Dying GF4 Fan

[jtzou]

I have a chaintech GF4 card and the fan's dying. I've had it for just over a year, so there should be no reason for the fan to die, but it happens. The fan sounds like an ancient HDD that's being constantly accessed, a horrible scratching sound sorta... Anyways, I e-mailed Chaintech to see what they say.

In the meantime, I've lost a little faith in Chaintech since my first card wasn't working right and I had to exchange it for a new one and now the fan's dying. So I've been looking at some coolers. My computer's a fairly quiet system. I run quiet fans, all on 7v, all with rubber washers or whatever to absorb vibrations. TruePower 430 PS and a CoolerMaster Heatpipe HSF. So in replacing my GF4's fan, I'd like something quiet. I've been looking at the Thermaltake GF4 coolermod one and the Vantec Iceberg 4 Pro. The first is 29 dB(A) and pushes 10 CFM while the latter is 30 dB(A) and only pushes like, 8.6. I realize there's also a Zalman one that has no fans and is therefore, well, silent. But I've pretty much filled up every possible PCI slot w/ controller cards, sound card, random modem (yes, I do use it now and then), etc. So I don't have the space for something that large. At most I have the slot under it that's empty. Anyone have any suggestions between the two? Or even something competely different. Its a GF4 Ti4600, just in case people start recommending GF4 MX coolers.

[tony_j15]

Thermaltake makes the best ones for ge4's. Of the 2 you have there, the vantec is obviously subpar in comparison.

[MTAtech]

Sometimes, dust and dirt get in there. I've removed them washed them in the sink and dried them completely(a critical step) and they were better.

When they were not better, I replaced them since they are cheap.

[dunbar]

Originally posted by jtzou
I run quiet fans, all on 7v, all with rubber washers or whatever to absorb vibrations.

7v = 7 volts? As in you have been running a 5 volt fan at 7 volts? If that is what you were saying, I have no qualms telling you that the bearings died because of being used at higher speeds than they were designed for, which will cause the bearings to fail in less time than they were designed to live.

[jtzou]

Originally posted by dunbar
7v = 7 volts? As in you have been running a 5 volt fan at 7 volts? If that is what you were saying, I have no qualms telling you that the bearings died because of being used at higher speeds than they were designed for, which will cause the bearings to fail in less time than they were designed to live.

Nah, I'm talking about my 12V case fans.

Anyways, is using compressed air not good enough to get rid of dirt and dust? I'm not sure exactly what's going on w/ my fan anymore. All of a sudden its quiet again... and then it'll start whirring loudly again, then quiet... its fickle. :|

Oh well, I might end up getting a thermaltake anyways. Would be nice to have a blue LED GPU cooler to match my antec blue LED case fan :P

[Dazbo666]

I had a similar problem with a case fan making some strange noises about 8-10 months ago-

I just dismantled the fan, cleaned out the dust and dirt, put some light oil on the central pin/bearings then reassembled, and it's still running as quietly as new.

I realise this hasn't been the solution EVERY time, but it's worth a try unless you want to change the fan anyway?!

...As for your suggestions for replacements, I don't have any experience of Vantec, but can recommend Thermaltake cos I'm currently running a Thermaltake 9 HSF on my CPU with no problems....

[dunbar]

Originally posted by jtzou I'm talking about my 12V case fans.

Coolness - running slower via lower voltages will nearly always increase life compared to rated life at rated voltages.

Anyways, is using compressed air not good enough to get rid of dirt and dust?

For the heatsink surfaces of a CPU cooler or inside a PSU, this is still very good compared to not doing anything.

I'm not sure exactly what's going on w/ my fan anymore. All of a sudden its quiet again... and then it'll start whirring loudly again, then quiet... its fickle. :|

I believe that the problem comes from the bearings, these are probably sleeve bearings, which are not the reliability champs for fan bearing designs. Ball bearings can be anywhere from 20% more life to 3 times the life of sleeve bearings. Sleeves cost less, so shopping for low price fans (anyone - you shopping for case fans, or chaintec looking for a price benefit) usually produces a sleeve bearing outcome. The sleeve bearing inside diameter has opened up, leaving the shaft to 'float' around inside the hole. Sometimes the shaft stays steady, sometimes it flops around rapidly, which causes the noise.

Is there any possibility for a cable or wire harness to be touching the fan blades?? That got me last spring.

[amdkt7]

Video card fans are extreemly disapointing. I have had the same problem with everyone I have owned. I have cleaned and oiled, which helps for a while, but not for long.

I know that space is an issue for you, but in my case I have installed oversized fans using what ever means I could come up with to fasten it. I think that most of the factory heat sinks suck, I have replace mine with old K7 heat sinks and mounted the fan to it. Way over kill, but it's quiet and also blows on the memory chips.

I'd look for a 60mm fan pushing about 20 cfm.

[dunbar]

Well, FWIW, fans are fairly generic.... match the housing size according to mounting holes, match the thickness since card to card spacing is not adjustable, and then consider electrical power requirements. One warning: If the present design has the fan power coming from the circuitboard, and not drawing from a PSU connector, beware that you might blow up circuitry if the replacement fan draws too much current (transistors on the circuit board can control the power but the transistors chosen might not be suitable for every conceivable fan choice). And in this instance, the only bearing design to allow would be ball bearings, not sleeve bearings.

Visit: Newark, DigiKey, Allied Electronics, Sager Electronics, MPJA... Lots of folks carry cooling fans and blowers.

[frostDA9]

Seems like most GPU HS fans are garbage, I chucked mine and custom bent a Zalman PCI fan bracket to cool it instead.....quieter than that little whiner that used to be on there, and lots more airflow over the heatsink. Sounds like you don't have room to do it though