Asus V8420S fan is dying... which new one?

[Jeff7181]

I went away for the weekend, had the computer off all weekend, turned it on when I got back, and the fan was making a lot of noise... I let it warm up, knowing fans will make more noise when cold than when at operating temp... noise didn't change.
At first I wasn't sure what it was that was making the noise, so I started unplugging individual fans and turning it on to see what was making all the noise... finally, I had all fans unplugged, the hard drive unplugged, and still heard the noise, so I pulled the connected for the fan on the card off, turned it back on, and no noise.
So now I got everything back together with that fan unplugged, I've underclocked my video card to make sure it doesn't get too hot right now... but now I'm looking for a replacement heatsink and fan for it. Thought about getting one from Asus, but then I thought, why not go with an "aftermarket" alternative that might do the job even better... are there any passive heatsinks for GF4's?
I have an 80mm slot fan right below the card, and the front case fans both blow air over the heatsink on the card, so I'm thinking, maybe a passive heatsink would do just fine, and the case fans and that slot exhaust fan would provide enough cooling.

Opinions? Suggestions?

 

[pillage2001]

I would recommend the Thermaltake GF4 cooling kit which you can get from newegg. I would get it as it comes with additional RAMsinks too. That might help in your overclock. Give the loving the 8420s deserves.

 

[Jeff7181]

I've been lookin at it, and I guess they used an adhesive paste to put the heatsink on... how hard are those to remove? How should I remove it without damaging anything? Should I use Arctic Silver 3 when I put a new one on? Or should I use their adhesive compound?

 

[pillage2001]

I believe the thermal take has separate adhesive tapes. You can choose not to use it. I have th same card as you. I took out the fan and reapplied a layer of Artic Ceramica on it. You can do the same too. I would not recommend AS3 as I've read around that it will kill the card. THose are tapes, not paste as far as I can recall.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

You should call ASUS and they WILL send you a replacement fan. You don't have to spend one cent, and worry about incompatible fan clips and so on.

In January this year, the fan on one of my two ASUS 7700 Deluxe cards (almost two years old!) started making noises like a dentist's drill. I called ASUS, gave them my card's serial number, and in one week, I had a brand new fan. You see, they sent me a replacement despite the fact that the card was bought more than one year ago. Now, that's what I call customer care.

As far as overclocking goes, your ASUS SmartDoctor should be able to take care of that without the need for aftermarket fans.

Just my two cents, of course it's your card, you do whatever you want with it.

 

[pillage2001]

Originally posted by: AnitaPeterson
You should call ASUS and they WILL send you a replacement fan. You don't have to spend one cent, and worry about incompatible fan clips and so on.

In January this year, the fan on one of my two ASUS 7700 Deluxe cards (almost two years old!) started making noises like a dentist's drill. I called ASUS, gave them my card's serial number, and in one week, I had a brand new fan. You see, they sent me a replacement despite the fact that the card was bought more than one year ago. Now, that's what I call customer care.

As far as overclocking goes, your ASUS SmartDoctor should be able to take care of that without the need for aftermarket fans.

Just my two cents, of course it's your card, you do whatever you want with it.

Asus card has 3 years warrany on them. The thermal take hsf should cool better than the stock Asus fan, he'll get better results with them.

 

[Jeff7181]

I contacted Asus online and within 3 minutes I got a response saying to call their RMA service and they'll send a replacement fan. They also said I may use Arctic Silver. I wrote back asking if they will still honor all warranties if I use Arctic Silver 3 and it causes the card to fail.

Other manufacturers could learn a lot from Asus... 3 minutes is the fastest tech support response I've ever gotten.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

ASUS is lousy when you call for specific things (e.g. "What decoder chip do you have on the 8400 Deluxe"), but they are really good about taking care of things like "card service"...