Where to get replacement video card fan? Or maybe just use a heatsink?

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Vanguard

Video card: ATI Radeon 64MB DDR VIVO
Fan: 40mm x 40mm body, 33mm x 33mm holes

The fan for the GPU on my video has gotten very noisy. I already tried
the trick of oiling it and that did reduce its noise somewhat, but it is
still too noisy. It's a pretty thin fan; I don't think it is even 10mm
thick although that's what I see listed for the thickness of most 40mm
fans.

I suppose I could just buy a 40mm fan and splice it to the miniature
power plug so the fan connects to the power tap on the video card as it
does now. I can do the splicing, soldering, and heat shrink but I'd
rather not. Getting lazy in my old age. I'd rather just get a
replacement fan and screw it on and plug it in and be done with it.
I've sent e-mail to ATI asking about how much it would cost for them to
send me a non-warranty replacement but sometimes they don't respond to
e-mail inquiries, and the cost-per-minute for the legacy support would
outweight just buying a 40mm fan and hacking it onto the heat sink and
splicing on the mini power plug. Just wondering if anyone here happens
to know a handy place that carries just the fan needed to replace the
one on this video card. I'm in the USA so I would need to find a vendor
here to reduce shipping costs.

If I go with buying a generic 40mm fan and slapping it atop the heat
sink, I might also have to get longer screws. As I mentioned, the stock
ATI video card fan is pretty thin (I forgot to measure that dimension),
so the stock screws probably won't work. I've seen Sunon and Evercool
fans in the 40mm size, but the Evercool seems to spec out to be a
quieter fan. Then again, I wonder if I really need a fan *if* I replace
the heat sink instead. The stock heat sink is hollowed out in the
middle to accomodate the fan hub so there isn't much metal mass to this
heat sink. In fact, it sure looks like a tiny heat sink. Hmm, maybe I
could just replace the heat sink with a honking big one and forget the
fan and its noise altogether. In that case, I'd like suggestions from
anyone that has already removed the stock heat sink from an ATI Radeon
to know hard it is to remove it. Would sawing it off with dental floss
work (so I don't have to apply pressure trying to pry it off)? I figure
then to scrap off any residue and then clean the chip with something
(what?) before applying the bigger heat sink with no fan. Has anyone
done this on the Radeon 64MM DDR VIVO video card (I believe it is
usually equated to their 7200 model)?
 
Vanguard said:
Video card: ATI Radeon 64MB DDR VIVO
Fan: 40mm x 40mm body, 33mm x 33mm holes

The fan for the GPU on my video has gotten very noisy. I already
tried the trick of oiling it and that did reduce its noise somewhat,
but it is still too noisy. It's a pretty thin fan; I don't think it
is even 10mm thick although that's what I see listed for the
thickness of most 40mm fans.
Click to expand...

http://sidewindercomputers.com/50milfan.html

A larger heatsink cemented on with thermal epoxy would be even better. I
think Zalman makes one.
 
I was also considering replacing the tiny stock heatsink and noisy fan
with just a large heatsink, like what Zalman offers. However, Zalman
still recommends a fan (and, of course, their product) for Radeon 64MB
DDR or higher models. I also read a couple articles where the Zalman
heatsinks were tested, including the all copper one, on video cards of
slightly lesser performance than mine. The result was an increase of 5
degrees Celsius (don't remember if that was when idle or when under
load, like when playing a video-intensive game for awhile). Only when a
fan was used did the Zalman perform better than the active stock cooling
(heatsink + fan). Well, in that case, I might as well as just replace
the 40mm fan that's already on the tiny heatsink since I haven't had
overheating problems so far. I've written ATI (and then had to write
again to fill in an RMA form) to see if they will send me a replacement
fan. I'm certainly not going to wait 2 months to ship it in, get it
repaired, and shipped back all the while with my system dead. If they
won't send me one then I'll buy a generic one and some longer screws.
I've seen Sunon brand for 40mm fans but they're rated at 29 to 31 dB for
noise while, I think, the Evercool 40mm fans were rated for 22 to 25 dB.

Then there's the other option of tossing the noisy fan on the video card
and using Zalman's bracket-supported fan
(http://www.zalman.co.kr/usa/product/fb123.htm). If an 80 or 120 mm fan
would fit between the card tops and the side panel, and if it would
cover both the GPU and CPU, then I could even get rid of the noisy fan
for the Pentium 3 Slot1 SECC2 CPU (by popping off the plastic cover with
the embedded fan that snaps onto the heatsink and just leave the
heatsink fully exposed to get cooled by the Zalman bracketed fan. I
really don't want to punch holes in the side panel, put in a grill, and
use a case fan because that opens a big hole to let more noise out, plus
it probably wouldn't look good. But until I open the case again to
measure how far apart is the video heatsink from the farthest edge of
the CPU heatsink, and check for clearance above the cards and CPU to the
sidepanel, I don't know if the Zalman bracket is a solution since the
fan may not span that far or fit above these components.
 
Vanguard said:
I was also considering replacing the tiny stock heatsink and noisy fan
with just a large heatsink, like what Zalman offers. However, Zalman
still recommends a fan (and, of course, their product) for Radeon 64MB
DDR or higher models. I also read a couple articles where the Zalman
heatsinks were tested, including the all copper one, on video cards of
slightly lesser performance than mine. The result was an increase of
5 degrees Celsius (don't remember if that was when idle or when under
load, like when playing a video-intensive game for awhile). Only
when a fan was used did the Zalman perform better than the active
stock cooling (heatsink + fan). Well, in that case, I might as well
as just replace the 40mm fan that's already on the tiny heatsink
since I haven't had overheating problems so far. I've written ATI
(and then had to write again to fill in an RMA form) to see if they
will send me a replacement fan. I'm certainly not going to wait 2
months to ship it in, get it repaired, and shipped back all the while
with my system dead. If they won't send me one then I'll buy a
generic one and some longer screws. I've seen Sunon brand for 40mm
fans but they're rated at 29 to 31 dB for noise while, I think, the
Evercool 40mm fans were rated for 22 to 25 dB.

Then there's the other option of tossing the noisy fan on the video
card and using Zalman's bracket-supported fan
(http://www.zalman.co.kr/usa/product/fb123.htm). If an 80 or 120 mm
fan would fit between the card tops and the side panel, and if it
would cover both the GPU and CPU, then I could even get rid of the
noisy fan for the Pentium 3 Slot1 SECC2 CPU (by popping off the
plastic cover with the embedded fan that snaps onto the heatsink and
just leave the heatsink fully exposed to get cooled by the Zalman
bracketed fan. I really don't want to punch holes in the side panel,
put in a grill, and use a case fan because that opens a big hole to
let more noise out, plus it probably wouldn't look good. But until I
open the case again to measure how far apart is the video heatsink
from the farthest edge of the CPU heatsink, and check for clearance
above the cards and CPU to the sidepanel, I don't know if the Zalman
bracket is a solution since the fan may not span that far or fit
above these components.
Click to expand...

Considering the 40mm fan doesn't move much air (<10CFM), the Zalman FB123
looks like a really good option. The FB123 with the included 92mm fan can be
moved into any number of positions. You can add an additional fan to the
bracket if you like.
 
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