Zalman VF3000A VGA Cooler Review

Conclusions

The Zalman VF3000A has a good price tag, being actually cheaper than the Zalman VF1000 LED. Its installation is also very simple and its looks great. The set of memory and VRM transistor heatsinks is not as complete as the one we found with the Scythe Musashi, but does the job cooling them, because the fans push air into the board.

However, besides not removing the hot air from the case, it has some other drawbacks. First, it is not as quiet as the Scythe Musashi and the Zalman VF1000 LED. At minimum speed it is somewhat noisy, and at maximum speed it is even annoying. The second problem is its weight. It is big and heavy, and the video card may bend with the weight. Zalman recommends to removing the cooler any time you must transport the computer; otherwise it can damage something. The third problem is that it makes your VGA use three slots, which can be a problem if you want to use SLI or CrossFireX arrays using two of them, and practically makes the use of three video cards with a VF3000A at each one, impossible.

The main point is that the Zalman VF3000A has impressive cooling performance, even with its fans running at minimum speed. Because of this extreme cooling performance, the Zalman VF3000A VGA cooler receives the Hardware Secrets Golden Award.