GameBanshee Forums

Mine is about three years old, and the fan was a bad choice from the beginning. Right now I use ATItools to bounce the RPM up and down between certain temperature levels. It's the only way to keep it from grinding to a halt and overheat my computer.

http://www.gamepc.com/images/labs/rev-9 ... rontLG.jpg

The one I have is of a different manufacturer, but the layout is 90% the same. I can't order replacements parts for it and every tech shop I've been to wants to replace the entire heat sink.

My idea: http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/directron/zmf103.jpg

Can't I just assemble a simple case fan on top of it? I'll have to draw power from the extra (high output) fan outlet on the motherboard, remove the old fan so it won't get in the way of the air flow and close up any holes with duct tape. Unless I'm mistaken I'd get a much stronger airflow too, case fans are generally much stronger.

So what do you think? I'd rather take the 5 euro solution over the 100+ one.

Gettin' the duct tape off the roll was the hardest part.

- No more rattlin' fan
- Less Db output
- In standby mode the GPU is about ten degrees colder now than before? :speech:

I should have done this a long time ago. I'm gonna try a closer fit tomorrow and remove some of the things that currently block the air flow (like the old fan and some duct tape).

So, if you ever find yourself with an overheatin' GPU, try puttin' put a frickin' case fan on it first and save yourself a wad of money.

Yes, ah memories....
Bit of an old piece it together and watch it work better......
used to have, back in the day, old DOS and 95 machines, at the dawn of the 98 era....five networked game hogs and 2 old laptops, that a bunch of us would spend the weekend tearing apart and rebuilding and playing games on....
Duct tape rules!

That thing gets pretty hot though. I'm worried the glue might come loose and the whole could just slide off without me noticing. I think I might have to come up with a way to better attach the casefan, preferably one that doesn't involve drilling holes into the GPU board.

I don't mind replacing the CPU fan with a better CPU fan (from a reputable brand, that is) but replacing a graphics card fan? I don't have the guts to do something like this. Too risky, in my opinion.

The fan I can handle. Removing the entire cooling fin off and scraping the termal conductor glue off the gpu's surface is stuff I won't try (and frankly I saved money on that today). Doesn't mean I don't make mistakes though. A screw fell into the computer and shortcircuited the system board. Thankfully removing it solved the trouble. That was quite the scare though, for I moment I thought I had broken the graphics card.

Anyway, I refitted it without duct tape, removed the old fan and reversed the air flow. The temperature dropped another eleven degrees so I might actually go and try overclocking it a little bit. I've never seen it run steady on 41 degrees Celius before (idle mode).

I also replaced the fan on my video card; however, I bought a special aftermarket cooler: the Zalman VF900. I didn't monitor my temps before the upgrade, but right now my 7900GT (overclocked to 541/1600) is idling at 36C
I think buying an aftermarket GPU cooler is worth it, because it will not only cool better than a case fan (at least, that sounds obvious to me), but also you can attach it more securely than with duct tape
And if you want to do it correctly, you need to replace the thermal grease. If you don't, you might get the problem that it doesn't cover well anymore.