Test Results
Before you examine the benchmarks, keep in mind that the VF1 Plus fan bracket was modified to fit this particular video card in a less-than-ideal fashion; performance may have been a bit better if the fan bracket fit the card perfectly. This issue may yet be resolved in the retail release of the VF1 Plus, but even with that issue, you can see that the cooler has nothing to apologize for.
It is pretty apparent that the stock cooler is outclassed by the VF1 Plus - to say the least. In particular, check out the results that count the most: the ones with the card under load. The difference there between the stock cooler and the VF1 Plus is as much as 45°F (25°C).
Also note that under load, the VF1 Plus's temperature of 131°F (55°C) is slightly lower than that of the stock cooler at idle. To the stock cooler's credit, it performs notably better when the fan speed is forced to 100% with third-party tweaking software. But the amount of noise the stock cooler generates at this speed is unacceptable (see the noise section below).
For its part, the VF1 Plus is so quiet that we are not sure why it even includes medium and low speed options for the fan. Admittedly, this test bed has a lot of case fans and puts out a bit of noise all by itself, so folks with a quieter rig might be inclined to run the VF1 Plus fan at low speed. That's especially true when you consider that it only ran 3°C warmer than the fan's high speed setting when under load.
