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Fitting a Zalman VF1000 to 8800GT

E

EVH

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 18, 2007
59
0
Swansea, Wales
Hey all,

My Mac Pro is due to arrive in the next 10 days (it feels like a millennia!), and I've added the 8800GT in the build to order options.

Anyway, has anyone had any experience fitting this cooler to this card in a Mac Pro?

I've searched the forums, and found people on the 'net who've fitted the card with the cooler, but never in a Mac Pro.

My main concern is the clearance underneath the card (I already know the cooler is fine height-wise), so if anyone can shed any light then I'll be chuffed :)

Additionally, if anyone knows about noise levels vs. the stock cooler then some links would be great.

EVH
 
hi, dunno about anyone else but my 8800GT is as quiet as the stock 2600
my MP came with ...

I've played Crysis for a few hours and C&C 3 both on high and Ultrahigh
setting and all was 'whisper' quiet I used Vista 64bit BTW ...

unless you live somewhere quite hot (I live in the UK - i.e. quite cold!!) or have bad airflow, I wouldn't worry :)

u72

*Edit* Heh, Just noticed you live in Wales - You'll be just fine! :D
 
You must have a Windoze PC history. Its not necessary to 'build' a MacPro as all components have been tested to ensure harmony. You can expect above-par performance particularily when equipping a BTO component.
 
ntrigue said:
You must have a Windoze PC history. Its not necessary to 'build' a MacPro as all components have been tested to ensure harmony. You can expect above-par performance particularily when equipping a BTO component.
Click to expand...

"tested to ensure harmony"

yeah right like apple is engineering video cards....:rolleyes:

the gt8800 just uses the stock cooler from nvidia and with stock cooler the card is getting quite hot thus he is interested in a better aftermarket cooler .. after all "the cooler the card the longer it's lasts" normally
 
Yes, I was only wondering if the VF1000 could be fitted.

I have been using Macs for years, but it would be nice if I could get the card to run cooler AND quieter, after all, if it improves temps inside the case then it's all good.

Anyone got any shots of the clearance of the 8800GT in the case?
 
OK, here's the lowdown on fitting a Zalman cooler to a Nvidia 8800GT video card. Boy, it's nice to hear from somebody else who is concerned about video card temperatures, EVH. There already have been concerns amongst PC users about the 8800 sometimes (during heavy gameplay) getting too hot. It HAS been known to start failing, folks. Nowhere as bad as the ATI 1900 overheating problems but, it's not the PERFECT video card.

All video cards, it seems, prefer to run cool, so when I got a Nvidia 8800 GT card from Apple to replace the ATI 1900 card in my 2007 Mac Pro, I looked around for a bigger cooler for it. The Zalman VF1000 was supposed to be the right one, but the power connection for the fan was wrong. Three-wire plug on the cooler, & 4-wire socket on the card. And no correct socket anywhere that I found on the motherboard.

I called Zalman (in L.A) and the techie there said I was the first Mac user he'd heard of using a Zalman cooler! He said he'd make a power adapter hooking the cooler fan to the power plug of the disk player, & send it overnight. More later.
 
Here's an update of the current status of my hookup problem: A Zalman VF1000 cooler on a Nvidia 8800 GT video card in my Mac Pro. Zalman (coolers) in L.A. made a plug that they sent to me to provide power for the cooler fan, hooking into one of the spare, white, 4-prong power plugs that is available for the DVD drive. Nice idea, but as many Mac Pro users know, running a wire to the rear of the optical drive from the video card is very difficult because of the metal shrouding surrounding the drive, and its location in relation to the video card.

Zalman, in Taiwan (Korea?), finally responded to my query by E/M, suggesting this: http://www.intel.com/support/motherboar ... 012074.htm

That Intel document demonstrates plugging a 3-socket connector into a 4-prong plug. That is what I've done, and the fan works, but at high speed. I need to swap a couple wires in the 3-socket Zalman plug to get low-speed.

Zalman's techie told me that there are too many different power plug types out there, esp. in PCs. They went with the popular 3-prong plug for everybody's needs.

BTW, installing a Zalman cooler necessitates using the 2nd PCIe card slot rather than the 1st, because of the protruding cooler mounting screws on the bottom of the video card.
 
You can get an EVGA 8800GT that has a dual-slot cooler and runs significantly cooler than stock models.
 
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