The VF-1000LED is packaged in a split blister pack. No knife or scissors necessary. Actually, I found the locking mechanism on the blister pack kind of interesting. It locks by inserting a round peg in a square hole. Who'd of guessed?

This is one massive heatsink. It is nearly as large as older video cards, and weighs in at nearly a pound. 100% copper…it is a damn shame that it will be hidden under the card. Look at those beautiful shiny copper heatpipes. I'm sorry, I love copper in a rig.

The 80mm fan itself looks similar to the fan on the VF-700Cu. That fan is extremely quiet and very efficient. I expect this one to be the same.



From the rear, the VF-1000 looks just as massive. Zalman did a great job lapping the base. It has been a while since I received a heatsink already lapped; very refreshing. I suppose that all of Zalman's heatsinks come lapped, I know the ones I have gotten were.



Notice the numerous mounting holes. The VF-1000 is designed to be compatible with many different video cards. Actually, looking at the compatibility list, it will fit nearly every video card made in the last five or six years, with the exception of the geForce 6600 AGP, which has a separate heatsink for the AGP/PCI-E interface. If you have one of those, I highly recommend your using a VF-700Cu, which will fit, though you will have to do a little modification to the ramsinks, if you use them.



Besides the mounting hardware, the VF-1000 comes with eight ramsinks and a Zalman case badge. Zalman also thoughtfully included extra thermal tape, which is very much appreciated. Generally, the tape loses its adhesion after being removed, if you want to place them on another card. It also comes with a very detailed instruction booklet; mine was written in well-translated English on one side and Korean on the other.

For controlling the fan, Zalman included a Fanmate II fan controller. That is a cool addition, though I really liked the power adapter they included in the past, which connected to a four-pin Molex, and had two 12v and two 5v fan connections. It was a nice way to power a couple of extra fans at 5v. I probably won't be using the Fanmate II, as I recently reviewed the Zalman MFC2 Fan Controller and will be using it to control the cooler.