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Where to get replacement video card fan? Or maybe just use a heatsink?
Video card: ATI Radeon 64MB DDR VIVO
Fan: 40mm x 40mm body, 33mm x 33mm holes The fan for the GPU on my video has gotten very noisy. I already tried the trick of oiling it and that did reduce its noise somewhat, but it is still too noisy. It's a pretty thin fan; I don't think it is even 10mm thick although that's what I see listed for the thickness of most 40mm fans. I suppose I could just buy a 40mm fan and splice it to the miniature power plug so the fan connects to the power tap on the video card as it does now. I can do the splicing, soldering, and heat shrink but I'd rather not. Getting lazy in my old age. I'd rather just get a replacement fan and screw it on and plug it in and be done with it. I've sent e-mail to ATI asking about how much it would cost for them to send me a non-warranty replacement but sometimes they don't respond to e-mail inquiries, and the cost-per-minute for the legacy support would outweight just buying a 40mm fan and hacking it onto the heat sink and splicing on the mini power plug. Just wondering if anyone here happens to know a handy place that carries just the fan needed to replace the one on this video card. I'm in the USA so I would need to find a vendor here to reduce shipping costs. If I go with buying a generic 40mm fan and slapping it atop the heat sink, I might also have to get longer screws. As I mentioned, the stock ATI video card fan is pretty thin (I forgot to measure that dimension), so the stock screws probably won't work. I've seen Sunon and Evercool fans in the 40mm size, but the Evercool seems to spec out to be a quieter fan. Then again, I wonder if I really need a fan *if* I replace the heat sink instead. The stock heat sink is hollowed out in the middle to accomodate the fan hub so there isn't much metal mass to this heat sink. In fact, it sure looks like a tiny heat sink. Hmm, maybe I could just replace the heat sink with a honking big one and forget the fan and its noise altogether. In that case, I'd like suggestions from anyone that has already removed the stock heat sink from an ATI Radeon to know hard it is to remove it. Would sawing it off with dental floss work (so I don't have to apply pressure trying to pry it off)? I figure then to scrap off any residue and then clean the chip with something (what?) before applying the bigger heat sink with no fan. Has anyone done this on the Radeon 64MM DDR VIVO video card (I believe it is usually equated to their 7200 model)? -- __________________________________________________ __________ ** Share with others. Post replies in the newsgroup. ** If present, remove all "-nix" from my email address. __________________________________________________ __________ |
#2
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Vanguard wrote:
Video card: ATI Radeon 64MB DDR VIVO Fan: 40mm x 40mm body, 33mm x 33mm holes The fan for the GPU on my video has gotten very noisy. I already tried the trick of oiling it and that did reduce its noise somewhat, but it is still too noisy. It's a pretty thin fan; I don't think it is even 10mm thick although that's what I see listed for the thickness of most 40mm fans. http://sidewindercomputers.com/50milfan.html A larger heatsink cemented on with thermal epoxy would be even better. I think Zalman makes one. -- Winerr 012 - Cash Underflow - Credit Card Number Will Be Assimilated |
#3
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I was also considering replacing the tiny stock heatsink and noisy fan
with just a large heatsink, like what Zalman offers. However, Zalman still recommends a fan (and, of course, their product) for Radeon 64MB DDR or higher models. I also read a couple articles where the Zalman heatsinks were tested, including the all copper one, on video cards of slightly lesser performance than mine. The result was an increase of 5 degrees Celsius (don't remember if that was when idle or when under load, like when playing a video-intensive game for awhile). Only when a fan was used did the Zalman perform better than the active stock cooling (heatsink + fan). Well, in that case, I might as well as just replace the 40mm fan that's already on the tiny heatsink since I haven't had overheating problems so far. I've written ATI (and then had to write again to fill in an RMA form) to see if they will send me a replacement fan. I'm certainly not going to wait 2 months to ship it in, get it repaired, and shipped back all the while with my system dead. If they won't send me one then I'll buy a generic one and some longer screws. I've seen Sunon brand for 40mm fans but they're rated at 29 to 31 dB for noise while, I think, the Evercool 40mm fans were rated for 22 to 25 dB. Then there's the other option of tossing the noisy fan on the video card and using Zalman's bracket-supported fan (http://www.zalman.co.kr/usa/product/fb123.htm). If an 80 or 120 mm fan would fit between the card tops and the side panel, and if it would cover both the GPU and CPU, then I could even get rid of the noisy fan for the Pentium 3 Slot1 SECC2 CPU (by popping off the plastic cover with the embedded fan that snaps onto the heatsink and just leave the heatsink fully exposed to get cooled by the Zalman bracketed fan. I really don't want to punch holes in the side panel, put in a grill, and use a case fan because that opens a big hole to let more noise out, plus it probably wouldn't look good. But until I open the case again to measure how far apart is the video heatsink from the farthest edge of the CPU heatsink, and check for clearance above the cards and CPU to the sidepanel, I don't know if the Zalman bracket is a solution since the fan may not span that far or fit above these components. -- __________________________________________________ __________ ** Share with others. Post replies in the newsgroup. ** If present, remove all "-nix" from my email address. __________________________________________________ __________ "S.Heenan" wrote in message news Vanguard wrote: Video card: ATI Radeon 64MB DDR VIVO Fan: 40mm x 40mm body, 33mm x 33mm holes The fan for the GPU on my video has gotten very noisy. I already tried the trick of oiling it and that did reduce its noise somewhat, but it is still too noisy. It's a pretty thin fan; I don't think it is even 10mm thick although that's what I see listed for the thickness of most 40mm fans. http://sidewindercomputers.com/50milfan.html A larger heatsink cemented on with thermal epoxy would be even better. I think Zalman makes one. -- Winerr 012 - Cash Underflow - Credit Card Number Will Be Assimilated |
#4
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Vanguard wrote:
I was also considering replacing the tiny stock heatsink and noisy fan with just a large heatsink, like what Zalman offers. However, Zalman still recommends a fan (and, of course, their product) for Radeon 64MB DDR or higher models. I also read a couple articles where the Zalman heatsinks were tested, including the all copper one, on video cards of slightly lesser performance than mine. The result was an increase of 5 degrees Celsius (don't remember if that was when idle or when under load, like when playing a video-intensive game for awhile). Only when a fan was used did the Zalman perform better than the active stock cooling (heatsink + fan). Well, in that case, I might as well as just replace the 40mm fan that's already on the tiny heatsink since I haven't had overheating problems so far. I've written ATI (and then had to write again to fill in an RMA form) to see if they will send me a replacement fan. I'm certainly not going to wait 2 months to ship it in, get it repaired, and shipped back all the while with my system dead. If they won't send me one then I'll buy a generic one and some longer screws. I've seen Sunon brand for 40mm fans but they're rated at 29 to 31 dB for noise while, I think, the Evercool 40mm fans were rated for 22 to 25 dB. Then there's the other option of tossing the noisy fan on the video card and using Zalman's bracket-supported fan (http://www.zalman.co.kr/usa/product/fb123.htm). If an 80 or 120 mm fan would fit between the card tops and the side panel, and if it would cover both the GPU and CPU, then I could even get rid of the noisy fan for the Pentium 3 Slot1 SECC2 CPU (by popping off the plastic cover with the embedded fan that snaps onto the heatsink and just leave the heatsink fully exposed to get cooled by the Zalman bracketed fan. I really don't want to punch holes in the side panel, put in a grill, and use a case fan because that opens a big hole to let more noise out, plus it probably wouldn't look good. But until I open the case again to measure how far apart is the video heatsink from the farthest edge of the CPU heatsink, and check for clearance above the cards and CPU to the sidepanel, I don't know if the Zalman bracket is a solution since the fan may not span that far or fit above these components. Considering the 40mm fan doesn't move much air (10CFM), the Zalman FB123 looks like a really good option. The FB123 with the included 92mm fan can be moved into any number of positions. You can add an additional fan to the bracket if you like. -- Winerr 012 - Cash Underflow - Credit Card Number Will Be Assimilated |
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