GPU Fan



  • For some reason, this graphics card overheated. Can you guess why?

    gpufan.jpg

    Note: This card originally came with a different (passive) heat sink. And before you ask: Yes, the fan was plugged in.



  •  It's hard to see without depth perception. The wires actually go between the fan blades?!



  • Looks like the fan's mounted upside-down?

    Are you seriously asking us or "it's so obvious everybody knows the answer" asking us? Because it's not that obvious... I'm not sure I'm right, and I was only able to make that guess because I've built dozens of computers.

    Edit: No I'm changing my vote to "wires inbetween the fan blades" unless that happened when you unplugged it.



  • @dhromed said:

    It's hard to see without depth perception.

    My bad.

    @dhromed said:

    The wires actually go between the fan blades?!

    Yes.



  • @fatbull said:

    @dhromed said:

    The wires actually go between the fan blades?!

    Yes.

     

    OMGWTFBBQ

    how the fuck did that happen?

    Hey, depending on the size of videocard and whether you use it actively (but it doesn't look like a powerful beast so maybe this recommendation is wasted), I suggest you replace the fan as soon as possible with something like a Scythe Setsugen or Musashi.

    I run an ATI 4850 with the Setsugen and it knocked ~15 degrees °C off, at almost the lowest speed.



  • In my defense I would like to say that I think the wires go between the fan blades because it's mounted upside-down. I GET FULL POINTS DAMNIT!



  • @dhromed said:

    how the fuck did that happen?
    Surely they were sucked by the vortex produced by the fan.

    Yeah, that was probably it.



  • Why does it have a fan connector if it came with a passive heatsink? (white clip, down and left of the fan)
    Did it not make any noise?



  • @dhromed said:

    I suggest you replace the fan as soon as possible

    Too late. "It overheated" was in fact an euphemism for "it is now a paperweight."

    So I replaced the graphics card. And while I was at it, I replaced several other dying components.

    Actually, I replaced everything except for the case and the DVD drive.

    @nexekho said:
    Why does it have a fan connector if it came
    with a passive heatsink?

    IIRC there were different versions of that card, varying only in RAM size, clock rate and heat sink (ASUS EN7300GT). I guess unconditionally adding that connector was easier/cheaper than changing the assembly line. Or something like that.

    Why not buy a card with a fan in the first place? No idea.



  • @fatbull said:

    Why not buy a card with a fan in the first place? No idea.

    Around the time I bought a 6600GT, 6800s were on the market and there were a range that came with passive cooling options.

    At first it seemed as though they were targetted at gamers unconcerned with modern games (at the time, Far Cry was the most GPU-stressing game) but Tom's Hardware[1] had a different theory: gaming systems builders were snapping them up cheaply and massively upgrading the cooling (think chunky Zalman affairs) to run them much harder and yet quieter.

    [1] or was it HardOCP? Brain's getting fuzzled in old age and all that.



  • @fatbull said:

    For some reason, this graphics card overheated. Can you guess why?
     

    No.  Trouble ticket misrouted.  This is a hardware problem.


  • Trolleybus Mechanic

    @fatbull said:

    For some reason, this graphics card overheated. Can you guess why?

    Because you didn't put it on a wooden table before taking its picture?


  • Trolleybus Mechanic

    @fatbull said:

    For some reason, this graphics card overheated. Can you guess why?

    Because you didn't put it on a wooden table before taking its picture?



  • @fatbull said:

    Note: This card originally came with a different (passive) heat sink. And before you ask: Yes, the fan was plugged in.
     

    wait...

    so... you know that it originally came with passive heat sink, which implies it was delivered to you like that, which implies you mounted the fan, which implies you are TRWTF?



  • @SEMI-HYBRID code said:

    ...which implies you are TRWTF?

    All paths lead there, eventually.

    nb: anybody else find that clicking the image does not embiggen? Or is it at max zoom already and imageshack can't zoom any closer?



  • Its at maximum size I believe.

    Interesting, if you click "Image Details" on imageshack's site you get:
    Filename: gpufan.jpg
    Size: b
    Resolution: x

    Not like any file size or resolution I've ever heard of.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Salamander said:

    Its at maximum size I believe.



    Interesting, if you click "Image Details" on imageshack's site you get:

    Filename: gpufan.jpg

    Size: b

    Resolution: x



    Not like any file size or resolution I've ever heard of.

    Seriously. Where's the DPI?



  • @boomzilla said:

    Seriously. Where's the DPI?

    In the header of the image, dummy!

    If you look towards the top-left, you can jjjuuuuussssttttt about see it through the blue outline.



  • @nexekho said:

    Why does it have a fan connector if it came with a passive heatsink? (white clip, down and left of the fan)
     

    That white header plug on the board doesn't look compatible with the connector for the fan. It looks to me like it only has two pins, while the fan connector is larger and has 3. The 2 pin header on the board is still likely to be a fan header, but rather designed for a fixed speed fan that ships on other (actively cooled) variants of the card.

    OP did you actually have the fan attached to that header somehow?



  • @SEMI-HYBRID code said:

    so... you know that it originally came with passive heat sink,

    ... because the label on the bottom says so (EN7300GT/SILENT/HTD/256M/A).

    @Cassidy said:

    anybody else find that clicking the image does not embiggen? Or is it at max zoom already and imageshack can't zoom any closer?

    The image scales to fit. If your browser window is already large enough, clicking the link won't zoom in any further.



  • @dr spock said:

    That white header plug on the board doesn't look compatible with the connector for the fan. It looks to me like it only has two pins, while the fan connector is larger and has 3.

    Correct.

    @dr spock said:

    OP did you actually have the fan attached to that header somehow?

    The fan was attached to a 3 pin connector on the mainboard. I wanted to mention this in the OP, but apparently I forgot about it.



  • @Cassidy said:

    nb: anybody else find that clicking the image does not embiggen? Or is it at max zoom already and imageshack can't zoom any closer?

    That might be because the [url=http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/7114/gpufan.jpg]uploaded image[/url] is 600 by 407 pixels in size?



  • @fatbull said:

    Why not buy a card with a fan in the first place? No idea.

     

    If possible I buy cards which are passively cooled (but I'll be damned sure that at least half a dozen reviews mention it is working properly). And of course I buy a case with a good airflow.

    Reason being: graphics card fans are my mortal enemy; no matter how clean I keep the stuff, they always start to make a terrible noise after about a year (I'm an avid PC gamer so it tends to be a heavily used component of course). Since I value silence over performance, I select components that are less power hungry - which tends to be true for passively cooled cards (you can't assume that though, I don't buy such a card until at least half a dozen reviews agree it is a good card). They may be at stock speed or even underclocked, but I don't really notice that nowadays; on my 2 year old machine I can still run Skyrim at full detail without hitches.



  • I did this more simply recently - I fitted a new  fan and plugged it into the SPDIF audio socket on the GeForce card. It took a bit of force but went in no trouble.

    One new video card and fan later all was good. 

     




  • @erikal said:

    on my 2 year old machine I can still run Skyrim at full detail without hitches.
     

    You'll be able to run any game regardless of newness, up until they release a new set of consoles with increased specs.

     



  • Hey now.  That's not fair.  There are lots of pc only companies.  For example, the Adventure Company makes tons of Nancy Drew adventure games that totally push pc hardware to the limit!


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