Help: Fan broke on my GeForce

[BadAsh]

Hey guys,

My fan recently died on my GeForce, I tried to replace it but couldn't find a small enough fan to fit on. So, I cut the fan out.

Question: Do you really need a fan on the card? If so, what should I do? Right now I'm running without the case on just to be safe.

Thanks

 

[vss1980]

First thing to do if running it without a fan is to either get another (spare) graphics card and put that in for the moment. If that is not an option, try to underclock the Geforce chip (and memory also if you want as this generates heat) as much as possible, but I have a feeing that will not be enough.

Running without the case on will not actually do much for you. Also try to elaborate on how you 'cut the fan out'. Do you mean that you cut the fan on the card off from the heatsink?

Either way, you will have to probably remove that old heatsink to get a proper replacement heatsink and fan. Also, if the card was still in warranty, you could have probably got a replacement unit, but I think cutting things out has now voided that.

As to replacing the heatsink and fan yourself, I cant really say much on that as I haven't done much to graphics cards, but by searching around you should be able to find some information on how is best to do this.

 

[BadAsh]

I screwed off the fan and cut the wire that was giving it power. The heatsink is still on the chip.

 

[vss1980]

What make Geforce is it? Most manufacturers would have used custom designed heatsink and fan units and will not accept a different fan. I doubt you will be able to fit another standard size fan as a lot of the heatsinks have fins only around the outside edge and the fan is mounted inside these fins.

Without seeing the card I can't really say, but I think you would probably be better off by removing the old Heatsink and attaching a newer (and probably better) third-party one.

EDIT: Actually, Why not just stick the fan back on (assuming you can make it look like it was never removed) and make good their guarantee?

 

[RoboTECH]

i bet you have a Creative labs, don't you?

 

[BadAsh]

It is a 3D Prophet DDR.

I won't be able to put it back on without them knowing I clipped the power wire from it hoping I could splice a new fan on.

 

[Brian48]

Just get a replacement cooling unit for it. The factory unit is crap anyway. There's plenty to choose from these days (ie. Blue Orb, Tennmax Detonator, etc. etc.).

In the meantime, while you're waiting for the thing to come in through the mail, run down to your local electronics store and buy a 3" or 4" case fan (if you don't have spare one handy already). Take the old fan off (but leave the heatsink on) and just mount the case fan up to it using a spare PCI slot cover as a bracket. It's easy to do and this setup is actually better than what you had before.

A little hard to explain, but if you Go here and skip to the section titled: The BIG Fan, you'll see what I mean.

 

[BadAsh]

Cool, I'll give that a try thanks

 

[MulLa]

Yer I had my Geforce DDR fan die on me a few months ago too. I replaced with a chipset heatsink and fan. By the way it's hard to find quality things here in Australia. But it's a bit thicker than the original one so I end up not being able to use the first PCI slot

 

[sauza]

Here is something to think about...if you've got a big pair. The store associated with this little tutorial is a good source. Plenty of little heatsinks, arctic silver adhesive and even ready made video cooling kits. It's the whole snapping sound he describes while taking the heatsink off the video chip that keeps me from trying the procedure.

 

[pac1085]

You can get a free replacement from hercules. Right on there site theres a fan-replacement form...