a quick fix to my video card

[Moach]

im very pleased with myself right now... i feel smart

here's the deal... my video card (radeon 9800xt) has had problems with the cooler since day one... i've had it changed once and repaired on numerous occasions...

over the last few days, the cooler bummed out again... usually poking it a bit makes it work for a little longer...  but today it completely refused to work, it was making weird noises and all... i thought "now im gonna have to repair this damn thing"

i've managed to repair it by myself once, so i tried to do it again... took out the card, disassembled the cooler, cleaned it and put it back... usually that works, but not today... it still refused to work... i

so here i was thinking i was gonna have to send the card back to the shop again when it struck me...  it was a last-resort-what-if-plan-B idea, but i had nothing to lose anymore, so i went ahead with it...

i have a case fan that hangs over the radeon to help cool it down, i took it out and strapped it over the radeon's cooler

amazingly, IT WORKED

the fan, now on top of the damaged cooler, pumps air into the card's heatsink, doing the job perfectly... actually, it's even cooler now than it was when the default cooler was working well... my theory is that the downflow of air spins the blades of the old cooler, which is still running (or trying to), and helps it do it's job.... and if the case fan breaks, i can easily replace it, since they're much esier to find than card fans

i tested it for a while, and the temperature held stable at 71

[congo]

You might want to remove the defective fan first Moach, and then attack it anew, just in case the old fan decides to catch fire or something silly.  

[Fozzer]

I find that with all my fans, which have been in service for some time, I occasionally have to remove them, remove the bearing plug, and re-oil them to make them run at full speed, and run quietly... ...!
The bearings often run short of lubricant after a lot of use, and the fans require replacing, or at least the bearings re-oiled... ...!

Cheers all...!

Paul...bear(ing) with me... ... ...!

[ctjoyce]

Very nice job, but I would have (and did) plunk down the $40 for a Zalman VF-700

Cheers
Cameron