Found this older thread with Google and was surprised that there was not much information. GPU Fan Replacement Advice
I have a few worn graphics cards with noisy fans which I was going to chisel off. Could anyone recommend a link for a decent and quiet aftermarket heatsink fan combo which does not utilise the adjacent expansion slot area? Just a simple heatsink/fan, and in particular, something for a Banshee, TI4400, GT6600, GF3, and a few others in this era. I thought about just replacing the fan on these heatsinks, but it is proving more troublesome.
I see some simple heatsink/fan units in China which are nearly free, but I sincerely question the quality, longevity, and noise with longevity, e.g.
With the first one, the square one, you often run into components on the PCB. So the second type, with the pins being extended away, is a better design.
I've used such a cooler on a GeForce 256, but I wouldn't trust it with something more powerful, like a GeForce 4 Ti or 6600 GT. The decent China coolers I have for those cards, they all extend into the second slot I'm afraid.
So your best bet would be replacing the original fan, maybe trying to repair them, lubricate them?
Aliexpress has the basic aluminium VGA heatsinks including a cooler in bulk or single for just a few euro's. also the one you are referring to are cheaper in china aswell (I ordered a bunch of those for 2-3 euro in packs of 5.)
PhilsComputerLab wrote:I believe I have both types of coolers. […] Show full quote
I believe I have both types of coolers.
With the first one, the square one, you often run into components on the PCB. So the second type, with the pins being extended away, is a better design.
I've used such a cooler on a GeForce 256, but I wouldn't trust it with something more powerful, like a GeForce 4 Ti or 6600 GT. The decent China coolers I have for those cards, they all extend into the second slot I'm afraid.
So your best bet would be replacing the original fan, maybe trying to repair them, lubricate them?
how did you fit it on your geforce 256? I got a hercules SD version and I couldn't get them to fit on there.
Did you end up picking anything up, feipoa? I finally fired up a recent acquired Voodoo Banshee, and it sounds like a banshee. The 5V fan is saying, "kill me or I will do it myself."
I haven't yet dived into the GPU fan project. I decided it was a good time to take a short break from the hobby to build my combination wood shed/garden shed that I spent about a year casually designing. I finally started building it about 3 weeks ago. I'm also having trouble with my neighbour who thinks it is OK to excavate straight down 1 meter at our fence line. There isn't even any soil left holding in the fence post concrete - it is all exposed. The big bad wolf could blow our fence down with a whisper. I spent some time with bylaw enforcement and trying to make some bylaws fit our situation, but I was left high and dry. The neighbour told us to take down our fence (which is entirely on our property) and build a retaining wall on our side of the property, then rebuild the fence. Who excavates 1 meter down at a 90 degree angle right at the fence line without intending to put up a retaining wall? And why is this legal? Apparently, it is only illegal if the neighbour is trucking the soil out of his property, but he happens to be moving the soil to the other side of his property in an attempt to level the yard out.
So unless I am OK with the coming Fall's wind blowing down our fence, and the rains eroding our yard away, I will be engaged in another time consuming en devour to remove the fence and put in a retaining wall.
Anyway, let me know what you find to replace the Banshee fan. I find the pitch of that fan very irritating.
Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.
I've got a Zalman VF 100 set aside for when the fan finally dies.
It raps around to the back of the card and as AGP usually has a fair bit of space above the card can mount a fan if needs be
I too have a VNF100 stashed away in case my 6800GT OEM coolers ever fail. However, these look like they would also work well, but they are not a single-slot cooler:
They also made the fan that was in the AT power supply I recently recapped. I saw that it said Hypro bearing. AddA actually has some reading for it. http://www.adda.com.tw/tech.php?no=7
I know that some fans have caps over the bearing. This one did not. It basically used the rear sticker to cover to bearing.
Naturally, the sticker isn't quite as sticky as it was! I waited a bit to put it back on the heatsink - I wiped down the edges of the sticker, turned the fan over, made sure it wasn't leaving any oil residue, etc. After it seemed like I got the excess oil cleaned up, I place the fan back on the heatsink and tightened it down.
Two notes regarding the "sticker over the oil" -
1: I peeled the sticker away at the top of the fan assembly (where the wires come out) so any sticker that is peeling away is at the top of the heatsink/card. Good for system use as it will either be at the top when upright (desktop case) or upside down with sticker facing straight up (tower case).
2: More importantly, the back of the fan/back sticker is firmly clamped to the heatsink with the 4-screw bracket that held it in place. There was no dust between the back of the fan and the inside of the heatsink because there was basically no space between the two (see dust pattern inside heatsink in the second photo above). The clamp should therefore keep the sticker sealed.
Ideally, I suppose a new sticker (or even better - a cap) would do best on the back rather than reusing a peeled sticker. Funny - I actually did a bit of reading after I did the oil work using the search term "hypro bearing oil cap," and what do you know but this came up - http://www.dansdata.com/fanmaint.htm
I may experiment with the Banshee on the bench a bit prior to integrating it into one of my systems, but the darn thing is super quiet now.
Penetrating oil is not a good lubricant for bearings. Penetrating oils (and also WD40) are cleaning agents to get dirt out of bearings and other mechanical constructions. That they also tend to contain some stuff that happens to lubricate is a coincidence.
Use the penetrating oil to remove any dirt, clean with alcohol (let all alcohol evaporate after cleaning), and add a drop or two of actual bearing oil.
There was a lot of conflicting information out there when I started Googling around. Some guys saying one thing - other guys disagreeing and saying another. Sewing machine oil, 3-in-one, motor oil, grease. Then application of sleeve bearing vs ball bearing, etc. Everyone seemed to just use whatever they wanted. WD-40 seems to be a weird catch-all/solve-all for a lot of people, but I certainly wasn't going to use it.
In the end, I just settled on what was most convenient. I figured if the timeline was short, I would just do it again and use something else.
