NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 580 is a beast of a card, able to reach 80°C with minimal effort. So what about those who value high performance along with silence? There are some options, such as Zalman’s VF3000F after-market cooler. But with it requiring three slots in your PC, and $75 from your wallet, can it deem itself worthy?
Introduction
Compared to the GeForce GTX 480 that prefaced it, the GTX 580 became a card that proved NVIDIA’s determination to make sure its cards don’t overheat. While it took no effort to see the GTX 480 reach 95°C or higher, the GTX 580’s improved power architecture made sure it never got much higher than 80°C. A major improvement if there ever was one.
But while manageable, 80°C temps might not be ideal for those who have their PC in a room that’s notoriously warm (*raises hand*), are using a small chassis, or can’t stand the noticeable whine that can emit from a card like the GTX 580 during a gaming session. Again, where noise is concerned, NVIDIA improved the GTX 580 over the 480 quite a bit, but at full load, you’ll easily hear it above every other component inside your PC.
Somewhat surprisingly, there isn’t a huge market for GPU coolers, and at one popular e-tailer, there’s a mere 50 available (compared to the 200 or so CPU coolers), and of those, 15 belong to Zalman. It’s clear that the company takes GPU cooling seriously, so we look forward to seeing what the VF3000F is capable of
- READ MORE (Source): Zalman VF3000F GTX 570/580 GPU Cooler Review: Introduction – Techgage
