Today we have the
Zalman ZM80A-HP VGA Cooling System utilizing heatpipe technology. It's designed to be a sufficient cooling solution that is also silent. Zalman is probably the leading maker of silent cooling solutions for enthusiasts. They offer plenty of quiet cooling products and can really help those who want to make their PCs less of a noisemaker or for PVR builders wanting to build a really quiet system for the living room.
When you first pick up the package, it feels incredibly heavy. You wonder how this could ever be mounted on a video card. The packaging consists of one front side heatsink, a heatpipe, a backside heatsink, two sizes of front side heatsink base assembly, two sizes of back side heatsink base assembly, two bags of parts, and one screwdriver. Along with that there’s a very nicely detailed manual to show you how to put it on and what size base assemblies to use. A note says that the unit is not compatible with the Matrox Parhelia card. I guess that card just can’t get a break can it?
I started off by taking the stock HSF off of my
Sapphire Atlantis Pro 9500 powered by ATI. That popped off with ease though you might have problems with certain cards in removing the heatsink and fan. After cleaning the GPU, I sized up the mounting base and tightened the adjustable arms. Then I spread out some grease on the GPU and then tightened the screws. After spreading more grease on the base and the heatpipe, I slid the heatpipe in the groove on the base, and then attached the large top portion with 4 screws.
Installing the backside was almost as easy. I sized up the base for backside by just putting it on the screws from the front side, and then tightened the adjustable arms. After attaching the backside base, I spread more grease in the groove, slid in the heatpipe, and then attached the backside top portion.
Installation was pretty easy, but I could have used bigger tubes of grease. It comes with two really small ones and there are several spots of contact that have to be lathered with it. It also comes with spare parts in case you lose a screw or something while you are putting together. All in all, it took about an hour from start to finish. And if you need some visual cues, Zalman’s website has a nice flash animation on how to install the unit.
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