ZALMAN VF3000F(GTX580/570) EBR Bearing Dual 92mm Fans, FanMate 2, IHD Technology for Nvidia Fermi GTX580/570 VGA Cooler

Pros: Major difference in cooling. My first series evga super overclockedGTX 580 with this cooler runs 20-30c cooler than i was getting from before. I was hitting 90+ with it as a single card. With this cooler i'm getting a little over 60c on what i was running before. Tomb raider, Sleeping Dogs on max settings. Far Cry as well.

Cons: It sits higher than the reference 580 cooler which will be an issue for sli if your motherboard isn't spaced for it.

Other Thoughts: This was my first Zalman purchase and while putting it together took some time it was never frustrating. I used Arctic Silver 5 instead of the grease it came with. Honestly i'm sold on Zalman. It really does work as intended and it was a joy to watch those temps drop.

Next cooler I get will be Zalman.

Pros: When PROPERLY installed it will definitely cool your GPU by a significant amount.

Cons: It removes the heat from your GPU...the only problem is that it moves it from the card into your computer's case. Make sure you have very good airflow. The tape on the heatsinks is ridiculously poor. Sorry Zalman but I have to knock off an egg for that. It could easily be fixed by simply replacing the tape with a better quality tape and save the customer the time and money to replace it (as well as possibly bricked GPU's from the heatsinks falling off).

Other Thoughts: The heatsinks WILL NOT stay attached with the tape that comes on them. It's a VERY simple fix though. I picked up some 3M thermal tape for about $5 or so (look around online). Just requires a little cutting of the tape to fit and problem solved. If you've never installed thermal past or are not proficient at it there are numerous web pages devoted to it that I recommend viewing first (remember consistent THIN layer of TIM).

Pros: dropped temps about 10c at idle. The 580 runs really hot, and I always had to turn my fans up in afterburner before going into games. other wise my card would get to hot and start acting up. my card used to run in the high 80's when gaming, now its mid to high 70's.

Cons: its green.. wouldn't be so bad if the fans didn't have green LED's in them. all that green and no option for other colors costs you an egg..

Other Thoughts: works as expected.

Pros: Easy install
Relatively quiet for what it is and the rpms it would run at.
Drops temps from stock by a bunch and kept them low during marathon game play.

Cons: I bought 2 with the thought I would eventually get another video card to run in SLI. I never did so the extra sat in my closet until 2 days ago. After a bit more than a year the first one started making a chirping noise. When I took the card out it was actually worse than I thought. The rear most fan had seized and was canted at an angle with several of the blades broken off. The front fan was doing all the work ( the temps remained about the same so I guess that is a testament to the radiator ) Knowing I had the extra I just installed it and put the card back in. Almost immediately it was making a loud pinging noise. The blades were clipping the aluminum frame some where. I pulled the card and looked for any spots that might be at fault. I failed to find any and reinstalled with the side panel left off so I could see it operating. When I started the computer up it made that same noise. I looked at the fans and saw that the rear fan was "walking" down it's shaft about 3 or 4 cm and hitting the frame of the unit. The front one was fine. By the time I got the computer shut down 2 of the plastic blades had broken off.

Other Thoughts: When it worked it was amazing. I had a bit over a year of worry free operation. I can't fault the efficiency of the radiator at all either. The fans were the downfall however. They are quite cheaply constructed and flimsy. Brittle is also a fair description.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear valued customer,

We sincerely apologize for the issue. Please contact our customer service e-mail support.usa@zalmanusa.com or via toll free number 1-888-925-6266 for further assistance.

Thank you.

Best regards,

Zalman USA Customer Service

Pros: GTX 480. Warcraft ran at 93 C steady (raiding/questing). Easy install... now at 70 C doing same stuff with fan control at 1/2 way.

Cons: Big?

Pros: Easy Installation, and appears to have superior cooling design than factory.

Cons: Longevity. The fan failed a few months after the 1 year warranty expired and may have damaged my GTX580. I have not had time to reinstall the original cooler so I won't know if there is permanent damage from the overheating for a while. This unit should not have failed. The original cooler on my other GTX580 is still working fine.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear valued customer,

We sincerely apologize for the issue. Please contact our customer service e-mail support.usa@zalmanusa.com or via toll free number 1-888-925-6266 for further assistance.

Thank you.

Best regards,

Zalman USA Customer Service

Pros: Great support by Zalman.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: After using this card for about 10 months I started hearing a chirping noise from the fans. It wasn't really loud but I'm one of those people who really want a quiet PC. I requested an RMA and Zalman sent me a replacement fan unit in about 4 days.

Installation was easy only requiring to remove four screws from the top half of the card.

Kudos to Zalman Support!

Pros: very easy to install,good directions

Cons: After a little over a year of using the Zalman VF3000F.I figured it was OK to write a review on it.first off this is the best air cooling for the gtx 580 1.5 gig in my own opinion,it was easy to install and,it lowered the temps on the card by about 15c from the stock cooler.the noise also was a lot less than the stock cooler.the biggest thing I notice when putting it on was the heatsink that covered the ram and other components.When I looked at all the other heatsink and coolers the small heat sinks you put on the ram and other components,just didn't look good I had them on another card I have and they came off over time. I was able to use the thermal pads that was on the gtx 580 and the zalman vf3000f one piece heatsink for the ram and other components was a thousand times better solution.the only complaint I have was the fan mate, it work good I just would have liked zalman to us a pwm fan and a 4 pin connector,but I wasn't going to take off a egg just for that because I knew it before I bought it.If you are looking for a solution on your gtx 580 or gtx 570 this is it. also I thank NEWEGG every thing came on time and in good shape,good packing.

Pros: dropped my temps in 1/2 idle 40-50 c before now 30c under load 75-90 now 60 isn nice glow to them like how it lights up as you put more power to them

Cons: big i mean big running 2 of them with the 580s in sli with the thumb screws on the back they eat up to 4 pci slots cant really run them in an ideal sli rig with 2 they eat up 7 slots 3 per card + the room needed for the screws other wise the screws will hit the fan from the top card

Other Thoughts: wish the provided screws would work with the 580 back plate had to remove mine from both cards :(

Pros: Before anyone goes onto bashing this VGA cooler because it doesn't fit their graphics card, I will go ahead and say it so no one else has to hassle with it. THIS COOLER WILL ONLY FIT REFERENCE GTX 570/580'S. Will not fit the Asus version of DCUII, the HD version of the GTX 570, or any other non reference design.

This cooler is quite amazing. I have owned Zalman products for the past 5 years at least, and I have always been satisfied with their products. This product in particular. Keeps my GTX 570 idle as I am typing this at 31 C (from 42 C with OEM cooler). While playing Borderlands 2, Metro 2033, or any graphically demanding application, I have never seen the temps go above 65 C.

Cooler is relatively easy to install, if you follow the instructions precisely. Also comes with a PCB heat-sink, a syringe of thermal grease, fan controller, and a Zalman sticker!

Cons: Uses the standard 3 pin fan connector that plugs into the motherboard, and no the GPU itself. Not much of a con, but in my case, I didn't have any open fan plugs on my motherboard. So I had to use the fan controller provided, until I got a front face plate fan controller for my case.

Other Thoughts: Overall, I am very satisfied with my purchase and plan on buying a second one for a second GTX 570 in SLI.

Also, this vga cooler will make your video card take up 3 slots, so make sure your motherboard supports this if you plan on using SLI, or have other expansion cards that might be in the way.

If you do your research before purchasing, then you should be fine, and very satisfied.