VOGONS


Coolers for older graphics cards.

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First post, by Baoran

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Is there any way to get a cooler with new fan for older graphics cards? In some cases it feels like the fan has been custom made for the cooler, so it feels like it would be hard to find just fan when bearings go bad.

Reply 1 of 20, by firage

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Sure. What cards? There's a good selection of cheap coolers on eBay, Chinese produced stuff. Just need to figure out the hole spacing.

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Reply 3 of 20, by firage

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That's the first example I saw on there: https://www.ebay.com/itm/131973227568
Probably not flat enough to use the PCI slot next to it, though.

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Reply 5 of 20, by vvbee

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With a case-mounting metal arm and long rubber 'screws' like in the picture you can mount a fan of your choosing face up directly under the thing you wanna cool, though it takes up an extra expansion slot. Depending on the weight of the fan you may be able to macgyver a household alternative for the metal arm, minding fire safety, but the main thing is to convert its vertical mount into a horizontal one with something like long bendable screws.
56606-p616910.jpg

Reply 6 of 20, by chinny22

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Quick google found
http://www.instructables.com/id/Installing-a- … k-on-a-Radeon-/

But going off the link firage gave it looks like you want any cooler with 55mm mounting support
55mm Mounting holes: Nvidia Geforce MX series, Nvidia Geforce FX 5200, Nvidia Geforce FX 5500, Nvidia Geforce FX 5600(FX 5700), Nvidia Geforce 6600 series (except 6600AGP series), ATI X1600 series, ATI X1300 series, ATI Radeon 9***series (except 9550/9600), ATI Radeon X*** series

 

Reply 7 of 20, by schmatzler

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Might not be enough for a Radeon X800, but I recently upgraded my GeForce 4 Ti4200 with a fanless Zalman ZM80A-HP.

It's a pretty big beast and takes up an additional PCI slot, but I can't hear it. Paired with a BeQuiet! power supply and a CPU fan with throttle control it makes up for a very low noise retro gaming machine.

Last edited by schmatzler on 2020-07-29, 08:21. Edited 2 times in total.

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Reply 8 of 20, by squiggly

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schmatzler wrote:
Might not be enough for a Radeon X800, but I recently upgraded my GeForce 4 Ti4200 with a fanless Zalman ZM80A-HP: […]
Show full quote

Might not be enough for a Radeon X800, but I recently upgraded my GeForce 4 Ti4200 with a fanless Zalman ZM80A-HP:

zm80ahp1.jpg

It's a pretty big beast and takes up an additional PCI slot, but I can't hear it. Paired with a BeQuiet! power supply and a CPU fan with throttle control it makes up for a very low noise retro gaming machine.

That looks amazing. I am currently thinking about replacing the large HSF on a Leadtek Ti4200...strange thing is I have a Ti4400 that has a much smaller HSF that doesn't wrap around the back. I note the one you used also seems to wrap about the back...is that really necessary? Is it for RAM chips or cooling the back of the GPU? Was it difficult to mount?

Reply 9 of 20, by Almoststew1990

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Another thing to be aware of is the size of the power connector - the graphics cards I've seen are all two pin but some have quite a large power connector whilst some have a smaller version. The fans I've seen online (ebay) are all the smaller variety. I am assuming you could re-purpose the old connector although I am not sure how you would do that!

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Reply 10 of 20, by Srandista

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If you find Zalman VF700-Al/AlCu/Cu, you should be good to go.

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Reply 11 of 20, by schmatzler

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squiggly wrote:

I note the one you used also seems to wrap about the back...is that really necessary? Is it for RAM chips or cooling the back of the GPU? Was it difficult to mount?

The cooler is very easy to mount. It's basically just consisting of 4 metal parts and a heatpipe that are all screwed together with thermal paste in between. It should fit on all kinds of older graphics cards, because the mounting holes are freely adjustable and it comes with two different blocks for different GPUs.
It does not cool the memory but the heatpipe is very efficient and it does make sure the heat gets distributed evenly on both sides of the cooler.

One disadvantage is the weight, though. The card is very heavy afterwards.

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Reply 12 of 20, by Smack2k

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schmatzler wrote:
The cooler is very easy to mount. It's basically just consisting of 4 metal parts and a heatpipe that are all screwed together w […]
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squiggly wrote:

I note the one you used also seems to wrap about the back...is that really necessary? Is it for RAM chips or cooling the back of the GPU? Was it difficult to mount?

The cooler is very easy to mount. It's basically just consisting of 4 metal parts and a heatpipe that are all screwed together with thermal paste in between. It should fit on all kinds of older graphics cards, because the mounting holes are freely adjustable and it comes with two different blocks for different GPUs.
It does not cool the memory but the heatpipe is very efficient and it does make sure the heat gets distributed evenly on both sides of the cooler.

One disadvantage is the weight, though. The card is very heavy afterwards.

🤣, speak for yourself...I just put one on my Ti 4600 and had a helluva time getting the tiny screws into the heatsink base and then attaching the moving arm and the other screw into the card...it was a pain in the ass as the heatsink front and back part kept sliding as I'd tighten one of the arms and go to tighten the other...the rest of the setup was fairly easy though, and it looks great....

Reply 13 of 20, by squiggly

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Smack2k wrote:

🤣, speak for yourself...I just put one on my Ti 4600

Which Ti4600 do you have? I have a Leadtek Ti4200 which has a similar HSF to the 4600 but with only one fan. Did your original 4600 heatsink make contact with the ram chips? Do you think it matters if the replacement one doesn't? I am planning on having a side-panel 140mm fan blow directly over my 4200 so I hope that is enough.

Reply 14 of 20, by cyclone3d

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Baoran wrote:

Radeon x800 pro AGP. I did a search on ebay with the model and only came up with actual graphics cards and not coolers for it.

Here is a replacement fan:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/65mm-VGA-Video-Card- … 5-/121132577201

Surprisingly, replacement fans are usually pretty easy to find on eBay for whatever video card you need it for.

Edit: the above listing is for used fans, but there should also be listings for new fans as well. They will just cost more.

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Reply 15 of 20, by lordmogul

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Strap a case fan to it. Should cool it good enough and might even lower the temps further.
Might need some tinkering on the cooler, but since it's about to replaced anyway there is no loss.

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Reply 16 of 20, by Tetrium

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lordmogul wrote:

Strap a case fan to it. Should cool it good enough and might even lower the temps further.
Might need some tinkering on the cooler, but since it's about to replaced anyway there is no loss.

I would however keep an eye on temps and do some heavy gaming to see if this is enough of a cooling solution. I've done this before a couple times but these were not the really very high end cards and had quite big stock heatsinks so I had a lot to work with 😀

Srandista wrote:

If you find Zalman VF700-Al/AlCu/Cu, you should be good to go.

+1 for this one. It fits relatively many cards and it works quite well. Just make sure it will fit before committing.
Once I needed to bend some of the fins a little.

squiggly wrote:
schmatzler wrote:
Might not be enough for a Radeon X800, but I recently upgraded my GeForce 4 Ti4200 with a fanless Zalman ZM80A-HP: […]
Show full quote

Might not be enough for a Radeon X800, but I recently upgraded my GeForce 4 Ti4200 with a fanless Zalman ZM80A-HP:

zm80ahp1.jpg

It's a pretty big beast and takes up an additional PCI slot, but I can't hear it. Paired with a BeQuiet! power supply and a CPU fan with throttle control it makes up for a very low noise retro gaming machine.

That looks amazing. I am currently thinking about replacing the large HSF on a Leadtek Ti4200...strange thing is I have a Ti4400 that has a much smaller HSF that doesn't wrap around the back. I note the one you used also seems to wrap about the back...is that really necessary? Is it for RAM chips or cooling the back of the GPU? Was it difficult to mount?

Well, I once tried to mount this one, but I found it a bit harder to do then the Zalman VF700. It was as if I needed at least 3 hands but it surely looks very good! 😁

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Reply 17 of 20, by Baoran

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I managed to find working original fan for the cooler. I decided I didn't want to replace the whole cooler because I really like the picture on the cooler.
No idea how much use that fan has had in the past and how long it is going to last, but at least it is giving me some time.

Reply 18 of 20, by Tetrium

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Baoran wrote:

I managed to find working original fan for the cooler. I decided I didn't want to replace the whole cooler because I really like the picture on the cooler.
No idea how much use that fan has had in the past and how long it is going to last, but at least it is giving me some time.

Thanks for keeping us updated 😁

And don't forget to keep a very close eye on temps at first.

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Reply 19 of 20, by Radical Vision

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When i did search back in the days for cooler like that i did found 2 coolers, that zalman here on the pictures, and other one that seems better and more masive.

Evercool VC-RHA - passive
Evercool VC-RHB - fans

I have the fan version, everyone knows evercool to be junk brand, but that cooler seems to be very nice, and to cool the old cards properly, and even have x2 heatpipes.
Now the fans are junk they die, so you can use just the heatsink, with other better fans. I did use that cooler to cool the stove ATi FireGL x3 and it did really good job..

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