For all the aftermarket equipment out there, your average consumer could easily be swallowed with all of the flashing lights and bright sound of the third party computer hardware industry. Sure to the average computer user, adding on nifty new peripherals or replacing parts that in their eyes they have no need to replace.
My father is a prime example of this, he buys a computer once every couple of years and has the things he wants put on it right then and there. His equipment is good for a while, but when his graphics card becomes to slow to run the games he would like to play, he just guts it out until he’s ready to buy another computer, rather then going out and buying a new graphics card. The same could be said for darn near everything else on his system.
So when I told him that I was reviewing a new fan that goes on my graphics card, he seemed a little perplexed?
“Mike, why would you need a different fan? “Didn’t your card come with a fan already on it?”
“Well Dad.” I said, “Sometimes aftermarket fans can cool your computer better then the one provided by the card maker.”
Silence.
“But why would you need your card cooler then the temperature that your current fan is providing?” He asked.
“Dad, sometimes people who like to work on their systems need a cooler fan then the one initially installed, especially when you are running a game that is pushing the high end boundaries of what your card can handle.” “Remember, when you are running graphically demanding programs, your graphics card can heat up to very high temperatures. Causing you to fry your graphics card.”
Silence.
“Well, OK, but does it really cool the card that much better?” “Does it do anything else?”
“Yes, Dad, it does cool the card a bit better and it has a blue light on it for people who like to have a visally different computer.”
Silence.
“A blue light?”
“Yes Dad.”
“Well… how would anyone see it? The case is all sealed up.”
“Dad, some people have see-through cases so you can see all the different pieces inside. Then they put different lights and things inside so the computer looks really cool. A lot of people like this sort of thing.”
Silence.
“See-through cases?”
“Yes Dad.”
“Talk to your Mother.”
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Once the fan was actually installed on the card I noticed a couple of things. For one, the fan doesn’t cover as much surface area as the factory installed one. For two, the fan sits fairly high on the card. Since it is a thick fan, this ended up causing a little bit of a problem for me on my test system.
When reinserted into the motherboard the fan’s design was so thick that it infringed on my other card ports. So much in fact, I had to do some rearranging and in the end had to remove my ethernet card so I could actually begin testing this bad boy. So potential buyers need to be aware of the spacing needs that this fan requires.
Once in, I ran the regular accoutrement of tests:
Temperature of the card prior to the installation 57-61 degrees with a median temp of 59. The CPU core has an ambient temp of 42 degrees.
Temperature of the card after installation 52-56 degrees with a median temp of 54.
Now quantum physics and advanced calculus tells us that this is a drop of five degrees, but I noticed even more of a difference when I was playing some of my games. In fact the more graphically demanding game the greater the difference between the two fans. Far Cry ran at 69 degrees where it normally ran at 79 and F.E.A.R. ran at a whopping 14 degrees cooler when this fan was used. So it appeared that the number increased as the demands of the graphics were ramped up. In fact the specs state that this bad boy has a chip threshold of 120 degrees. Easily within most overclocking demands.
The VC2000 is a fairly meaty piece of equipment, the aluminum frame feels nice and thick, like it will truely contain all that cooling power. I like the sleek unique design that it has with an almost circular saw shape. An aggressive design, the fan while quiet as hell, pushes some serious air. This is my second aftermarket fan that I have put on my own personal machine and I really couldn’t be happier about its performance.
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