Graphics card fan problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Wyman
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Wyman

Someone deleted my post and I don't know why! When I tried to see if anyone
responded it said my message was no longer on the server. This is NOT spam
and I'd appreciate if you don't delete this one.

Anyway, the fan on my ATI 9600xt AIW graphics card has started to run rather
loudly a few days ago. I can unhook the power connector from the card and
the sound goes away. Is it okay to use the vid card without the fan running
without causing any damage to anything else? The card works fine despite
the noise. Here's a pic of it.

http://www.global-b2b-network.com/direct/dbimage/50305921/ATI_VGA_Card_9600XT_AGP_TSOP.jpg

If I can't run it fanless, is there another fix short of buying a new one?

Thanks in advance,
Wyman
 
Wyman said:
Someone deleted my post and I don't know why! When I tried to see if
anyone responded it said my message was no longer on the server. This is
NOT spam and I'd appreciate if you don't delete this one.

Anyway, the fan on my ATI 9600xt AIW graphics card has started to run
rather loudly a few days ago. I can unhook the power connector from the
card and the sound goes away. Is it okay to use the vid card without the
fan running without causing any damage to anything else? The card works
fine despite the noise. Here's a pic of it.

http://www.global-b2b-network.com/direct/dbimage/50305921/ATI_VGA_Card_9600XT_AGP_TSOP.jpg

If I can't run it fanless, is there another fix short of buying a new one?

Thanks in advance,
Wyman
If the ambient temp is low, you don't run any games or programs with heavy
graphics usage, and you have extremely good airflow through your PC, you MAY
get away with running it with the fan unplugged. Don't make book on it,
though.
Your best bet is to clean the fan blades and heat sink fins, and lubricate
the shaft with a couple of drops of 3-in-1 oil. That should take care of the
noise for a while. Save up a few bucks each payday while it's running
quietly, and by the time it gets noisy to the point you can't stand it any
more, you'll have enough to buy a newer, better card :-)

SC Tom
 
Wyman said:
Someone deleted my post and I don't know why! When I tried to see if anyone
responded it said my message was no longer on the server. This is NOT spam
and I'd appreciate if you don't delete this one.

Anyway, the fan on my ATI 9600xt AIW graphics card has started to run rather
loudly a few days ago. I can unhook the power connector from the card and
the sound goes away. Is it okay to use the vid card without the fan running
without causing any damage to anything else? The card works fine despite
the noise. Here's a pic of it.

http://www.global-b2b-network.com/direct/dbimage/50305921/ATI_VGA_Card_9600XT_AGP_TSOP.jpg

If I can't run it fanless, is there another fix short of buying a new one?

Thanks in advance,
Wyman

It is a relatively low power card. It depends on what clock speeds you use
to run the card, but in round numbers, 10W at idle, and 25W when gaming.
Some of that will be memory power, leaving the rest as GPU power dissipation.
My guess would be, the card could become unhappy, if you unplug the fan
and then start playing a 3D game. At the 25 watt level, with no fan, it
might get too hot.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/ati-powercons/t5.gif

( http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/ati-powercons_9.html#sect0 )

You can get after-market coolers, but with those, it pays to buy
one when the card is initially popular. Later, it'll get harder to
find compatibility info.

For example, the ARCTIC COOLING ATI silencer 2 fits a 9600XT. According
to the customer reviews, this product doesn't seem to fit regular
ATI 9600 AGP cards, but looks to be designed mainly for the XT. I can't
find it for sale, so you might have to look on Ebay.

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186114

If the card design was more like this, you could try removing the
black plastic bits and just keep the aluminum cooler. Then, place
an 80mm case cooling fan next to the heatsink, and get close to
original performance. I don't know how easy it would be to mod the
cooler you've got. Yours may be held on by push-pins, just like this
one is.

http://img.tomshardware.com/us/2003/10/15/facelift/intro.jpg

The standard answer, is to "oil the hub" of the fan, to make
it quiet for a while. If it isn't too far gone, you can try that.
Again, there are many variations on fan designs, and it may not be
possible to get close enough to the bearing to oil it. Some are
easier to oil than others. I removed the sticky label on one
of my video cards here, and the plastic hub underneath was solid and
there was no oil hole present. The fan was spring loaded, and you
couldn't pull it apart (at least, without an excess of violence).
That video card is still running today - all it needed was to have
the dust thoroughly cleaned from it.

The whole cooler will come off. Compressing the "tails" of the two
push pins, can allow the push pin to be eased out from the front.
You have to be very careful, as the tool you use to compress the tail of
the push pin can easily slide off and damage something. But
once you remove the heatsink, you still have to find a replacement.
And the replacement still has to touch at all the same places
as the original one did.

Sorry there isn't an easy answer to this. The odds of finding someone
selling aftermarket AGP heatsinks now, is pretty slim.

Paul
 
Thanks SC Tom and Paul for your responses.

I'm not a gamer or use this particular computer extensively. It's used
mostly for TV recordings and occasional burning. I was a little worried
about the overheating but I have 2 80mm case fans already attached so
hopefully those can tie me over til I can buy another one. I'm not real
comfortable with taking apart the card as I really wouldn't know what I'm
doing. I leave it on during the day also and I hope that doesn't present an
issue.

Regards,
Wyman


Paul said:
Someone deleted my post and I don't know why! When I tried to see if
anyone responded it said my message was no longer on the server. This is
NOT spam and I'd appreciate if you don't delete this one.

Anyway, the fan on my ATI 9600xt AIW graphics card has started to run
rather loudly a few days ago. I can unhook the power connector from the
card and the sound goes away. Is it okay to use the vid card without the
fan running without causing any damage to anything else? The card works
fine despite the noise. Here's a pic of it.

http://www.global-b2b-network.com/direct/dbimage/50305921/ATI_VGA_Card_9600XT_AGP_TSOP.jpg

If I can't run it fanless, is there another fix short of buying a new one?

Thanks in advance,
Wyman

It is a relatively low power card. It depends on what clock speeds you use
to run the card, but in round numbers, 10W at idle, and 25W when gaming.
Some of that will be memory power, leaving the rest as GPU power
dissipation.
My guess would be, the card could become unhappy, if you unplug the fan
and then start playing a 3D game. At the 25 watt level, with no fan, it
might get too hot.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/ati-powercons/t5.gif

(
ttp://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/ati-powercons_9.html#sect0 )

You can get after-market coolers, but with those, it pays to buy
one when the card is initially popular. Later, it'll get harder to
find compatibility info.

For example, the ARCTIC COOLING ATI silencer 2 fits a 9600XT. According
to the customer reviews, this product doesn't seem to fit regular
ATI 9600 AGP cards, but looks to be designed mainly for the XT. I can't
find it for sale, so you might have to look on Ebay.

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186114

If the card design was more like this, you could try removing the
black plastic bits and just keep the aluminum cooler. Then, place
an 80mm case cooling fan next to the heatsink, and get close to
original performance. I don't know how easy it would be to mod the
cooler you've got. Yours may be held on by push-pins, just like this
one is.

http://img.tomshardware.com/us/2003/10/15/facelift/intro.jpg

The standard answer, is to "oil the hub" of the fan, to make
it quiet for a while. If it isn't too far gone, you can try that.
Again, there are many variations on fan designs, and it may not be
possible to get close enough to the bearing to oil it. Some are
easier to oil than others. I removed the sticky label on one
of my video cards here, and the plastic hub underneath was solid and
there was no oil hole present. The fan was spring loaded, and you
couldn't pull it apart (at least, without an excess of violence).
That video card is still running today - all it needed was to have
the dust thoroughly cleaned from it.

The whole cooler will come off. Compressing the "tails" of the two
push pins, can allow the push pin to be eased out from the front.
You have to be very careful, as the tool you use to compress the tail of
the push pin can easily slide off and damage something. But
once you remove the heatsink, you still have to find a replacement.
And the replacement still has to touch at all the same places
as the original one did.

Sorry there isn't an easy answer to this. The odds of finding someone
selling aftermarket AGP heatsinks now, is pretty slim.

Paul
 
Wyman said:
Someone deleted my post and I don't know why! When I tried to see if
anyone responded it said my message was no longer on the server.
This is NOT spam and I'd appreciate if you don't delete this one.

Who do you think we are? This is Usenet, not a free venue to support
folks at Microsoft. We're just users here like yourself. No one here
has any control over how Microsoft's NNTP servers function. Microsoft
does have some spam & noise filtering but no one here can do anything
regarding its config.

What is Usenet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsgroups
http://www.masonicinfo.com/newsgroups.htm
http://www.mcfedries.com/Ramblings/usenet-primer.asp
Anyway, the fan on my ATI 9600xt AIW graphics card has started to run
rather loudly a few days ago.

On some models, they use a 60mm fan but it is far thinner than what you
can buy and is designed to sit within the heatsink. You have to return
the video card to ATI for warranty repair (if it's still warranteed).
I can unhook the power connector from the card and the sound goes
away. Is it okay to use the vid card without the fan running without
causing any damage to anything else?

To anything ELSE? Well, sure. That your GPU on your video card gets
fried doesn't mean your hard disks, memory modules on the mobo, or CPU
are going to get fried. You just won't be able to boot your computer
since the video's BIOS gets loaded before the system BIOS.
The card works fine despite the noise.

You haven't stressed it. Or you are currently overheating it and
eventually it will fry out.

Yeah, looks like one of those skinny 60mm fans custom shaped to sit
inside ATI's heatsink.
If I can't run it fanless, is there another fix short of buying a new
one?

Put a slot card fan next to it. Alas, all slot card fans are exhaust
fans instead of intake fans. That means you would be moving the warmed
interior air past the GPU's heatsink instead of sucking in the colder
outside air to push against the GPU's heatsink. But then the stock fan
on the GPU is already receiving pre-warmed air from inside your case.
Just be aware that slot card fans are not reliable for longevity. Their
fan goes bad faster than separate fans that you buy.

You could punch a hole in the side cover and use an intake fan to push
the colder outside air over the GPU's heatsink, too.

You could also buy a 3rd party cooler to use on that video card, like
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119064&Tpk=ati 9600xt cooler
(never used it, example only).
 
Someone deleted my post and I don't know why!  When I tried to see if anyone
responded it said my message was no longer on the server.  This is NOT spam
and I'd appreciate if you don't delete this one.

Anyway, the fan on my ATI 9600xt AIW graphics card has started to run rather
loudly a few days ago.  I can unhook the power connector from the card and
the sound goes away.  Is it okay to use the vid card without the fan running
without causing any damage to anything else?  The card works fine despite
the noise.  Here's a pic of it.

http://www.global-b2b-network.com/direct/dbimage/50305921/ATI_VGA_Car...

If I can't run it fanless, is there another fix short of buying a new one?

Thanks in advance,
Wyman

First, your post was not deleted. It got moved over your ISP Usenet
(NNTP) servers and is now part of the Usenet "world wide."

As for the fan, your video card was designed to work with a fan.
Eventhough the video card seems to work without this fan, this fan is
important. You can possibly find a replacement fan or you could
consider replacing the video card.
 
Hi smuluntick -

I just learned yesterday that my ISP no longer offer newsgroups so if was
"moved" I don't where it ended up. How can you tell it was moved?

Wyman
 
Hi Bob -

This is the same group that the link is for. This is where I posted my
first message and some how it got deleted. I had to repost.

Wyman
 
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