My BB ATI 9600XT has a HYPRO bearing fan? !!!

[Blastman]

I was wondering what type of fan was on my retail 9600XT -- ie. ? sleeve or ball bearing (I like to put a drop of oil in sleeve bearing fans to make them last), so I pulled the fan off and checked it. It had a label on the back and it turns out it?s neither a sleeve or a ball bearing! A company called ADDA has come out with a type of hybrid-sleeve design that is similar to the fluid dynamic bearings (FDB) used on hard drives -- it?s called a HYPRO bearing (patented). And they have a whole line of small computer fans with these bearings.

From what I gather it?s basically a shaft sealed in a pot of oil and it pumps this oil around using a small groove and rides on the oil hydrodynamically. The HYPRO bearing has the longevity of a ball bearing at ~ 40% of cost with less vibration. According top ADDA?s pdf document the HYPRO bearing design can substantially out last even a ball bearing as the temperature rises.

link
? ? ? and is fitted with the ADDA HYPRO bearing system that provides long life at significantly lower costs than ball bearings. Life expectancy is over 50,000 hours at 25°C.

Cool technology.

 

[InlineFive]

Life expectancy is over 50,000 hours at 25°C.

I don't except to see even my Radeon 9600 Pro staying anywhere near that low for any period of time. However that's still a couple of years and most people upgrade in under three. But I do agree that this has potential and I would really like to see more of it on the market since I think GPU fans are very invasive.

-Por

 

[Pete]

I'd love to see that kind of longevity from my 9100's fan--I'm on my second replacement in maybe six months.

 

[Blastman]

Have you tried oiling the fan? When I read about your 9100 fan failing in another thread I pulled mine (preemptively) and oiled it. There is a small round black sticker on the underside of the fan that can be peeled back carefully to expose the sleeve bearing. Threw a couple drops of 5W-30 semi-synthetic motor oil in there. Seemed like there was hardly any oil in there to begin with.

thermatake has a Hydro-wave bearing fan out too which I?d imagine is very similar to the ADDA design. Considering the much lower cost of these Hydro bearings compared to ball bearing designs and their advantages over the standard sleeve design they will probably become a lot more common in the next few years.

Well folks, that?s your technology update for the week.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: Blastman

thermatake has a Hydro-wave bearing fan out too which I?d imagine is very similar to the ADDA design. Considering the much lower cost of these Hydro bearings compared to ball bearing designs and their advantages over the standard sleeve design they will probably become a lot more common in the next few years.

Well folks, that?s your technology update for the week.

Wasnt that fan just a Panaflo M1A or am I thinking of something else?

 

[Blastman]

Looks very similar. I googled the Panaflo M1A and it uses a Hydro-wave bearing too.