HD4870 Crossfire with Zalman VF1000 LED cooling

[col-p-todd]

I tried to get this info thru Zalman but there customer service really sucks, I,ve never gotten any replay from them on any question

I want to know if it is possible to crossfire 2 HD4870 gpu's that have the Zalman VF1000 LED aftermarket cooler installed on them? because of the big size of the VF1000 LED this might prevent the use of a crossfire bridge. Is there anybody that tryed this or has any experience with this???

 

[spathotan]

Well the bridge is flexable unlike the SLi bridges. But that all comes down to the distance between slots.

 

[Xajel]

That Zalman isn't depther than VF1000, both are 30mm, so it only takes another slot near the PCIe x16 slot the VGA use, the problem is with the height of the cooler, the heat sink alone is not heigher, but the last heatpipe may conflict with the position of the CF bridge, in SLI this may be a problem as you will need a flexable bridge, but in CF I think all bridges are already flexable, so no need to worry...

so unless your mobo comes with more than 1 slot between the PCIe x16 graphics slot's don't worry about any thing else

here's a picture of how the coolers heatpipe may conflict with inflexable bridges
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zalman/ZM-VF1000LED/images/finished_assembly_2.jpg

I have that from TechPowerUp review of VF1000, they have more pics, but don't worry about the front look of the installed cooler as it's just the angle that let you feel that, the edge's of the heat sink is about at the same line with the full height cards, so only the heat pipe is over-height here...

here's the review if you want to see more pictures
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zalman/ZM-VF1000LED/3.html

you may consider looking for more reviews to see more pics, personally I want to see how far the heatsink is close to the next slot, as it may be too close for sucking air to it if there's only one slot between the PCIe x16 slot's...
in this situation, two slot's between PCIe x16 with longer CF bridge is better for air circulation for the first card...

 

[Fragille]

That Zalman isn't depther than VF1000, both are 30mm, so it only takes another slot near the PCIe x16 slot the VGA use, the problem is with the height of the cooler, the heat sink alone is not heigher, but the last heatpipe may conflict with the position of the CF bridge, in SLI this may be a problem as you will need a flexable bridge, but in CF I think all bridges are already flexable, so no need to worry...

so unless your mobo comes with more than 1 slot between the PCIe x16 graphics slot's don't worry about any thing else

here's a picture of how the coolers heatpipe may conflict with inflexable bridges
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zalman/ZM-VF1000LED/images/finished_assembly_2.jpg

I have that from TechPowerUp review of VF1000, they have more pics, but don't worry about the front look of the installed cooler as it's just the angle that let you feel that, the edge's of the heat sink is about at the same line with the full height cards, so only the heat pipe is over-height here...

here's the review if you want to see more pictures
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zalman/ZM-VF1000LED/3.html

you may consider looking for more reviews to see more pics, personally I want to see how far the heatsink is close to the next slot, as it may be too close for sucking air to it if there's only one slot between the PCIe x16 slot's...
in this situation, two slot's between PCIe x16 with longer CF bridge is better for air circulation for the first card...

4870 have 2 CF pin(or what ever u called that )
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Diamond/HD_4870/images/front.jpg
so i dont think the heatpipe gonna hinder CF bridge

 

[kpo6969]

You could look at this when it's released. kinda pricey I bet, have to add your own fans if needed:
http://www.thermalright.com/new_a_page/product_page/vga/t-rad2/product_vga_cooler_trad2.html

 

[Xajel]

4870 have 2 CF pin(or what ever u called that )
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Diamond/HD_4870/images/front.jpg
so i dont think the heatpipe gonna hinder CF bridge

Yeh I know that, I just said that as I don't know where that heatpipe will be on 4870, as position is not like GeForce board I put the picture in my post, the cooler may get to the left or right or not at all, so I don't know exactly, even thought the position of CF bridge pins look wont conflict with heatpipes as they already positioned in the end compared to GeForce ones...

 

[Xajel]

You could look at this when it's released. kinda pricey I bet, have to add your own fans if needed:
http://www.thermalright.com/new_a_page/product_page/vga/t-rad2/product_vga_cooler_trad2.html

that cooler is nice, but sadly it's alone is 24.3mm height, so if you added a 25mm fan ( or even 20mm if you are able to find one !! ) the total height will be 44.3 to 49.3mm wich will take two slots after the PCIe x16 slot it self, so unless you're okay with loosing upgradability and your mobo has two slot's between the two PCIe x16, then go for it... but I want to mention the fact of air circulation too, you have to consider it when have CF/SLI using several cards, for this I prefere the 4870X2 over CF, better performance and better cooling and Air circulation

 

[SonDa5]

Zalman's WEB site list the 4850 as being compatible but it doesn't list the HD4870 so there is a good chance that Zalman has taken this question very seriously and discovered that it is not 100% compatible.