I thought there was a thread around here about putting them in a freezer to help bust the glue.

edit - here's what i was thinking of:
Matching CPUs with Voodoo cards

Well, 3dfx chips are hot by default.

I did this:
I removed the two small fans (too loud) and replaced them with one 12 or 14 inch fan. I used a large cable binder to fix the fan on the card, running the binder round the long side of the card. Then I used hot glue to fix the fan to the cable binder. The fan is too big, so you can either close the direct blow-through path or (thats what I did), use some plastic packaging to turn the airflow by 90° so it passes over the back of the card.
So far, it works ok.

To remove the heatsinks, I read to use a freezer and a screwdriver as lever. I passed that option...

You need to put something under the screwdriver like an old credit-card. Otherwise you might damage the components on the pcb. And putting it in the freezer is not really neccessary. I've never had problems doing it without that step, just be carefull.

Also, you can not passively cool a V4/V5 unless you have proper airflow in your case. I didn't and my V5 would lock up without fans in 3D even though it had bigger heatsinks (Zalman ZM-NB32's).

I used the freezer trick. Cleaned off chips with Laquer thinner and install some MX-2 and a couple of NB heatsinks from socket A boards. Attached a 90mm fan across both heatsinks with some 6lb test fishing wire 😀

Thanks for the feedback. From the sounds of it, I think I'll be better off just ensuring there' a case fan blowing on it and ensuring adequate ventilation.

Check this out:
http://www.falconfly.de/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl … =1231551864/8#8

I had to do a custom cooling for my card, since the card I bought came without any heat spreaders. But I can also confirm the 'freezer' trick - it works very fine and the chance to do damage to the card practically doesnt exist.

Does the Voodoo 5 really get that hot? Never noticed it, always seemed to run fine on me.
I think Swayee's solution is more than enough, unscrew the stock fans and put a 9" fan in there.

It certainly would have been nice if 3dfx had used slightly beefier heatsinks. There's not much surface area there. But my 80x15mm fan on 5v has worked fine. I set this up years ago.

swaaye wrote:

It certainly would have been nice if 3dfx had used slightly beefier heatsinks. There's not much surface area there. But my 80x15 […]
Show full quote

It certainly would have been nice if 3dfx had used slightly beefier heatsinks. There's not much surface area there. But my 80x15mm fan on 5v has worked fine. I set this up years ago.

Wait a minute. Aren't you the one who has a thing for super quiet video cards? That massive fan can't be all that quiet.

sliderider wrote:

Wait a minute. Aren't you the one who has a thing for super quiet video cards? That massive fan can't be all that quiet.

As I said, it's on 5v. There's nothing to hear.

swaaye wrote:

sliderider wrote:

Wait a minute. Aren't you the one who has a thing for super quiet video cards? That massive fan can't be all that quiet.

As I said, it's on 5v. There's nothing to hear.

What's the voltage got to do with it? It's the fan blades beating against the air that makes the noise and that's going to happen regardless of how much power it draws.

Lower voltage makes it turn slower.

My main tip for quiet fans is decoupling them with rubber things because vibrations are often the main source of noise.

Larger fans usually are quieter compared to little squirrel fans. This is because they can spin a lot slower and push more air.

swaaye wrote:

It certainly would have been nice if 3dfx had used slightly beefier heatsinks. There's not much surface area there. But my 80x15 […]
Show full quote

It certainly would have been nice if 3dfx had used slightly beefier heatsinks. There's not much surface area there. But my 80x15mm fan on 5v has worked fine. I set this up years ago.

I cool mine the same way. Just that I have a much larger fan that covers both heatsinks. Excess air is directed towards the back of the card. I think I even have it set at 12V, since it is a slow running case fan.

What size attachments does this forum allow?

That single large fan idea looks good. I've already lost one 5500, but I dunno whether it's to heat or general old age. I'm thinking of getting maybe one of those pci slot fan blower thingys and putting that right under the card, or make one myself out of 2-3 80mm fans.

What did it do to say "I am dead"?

Currently I am just using the stock fans, and they seem to do the job fine, however the case I am using has nice fans and good airflow. The last time I had a pci Voodoo 5 I did however swap the fans out using special fan adapter plates:

You can purchase the plates on ebay for a few bucks last time I checked. They were offered in different colors.

ux-3 wrote:

What did it do to say "I am dead"?

Oh, totally messed up screen at boot up with typical burnt out gpu ram symptoms. Or more usually, no boot.

ux-3 wrote:

What did it do to say "I am dead"?

Oh, totally messed up screen at boot up with typical burnt out gpu ram symptoms. Or more usually, no boot.

ProfessorProfessorson wrote:

Currently I am just using the stock fans, and they seem to do the job fine, however the case I am using has nice fans and good a […]
Show full quote

Currently I am just using the stock fans, and they seem to do the job fine, however the case I am using has nice fans and good airflow. The last time I had a pci Voodoo 5 I did however swap the fans out using special fan adapter plates:

You can purchase the plates on ebay for a few bucks last time I checked. They were offered in different colors.

Stock fans? Those fans aren't stock with any V5 I have ever seen, and I own a few.

Here's a pic of the stock fans 3DFX included. They are much smaller than the fans shown on yours and don't stand off as far from the board.