Removing video card fan

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steve
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Steve

Hi,
I'm in the process of quietening my PC. The results so far have been good
and the noisiest thing left is the graphics card's fan.

Since I don't use my PC for games or anything 3D, I'm wondering if it would
be safe to turn the fan off?

Any help appreciated!

Cheers,

Steve
 
Steve said:
Hi,
I'm in the process of quietening my PC. The results so far have been good
and the noisiest thing left is the graphics card's fan.

Since I don't use my PC for games or anything 3D, I'm wondering if it
would be safe to turn the fan off?

Any help appreciated!

Cheers,

Steve
Click to expand...
As you don't say what card it is, it's hard to say.

SteveH
 
most videocards now come in two formats, heatsink and fan. So get a decent
heatsink for your card and you should be good.
 
Hi,
I'm in the process of quietening my PC. The results so far have been good
and the noisiest thing left is the graphics card's fan.

Since I don't use my PC for games or anything 3D, I'm wondering if it would
be safe to turn the fan off?
Click to expand...

No, usually it's not safe. "Some" cards run cool enough
that they can have fanless heatsinks, but that's not the
same thing as having a fanned 'sink with the fan shut off,
because the 'sink is far smaller (usually) and the
non-spinning fan even further impedes passive flow-by.


You could buy an aftermarket 'sink known to be quieter,
though you dont even mention your make/model of card so
that's hard to guess about. Other potential options are
throttling back the fan some with an inline resistor,
diodes, fan controller of some sort. You'll have to monitor
the card temps to determine if it remains cool enough.
 
Hi,
I'm in the process of quietening my PC. The results so far have been good
and the noisiest thing left is the graphics card's fan.

Since I don't use my PC for games or anything 3D, I'm wondering if it would
be safe to turn the fan off?

Any help appreciated!

Cheers,

Steve
Click to expand...

But a cheap none fanned card?
 
Hi,
I'm in the process of quietening my PC. The results so far have been good
and the noisiest thing left is the graphics card's fan.

Since I don't use my PC for games or anything 3D, I'm wondering if it would
be safe to turn the fan off?

Any help appreciated!

Cheers,

Steve
Click to expand...

Some of the low end ones especially older may be able to be modified.
I used to have 400mx nvidia an ancient fan by current standards and
it came without a fan. I got an RMA for it and the next version came
with a fan. Most of the new game cards tend to use a lot of power and
generate a lot of heat so I doubt you can easily modify it to run
fanless. You should look into specific products that claim to work
with that card if you have a higher end card.
 
Steve said:
Hi,
I'm in the process of quietening my PC. The results so far have been
good and the noisiest thing left is the graphics card's fan.

Since I don't use my PC for games or anything 3D, I'm wondering if it
would be safe to turn the fan off?

Any help appreciated!

Cheers,

Steve
Click to expand...


Video card fans are notoriously noisy because of their small diameter
requiring much higher RPMs. If the slot next to the video card is open,
slide in a slot fan to draw the air over the GPU's heatsink (remove the
fan to avoid its obstruction to airflow). The slot fan will be much
quieter than the tiny 40mm fan atop the GPU. I ended up getting much
more airflow over the GPU heatsink with 80mm fan in the slot fan then I
got with the 40mm high RPM video card fan.

There are also heatsink kits for video cards that use heatpipes to draw
the heat from the GPU and let it dissipate from a much larger heatsink
(for some there is a heatsink on the front and back of the video card).
You'll have to read their specs to determine how much thickness they add
to the video card to see if it will fit inside your case.

The ATI Radeon 9600 video card has a fan on its GPU heatsink but the
Saphhire branded version of it doesn't use a fan and instead uses a much
larger heatsink. Same card, same GPU, same memory, just different
cooling setup.

Since no one has a truly clear crystal ball that can use xrays to see
inside your case, no one knows WHICH video card you are talking about.
It could be a low-speed, low-power antiquated video card where they put
on a fan which was never actually needed. Or it could be a high-speed,
high-wattage video card that even needs the additional 4-pin power
coming from the power supply to provide for its power demands.
 
Hi,
I'm in the process of quietening my PC. The results so far have been
good and the noisiest thing left is the graphics card's fan.

Since I don't use my PC for games or anything 3D, I'm wondering if it
would be safe to turn the fan off?
Click to expand...

Perhaps the ASUS Extreme N6600 Silencer is something for you?
Any help appreciated!
Click to expand...

And info is appreciated, too. :) AGP/PCI-E? Chipset preference, speed, etc.

Cheers,

- Mark
 
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