions posted in the Arctic Silver’s website.
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