2 new Silencers and a vid card fan problem.

[Jman13]

Well, my 2 silencer fans came today, and I replaced the 2 that came with my Antec SX1040b. The case is noticably quieter, but still relatively loud, I think because the HSF fan is high pitched, and I do still have 4 case fans in there. I put one each of the silencers in the front and the back.

Plus, a problem. When I put everything together again, I noticed an odd "whoomp whoomp whoomp" sound, but couldn't tell where it was coming from. Checked all fans, and all were spinning. Put the case back together and put it in...could still here the vibration sound. Took out the case, looked around, and realized I hadn't checked the video card (Visiontek GF3 ti200) fan, and sure enough, it was spinning at about 60rpm. (I could read the label as it went around.) I shut down the machine, took out my vid card (the HS was HOT), and blew all the dust out of it that I could (wasn't much), and blew it so it spun a lot. Put it back in, and it still wouldn't spin right...finally, I pushed it while it was on, and it spun right up at full speed. I kept watching it for a while, and it stayed on.

So, what do you think I should do about this GPU fan? I think it'll be fine if I keep the machine on all the time, but I don't want to have to take my cover off each time to make sure the GPU isn't going to overheat. (Although, if it does, it'll likely just lock up, tipping me off.) Anyone had this problem before? Seems silly to send the card to Visiontek for a fan issue, though.

 

[HappyPuppy]

Save yourself a lot of hassle and just buy a fan to put on it. There's no point in taking the chance of frying your GPU.

Another thought, you could pull the card out of the case and put a drop of oil on the fan bearing. That might be all that's wrong with it.

 

[Jman13]

Well, on one hand, I was thinking of adding a Blue Orb or a Crystal Orb to it. On the other hand, this thing has a lifetime warranty. If I take the HSF off, it'll void the warranty, and there will be no way to get a replacement should it fail in the future. If this GPU fries because the fan that came with it fails, then I should be able to get a free vid card. So for those reasons, I think I'll probably just keep it the way it is. If I notice that the card is becoming unstable, I may just buy a HSF, or get the new card from Visiontek...I'll cross that bridge if I come to it. But, I'm not worried about losing the card, since it is under warranty.

 

[lordbob99]

so did u solve ur noise problems? i'm running the visiontek gf2 gts-v rite now, and haven't noticed it making a lot of noise. the big noise maker for me always turned out to be the lil fan that was blowing on the northbridge. that single fan was making about 5x as much noise as everything else in my computer combined. i just unplugged the fan, and my computer was nice and quiet. no stability problems or anything, as i don't overclock, so the northbridge doesn't get too hot.

lordbob99

 

[Jman13]

My machine is not exactly silent, but it's considerably quieter after replacing the Antec 80mms with the 2 PPCnC Silencer 80mms. It now sounds like a computer rather than a leaf blower. It sounds pretty good for a machine with 4 80mm case fans, a chipset fan, and a HSF, plus 3 7200RPM hard drives.

As for the vid card HSF, I think I may end up getting a Crystal Orb...haven't decided yet.

 

[crash2much]

yeh, go with an orb ( any of them are better then the original heat sink/fan on the visiontek) Also, visiontek has had a few problems with thier cooling solution for their vid cards and have replaced them. If ya search around you'll see what I mean.
Small warning though, if you go with an orb, remeber to hold onto your original heatsink/fan, as you may need it if you have to RMA the card in the future. Changing Visionteks's cooling affects their lifetime warrentee.

 

[Wuzup101]

I had the same problem with my leadtek heatsink on my GF2 PRO. So I contacted leadtek and they said it would be $5 for a new hsf unit (for shipping...the product was free). So I got it and then got a blorb anyway. The blorb was about 10C better than the stock HSF. I'm gonna have to add one to my 8500 soon too.

Just remember to keep the old stuff

 

[Jman13]

I called the local PC shop around here, and they're ordering me a Crystal Orb...gonna cost me only $9! Cool, huh? that's half what it would cost shipped anywhere else I could find online. After working with the machine for a while, it's definitely quieter, but still fairly loud. Because of the loss of a little airflow with the quieter fans, my system temp and CPU load temps have risen 2C. However, I think the quieter system is worth the slight increase in temps.

 

[Jhhnn]

Put both fans in the rear, blowing out. You'll actually get better airflow, and the perceived noise level will be lower because the source of the noise will be further from your ears. Might want to put the smallest maxtor out to pasture, and consider a quiet HSF for the processor- work on the loudest fan first, it'll make the most difference.

 

[Jman13]

Jhhnn - I have 4 case fans, not 2. Two are in the top rear, blowing out (one silencer and one Enermax thermally controlled), and two are in the bottom front, blowing in. One silencer is in the front, along with a galaxy fan in the HD cage.

Originally both Antec fans were in the back, but I moved the Enermax fan to the rear (it was in front), since it moves more air and is louder than the silencers, and put one of the silencers in the front because it's quiet. The other silencer is in the back with the Enermax. There is good airflow in there, but there's a lot of hot stuff in there too. Eventually, I'll likely get a new HSF for the XP, but not for a while. The 6.5GB Seagate may be leaving soon (I'm not getting rid of my 20GB Maxtor any time soon), as I might use it to make my old computer operable (it needs a HD).

Jman