Zalman VF700-AlCu

THE BAD:
Didn't quite fit over my entire video card (Albatron 6600GT)
I don't have any way to control its speed

SUMMARY:
For a while I was using a video card that didn't have a fan on it (a Radeon 9600 that only used a heatsink). When I finally decided to upgrade my video card I was unpleasantly surprised with the high pitch loud sound the stock cooler made. I decided to get a new cooler and after some research I went with the Zalman VF700 AlCu. My main concern was weight and sound.

This was the first time I changed the cooler on a VGA card so I didn't know exactly how difficult it would be. Thankfully it was pretty simple to get the stock cooler off. Now I made the mistake of not consulting the website to see whether or not my particular card had compatibility issues. I went ahead and followed the included instructions (to the T) and installed the RAM coolers. When it came time to put the cooler on, the RAM heatsinks got in the way. After consulting the website it turns out that I can't use the RAM coolers. In addition, I still had to use part of the original cooler (a heatsink) because the VGA cooler didn't cover it. After following the online instructions, I was able to install the cooler.

The stock cooler was extremely loud (IMO) and wasn't that great at cooling keeping the card at a toasty 60°C idle. The Zalman cooler pushed the temperature down to 40°C idle and did it more silently (that's a 36°F difference). Even when I stress the card as much as possible, it only went up to 50°C. Now here's my main problem with the cooler: The power plug was too big to fit into my video card so I can't control the fan speed unless I buy a fan controller. The cooler produces less sound than the stock one, but I would like to slow it down to decrease it's volume even more. It's not a deal breaker but it would have been nice if Zalman included a fan controller.

Bottom Line:
It's a great cooler but check for compatibility first so you don't get surprised.