Remember that old GeForce 3 Graphics Card laying around with the buzzing heat sink fan? Or perhaps you decided to extend the life of and want to protect you’re newly purchased Graphic Card Investment? Introducing the Zalman ZM80C-HP + OP1 (Option Pack 1), is the latest and greatest cooler from Zalman, and is designed to cool your graphics card without excessive noise. This product alone is literally silent, but with the optional pack (which is a fan and mounting kit) just raises the bar from whisper quiet.

The Zalman ZM80C-HP is packaged in a moulded, hard plastic pack. It includes:

• The Two Heat Sink Plates with Patented Design.


• One pair Aluminium blocks which attach to the top and underside of the Graphic-card Chipset. There is also included a larger pair of blocks, for chipsets with a larger GPU.


• A bag with all the necessary screws, support braces, grommets, a thermal grease tube and gold coloured end caps.


• In addition another bag, containing all bits you may loose from the first pack, as well as another thermal grease tube.


• The unique but critical Zalman Gold-Plated Copper Heat-Pipe.


• A screwdriver.


• And a case sticker or appliqué.

Once all the components are laid out on a solid, static-free area, you soon realise that it is one big cooler! Not only does it look impressive, but it serves a beneficial role in cooling Graphics Cards which nowadays, heat is the biggest hardware killer.

Basically the Aluminium heat blocks transfer the heat off the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and lead them to the Cooling Plates. The special, gold plated copper pipe contains gas which effectively allows the radiating heat to distribute between the front and back cooling plates allowing even heat dispersion. It seems that the cooling plates are a little too far to cool the RAM, but a further investment may leap you into getting individual RAM Heat Sinks, although this seems unnecessary. The total heat dispersion area for this cooler is a stunning 1200cm2. In total the heat sink weighs 325 grams.

For our test, I fitted an old GeForce 3 card with the product. It seems overkill but the fan was a weird shape and couldn’t be replaced by conventional methods. The assembly of the Zalman ZM80C-HP onto the card is a little tricky, as it requires holding certain parts of the Heat Sink whilst screwing in the Aluminium heat transfer blocks. Installation is not difficult per se, but if followed correctly, and accompanied by a helping hand, it’s defiantly worth the effort. I was surprised to see that they didn’t include a small spatular, but a simple overhead sheet can be turned into a professional Thermal Grease applicator. It also seems the Thermal Grease tube says to “Avoid contact with skin and eyes” but if you’re like me, make sure you regularly clean your hands to avoid coating your entire Graphic Card with the stuff.

OP1 or the Option Pack (purchased separately), basically is a thin 80mm fan with accessories that attaches to the upper outer edge of the Cooling Plate. This enables greater cooling (namely active cooling), at the expense of some noise. The Molex splitter included lets you choose between Silent Mode - 1400 RPM (5V) and Standard Mode - 2800RPM (12V). Either one you choose, the standard mode is still a little louder than whisper quiet. The fan overhangs the cooler but doesn’t oscillate, and aids in the cooling of your PCI Cards positioned below. Installation takes approximately 15mins max.

Temperature was recorded after running Age of Mythology, with all settings turned on high. AOM was used to be a median between hard core graphics, and not so intensive graphics.

The temperature after 5 minutes @ ambient temperature of 30 Degrees Celsius:

Original Heat Sink Fan: 43 Degrees Celsius

ZM80C-HP = 35 Degrees Celsius
ZM80C-HP + OP1 Silent Mode = 29 Degrees Celsius
ZM80C-HP + OP1 Standard Mode = 23 Degrees Celsius

(Note: these temperatures were acquired on a GeForce 3 chipset; a faster chipset generates more heat and so forth so newer cards will have a higher temperature.

Overclocking wasn’t tested, due to the fine variables and the fact that Zalman doesn’t condone Overclocking. (Which in turn D-GAME doesn’t recommend it either). Generally speaking, the Cooler would defiantly be able to take, and allow greater core clock speeds to be pushed and achieved due to its fantastic head dispersion method.

Overall, I must say that when the product arrived, I was surprised to see the quality and practicality offered from the ZM80C-HP + OP1. Zalman really thought about what was required and was very clever to include optional bits and pieces, as well as plenty of Thermal Grease. On the other hand the ZM80C-HP + OP1 weighs a considerable amount, which makes carrying the computer if unsecured properly, a little hazardous. Also the removal of the standard Graphic Card’s Heat Sink fan invalidates the warranty, which for a new card, is a huge risk to take.

So finally I conclude that the ZM80C-HP + OP1 is value for money and if installed correctly, will enhance and improve your day to day computing experience.

This product retails around $60 AU without OP1.

Box Art - 8
Functionality - 10
Value - 9.5

Overall Score - 9/10

I would like to thank Altech Computers ( www.altech.com.au) for making this review possible.