| Xigmatek Bifrost VD1065 HDT VGA Cooler |
| Reviews | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by Steven Hearst - Edited by Olin Coles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thursday, 03 December 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Xigmatek Bifrost-VD1065 VGA CoolerToo much attention is paid to the CPU when we discuss aftermarket coolers, maybe because removing the VGA cooler can void the warranty on some graphics cards, or maybe because we take for granted the cooler placed on video cards by the vendor. Unfortunately the truth is that most stock VGA coolers don't perform very well. So now we need a solution - The Xigmatek BiFrost VD1065 - Xigmatek's first 5-piece 6mm Heatpipe Direct Touch VGA cooler product. It occupies two expansion slots, but at the same time gives extreme performance. Ximatek adds two powerful 100mm Fans to accomplish the "Perfect Product", and plate it with black nickel and utilise two transparent fans so as to become one of the spotlights in your PC-System. With the marketing speak out of the way, we'll move on to what it takes to make or break this product - real world testing. We all know H.D.T. works well for multi-core processors with heat spreaders, join Benchmark Reviews as we test the Xigmatek Bifrost and see what it can do for your exposed GPU die. I myself have lost two graphics cards due to heat, first was a BFG 6800 ultra OC, and second was an ATI Radeon X1950 XTX. In all honesty they both looked like they had good coolers, so I ask, could these have been saved with an aftermarket cooler? Unfortunately this question can't be answered and now I'm not taking any more chances. The stock cooler on my current card only just does the job at stock clock speeds, and with the fan at 100% the noise is unbearable, so in order to push my card further I need a better and quieter cooling solution.
Brand new graphics cards cost alot, that's the way it's always been, we can all aspire to own the latest cards and a top notch watercooling solution, but not all of us can afford such things without credit, and we are suffering from a recession after all, so what better way to insure an investment than with a relatively cheap solution. For an enthusiast on a budget the Xigmatek Bifrost VD1065 is a great solution. About XigmatekPurpose and targets of becoming one of the worlds leaders in thermal PC Industry were set for Xigmatek Co. Ltd in 2005, the founding year! To ensure reaching this project aims, Xigmateks management followed up with hard work, experiences and customer friendly business style. Honing one of the world's most efficient manufacturing operations, Integration Presence in major economic regions, being tied up with most important strategic alliances between suppliers and academia and further majority investments in R&D are some of Xigmateks aggressive incensement strategies. Combining the cream of product designers, R&D engineers and technical people (main team in Germany) Xigmatek is proud and full of confidence to offer excellent quality products and service to cover the customers requirements and demands. Within the standard channels as the consumer market and the distributing electrical appliances, Xigmatek will keep on focusing on development and set up even new sales channels to comply ever-changing demands and requirements. Several years of experiences company background in Thermal IT industry provides our customer the best, reliable, environmental and performing Thermal/Cooling Systems including excellent Service to fulfill global users and customers demands. Xigmatek Bifrost Features
VD1065 VGA Cooler Specifications
Bifrost-VD1065 VGA Applications
Closer Look: Xigmatek BifrostWhen the Xigmatek Bifrost arrived I was quite surprised by the size and weight The box itself is 11.5" long and 7.5" high, it isn't all packaging though, the cooler really fills out the box. Altogether the package weighs around 500g, I knew the specs and had seen pictures but nothing can prepare you for actually holding it. The Bifrost follows the naming of Norse mythology, along with other Xigmatek offerings; Bifrost, where the trijet Bifrost rainbow bridge is between the earthly world of Midgard and Asgard kingdom of heaven, Which doesn't really describe the product too much, just bridges a gap in the market (excuse the pun). The box has a nice tribal pattern going on and it isn't too loud, It should ensure that it stands out in a retail environment.
The box is of the usual Xigmatek quality, full color and lots of info regarding application and features on the reverse. It shows just enough product to arouse interest on the front. Once opened you are greeted by a little cardboard shelf that holds the included accessories, the cooler itself is enclosed between two moulded plastic pieces that hold it well and provide adequate protection with minimal packaging.
Once out of the box the excitement really begins, kudos to Xigmatek on their design here because I really like it, its like a mix between transformers and manga with a sharingan type element going on around the fan area. Speaking of the fans, these beasts are 100mm fans so performance is definitely looking like its going to be good. Unfortunately there are no LED's so it's not going to light your case up but I'm willing to overlook this as the design is good without them.
With the fans removed the Bifrost almost transforms into a different product, It still looks great thanks to the full body black-nickel paint job, Five 6mm heatpipes take the heat straight from the GPU and into twenty six individual aluminium fins. One downside about this design is that while it is really nice, it isn't original or unique, it has been seen before with very similar offerings from Silenx and PC Cooler.
This picture was originally meant to portray the size of the Bifrost although no picture can really prepare you as I stated earlier. It measures a whopping 10" long and 4.5" wide, If you intend to use one then you will need to make sure your case has room for a 10" Graphics card - lower end cards could easily be passively cooled with the Bifrost.
As you can see, the cooler overlaps my card at the end and definitely adds some size to the overall construction, I am lucky in that I have plenty of room in my case though, so it isn't a problem for me. The secondary PCI-E slot is visible and clear for usage. I have lost a PCI slot but there is definitely room for another Graphics card should I choose to run an SLI or Crossfire setup. This may not be the case for you if you have a Motherboard that places the PCI-E slots closer together. The black cable braiding is another nice touch as it goes well with the whole theme and looks much nicer than exposed wires. VD1065 VGA Cooler Detailed FeaturesTo really appreciate the design and features built into the Bifrost, a little closer looking is required. In this next section we will look at all the things that go into making such a great product. Installation is really simple, this review isn't intended to be an installation guide, It is more biased towards performance. The included instructions provide a really simple and easy to follow guide to installation but leave some steps down to common sense or experience.
In order to make this cooler compatible with so many different Graphics cards Xigmatek had to cover all the bases with their accessory package, Two different sets of bolts each with their own set of O rings with little cards to identify their usage, Fourteen RAM sinks with pre-applied adhesive, Three different sizes of thermal pads, a MOSFET heatsink and NVIO 2 core frame and heatsink. I beleive the MOSFET heatsink and NVIO 2 core frame ans heatsink are designed for the higher end ATI and Nvidia GTX series of cards, Only four push clips are included so if you need to use both on your card then you might have some difficulty. The thermal compound included is a 25% silver mix, Thermal conductivity: >7.5W/m-k, Thermal resistance: <0.06°C/W. Similar to my akasa 450 silver based compound that I use, which has never let me down. The smallest thermal pads are for use with the MOSFET heatsink, The middle and large sizes are for the RAM chips that come into contact with the HDT area. I initially used the largest size and found that this caused some warping when the screws were tightened, I switched to the middle size pads and got a perfect warp free installation.
Here we can see one of the two 100mm semi transparent cooling fans on the Bifrost. It is a 12v ball bearing fan, Airflow is 22.49 CFM and air pressure is 2.1 mm H2O. These two bad boys really do the job too, you don't have to take my word for it because the results will speak for themselves. On the right side there are two clips that hold the fan case to the side of the cooler, these literally clip on to the ends of the cooler. Removal was a little difficult requiring more brain power than muscle - push down on fan case and pull the clips out and then up - If you decide to brute force it off you will probably break it.
Looking closer at the aluminium fins here you can see a distinct texture, this texture covers the entire area of each fin. This provides style and function in that the air will not simply flow through the fins but will actually have to work its way over the bumps creating turbulence. The bumps will also catch the air as it flows thus providing better cooling.
Now we are looking at the real business end of the cooler, the H.D.T. area, all the above features wont count for much unless the contact area can effectively take the heat away. The problem with heat pipes resides where the gaps between them and the aluminium are, Xigmatek have done a reasonably good job here - The area where my GPU comes into contact with the heatpipes doesn't have any gaps. The contact area isn't mirror polished or overly smooth bit it is ground quite fine. Some might say it needs a better finish but I have to disagree, as you will see later in the results section, this cooler performs really well despite the finish. Testing & ResultsTesting MethodologyThe following programs were used during testing;
Ambient temperatures were measured using a relatively cheap digital case temperature monitor and were consistently 23°C / 24°C. 30 minutes were allowed for the temperatures to stabilize before starting each test, Idle temperatures were then recorded after that FurMark was allowed to run for 10 minutes to load the GPU and find maximum temperatures. Each test was conducted 3 times and an average was taken from the 3. The tests were conducted under the following conditions;
Fan speeds were always at 100% which wasn't a problem as the two 100mm fans on the Bifrost are nearly inaudible at around 20db. The Bifrost uses one standard 3 pin fan connector for both fans so I was able to connect it to my fan controller, the speed of the stock fan was controlled using Riva Tuner. I'm relatively new to overclocking graphics cards, I'm sure that with a little more time and experience then I could probably achieve a better stable in game O/C. With this said, The point that I would really like to get across is that there is no real temperature difference between each of the overclocks. No matter how much I pushed the card, the Bifrost kept it nice and cool. Test System
ResultsThe stock cooler was tested purely for reference, after just 2 minutes I was worried about the temperatures, as you can see in the graph below, the card ran super hot with the stock cooler attached. I decided to end the test early so that I didn't toast my GPU before I had the chance to test the Xigmatek Bifrost.
With the Xigmatek Bifrost attached it was a different story altogether, temperatures stabilized at their maximum after 3 minutes and stayed put for the duration of the test. I am still trying to get over the shock from recording such low temperatures. A whole 18°C difference between idle temps and 38°C difference between load temps. I even decided to run FurMark in extreme burning mode to see if I had the settings wrong and there was no difference. The message here is that my O/C was not restricted by temperature, the amazing Bifrost was consistently able to keep the load temperature below the idle temperature recorded using the stock cooler. The graph says it all, this is a really extreme cooler. If only there was a way I could attach it to my CPU and replace my noisy zalman to see what it could do there, I'm sure it could work wonders alot like the HDT-S1283 also by Xigmatek. Bifrost VGA Cooler Final ThoughtsRight from the start, before I had even attached the Xigmatek Bifrost to my 9800 GT, I knew it was going to be a contender. Its a real shame when video card vendors cheap out on cooling solutions, its probably a tactic - like cars, designed to fail after a certain period of time so that you always have to upgrade but enough already with my conspiracy theories. This really is a great product and performs better than expectations, at a price that wont break the bank. It isn't widely available in the US and you may struggle to find a retailer. We will update this article as and when we receive more information on pricing and availability. Currently Caseking (German) have it at $32.90 EUR including VAT. Distribution looks to be Europe only.
Xigmatek VD1065 ConclusionPerformance is undoubtedly excellent but with only the stock fan to compare it to the tests were a little unfair, Although saying that, the Bifrost has shown that even when I pushed the graphics card to its limits it can easily cope with the temperature output. Like many other Xigmatek products the Bifrost is pleasing to look at, its nice when a company goes to the effort to make a product that performs well and looks good at the same time. The Bifrost is very well made, The black nickel paint job is very desirable too, It seems that the while copper and alluminium are the materials of choice, the bare look is out of fashion and nickel caoted is in. I have to agree that nickel coating certainly looks nicer and black nickel even more so. The Bifrost is quite big but that's probably how it delivers the results that it does. My GPU only makes contact with the middle three heat pipes, a high end card like the ATI 48xx or Nvidia GTX series would certainly utilise the outer two heatpipes and should attain equal, if not better performance. The pair of 100mm fans that dominate the cooler definitely serve their purpose as far as functionality is concerned and remain near silent at full speed, As I mentioned earlier if you brute force the fan mount off you could possibly damage it, although you shouldn't find the need to remove the fans unless you want to use it as a truly silent solution - With the fan speed turned down to minimum on my fan controller the Bifrost still managed to keep the GPU with stock clock speeds at 41°C idle and 56°C under load. Selling for $32.90 EUR is not much in the scheme of things for such a great VGA cooler, first of all its really going to prolong the life of my graphics card and at the same time its future proof - I know that when I decide to upgrade my hardware its going to be compatible. This would make a great addition to any enthusiasts setup and is definitely cheaper and safer than watercooling, I personally believe that you will not be disappointed if you were to purchase your own Xigmatek Bifrost VD1065 VGA cooler. Pros:
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