Solved

tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
18,901
554
126
Since Sapphire Tech Support and Forums both were unhelpful, I'll give Anand a shot....Cooling fan is starting to die (bearing noise) on a Sapphire Radeon HD 3650 that I purchased several years ago. I don't have the card in my possession and thus cannot perform any measurements to ensure a replacement will fit. It resides with a friend several hundred miles away, for whom I built the PC. Newegg still has the page URL active with photos:

SAPPHIRE 100236L Radeon HD3650

Looks like one of those straight-bladed "impeller" fans, 2-pin/wire. If I can get a fan that I know will be a drop-in (or screw-in) replacement, then my friend is mechanically-inclined enough to replace it himself. I just want to replace the DC fan, not the entire HSF assembly.
 
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Techhog

Platinum Member
Sep 11, 2013
2,834
2
26
Why not replace the graphics card itself? HD3650 is so slow by today's standards that a new equivalent GPU costs $30: http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#sort=a8&page=1. You could probably find a used card that works for much less than that.

Otherwise... this is all I've got:


+

I agree on buying a new card. That card just doesn't seem worth investing in. $15 fan, or $30-40 new card with double the performance, double the VRAM, lower power consumption, and up-to-date drivers? Seems like a no brainer.
 
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tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
18,901
554
126
It's dead, Jim! Evidently, it was not the fan bearing going bad, it was the smart fan speeding up to it's max RPM causing the atrocious noise, because the card was overheating and finally gave-up the ghost. He is using the onboard graphics for now, until I ship him a Radeon HD 6450 (fanless) that I purchased a year ago and haven't used.

BTW, GPU prices have gone up. Unless it has some killer rebate deal, you can't get a new card with 2x the performance of the HD 3650 for $30 ~ $40. Especially since the HD 3650 was 128-bit mem interface and pretty much everything in that range is going to be 64-bit (or even 32-bit) mem interface.

Anyway, thanks for the replies!
 

Techhog

Platinum Member
Sep 11, 2013
2,834
2
26
It's dead, Jim! Evidently, it was not the fan bearing going bad, it was the smart fan speeding up to it's max RPM causing the atrocious noise, because the card was overheating and finally gave-up the ghost. He is using the onboard graphics for now, until I ship him a Radeon HD 6450 (fanless) that I purchased a year ago and haven't used.

BTW, GPU prices have gone up. Unless it has some killer rebate deal, you can't get a new card with 2x the performance of the HD 3650 for $30 ~ $40. Especially since the HD 3650 was 128-bit mem interface and pretty much everything in that range is going to be 64-bit (or even 32-bit) mem interface.

Anyway, thanks for the replies!

Memory bandwidth is only one piece of the puzzle, though. There are also used options in that price range on eBay. Either way, at least you had a back-up to give him.
 

Pandamonia

Senior member
Jun 13, 2013
433
49
91
Since Sapphire Tech Support and Forums both were unhelpful, I'll give Anand a shot....Cooling fan is starting to die (bearing noise) on a Sapphire Radeon HD 3650 that I purchased several years ago. I don't have the card in my possession and thus cannot perform any measurements to ensure a replacement will fit. It resides with a friend several hundred miles away, for whom I built the PC. Newegg still has the page URL active with photos:

SAPPHIRE 100236L Radeon HD3650

Looks like one of those straight-bladed "impeller" fans, 2-pin/wire. If I can get a fan that I know will be a drop-in (or screw-in) replacement, then my friend is mechanically-inclined enough to replace it himself. I just want to replace the DC fan, not the entire HSF assembly.

"few years ago" lol

That card is a fossil. What games do you play on that... tetris?
 

tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
18,901
554
126
"few years ago" lol

That card is a fossil. What games do you play on that... tetris?
I don't know which explains the error in your reply; ignorance on how properly quote, very poor short-term memory between reading and replying, or that you overestimate your own reading comprehension skills?