The card was left to heat up a bit when the PC was fully booted up, on idle, went up to 54c if the nV Silencer 5 was mounted. With the VF1 mounted however the idle temp was 4 degrees lower, at 50c something that can also be seen on the next test, Quake 4. (Was going to use HalfLife1 but didn’t want people to condemn me to hell for using an "old tech" game :P)
First, Quake 4 with the nV Silencer.
Up to 64c with the Silencer in Quake4
Now, with the VF1 Plus.
(The test was made with the speed selector at “High”)
MAX temp with nV Silencer on Quake 4: 64c
MAX temp with VF1 Plus on Quake 4: 60c
Just to see the difference with the speed selector at LOW, here is an image of the VF1 Plus in Quake 4 in low.
Set in "Low" speed, the VF1 Plus went up to 63c in Quake4.
So, the VF1 Plus cooler handles heat a bit better than nV Silencer 5. But have you noticed something from the screenshots? The “system” temp indicator on Dr. Speed is showing something interesting. The system temp with the nV Silencer is around 33~34c just after exiting something graphic intensive, while with the VF1 Plus, its around 38~39c! This is the selling feature of a cooler that has a design similar to the one of the Silencer. It dumps the hot air outside the case. The VF1 Plus cooler manages to cool the card better, which I believe is due to the powerful fan, but leaves the hot air inside the case, which in turn rises the ambient temp. Now the difference in my system could be because my motherboard has a passive cooling system on the mother board chipset.
Just out of curiosity I left the case open so that the cooler was getting fresh air and not recycling the warm one. The card was idling at 48~49c.
The Verdict
I like it. It has a powerful, interesting fan, cools the card enough, seems to be built very well and doesn’t make much noise especially with the LOW and MEDIUM setting, even though I leave it on HIGH, because I can’t really hear the fan over the rest of the already installed fans in the case, unless I go under the desk and try to listen for it. (Have to switch it from high to low a couple of times and try to pick up the difference).
The fact that it leaves the warm air inside the case and relies on the case fans to take the warm air outside, might deter people with already high ambient temp to not buy it. It manages to cool the card well though, and if a buyer isn't worried about the ambient temp of his/hers system, then they would be happy with this device. At around $36, I would use it for my own system since it wouldn't be a cheap solution just to get me by, but would infact be the solution to choose to use permanently.
I know I’ll be keeping mine…
I know it doesn't seem like it, but the PC is on.
Site
Navigation
