Prime Cooler 1PC-VGAHP 1 VGA Cooler

In order to achieve a higher overclock, an after-market VPU cooler is almost a must. However, with these enthusiast VGA coolers the system noise level usually increases at least a few decibels, or does it? In this review, we'll be taking a look at Prime Cooler's alternative to those noisy systems by offering a passive heatpipe solution. Although Prime Cooler has recently announced the production of the PC-VGAHP 2, which utilizes dual-heatpipes, in this review we are going to be checking out its sibling, the PC-VGAHP 1.

Features:

· Includes both 46mm and 36mm arm for being able to fit on any VGA Card with holes around Chipset
· Possible to mount 70mm or 80mm fan as an option (not included)
· Dimensions: 120 x 80 x 10.2 mm
· Weight: 306 g

Contents:

Cracking open the Prime Cooler packaging, we found a rather informative instruction manual, four heatsink bases, two heatsinks, one U-shaped heatpipe, screwdriver, and a variety of other accessories. These accessories are basically an array of different nuts and bolts. Because of the design of this heatsink, it’s universal for virtually any graphics card on the market as long as there are two mounting holes in the near vicinity of the VPU. Cooling fans can be optionally attached to the Prime Cooler heatsinks, although they're not necessary nor included with the retail package.

Examination:

Taking a cursory look at the Prime Cooler PC-VGAHP 1, we were quickly reminded of Zalman's popular ZM80C-HP graphics card cooler. This Prime Cooler cooling solution is IDENTICAL to that of Zalman's counterpart, down to the exact thermal dissipation area. However, there appears to be a few slight modifications between the two products, due to discrepancies in the weight. For those unfamiliar with this style VGA cooler, there are two smaller heatsinks, which are exposed to the actual VPU, surface and then on the opposite side of the PCB, is a backside heatsink. Both of these smaller heatsinks in turn meet their own larger heatsinks that offer a much greater area for thermal dissipation. Both of these larger heatsinks are connected together via a single heatpipe. With this cooling design, no fans are necessary; however they are recommended in some situations, due to the large surface area of the heatsinks and the heatpipe design. In addition, with two sets of heatsink bases included, the Prime Cooler PC-VGAHP 1 is compatible with nearly every major graphics card on the market whether it is from ATI or NVIDIA. Unfortunately, the PC-VGAHP does lack any ability at this time to cool the VPU memory.