GPU fans after a year of running

[jumphost404]

So some of my fans are now wobbly or fail to spin. What are the options here? replace fan or housing? Trim the edges that are catching? Mostly looking at gigabyte 480s and msi 480s. Is there an aftermarket place for this?

[Sevarchik]

There is several ways:
1. Replace all cooling system, buy dead gpu with working cooling system.
2. Trim the edges, and connect simple 12 or 8mm coolers, its not controlled by gpu and can make some noise, but all will be working

[adaseb]

Yeah I got a bunch of the Gigabyte windforce fans. They are crap. Worse than the ones I had on my Gigabyte Radeon 7970 and those were also horrible.

There are 3 things you can do


1) Send it in for warranty. Doesn't make much sense right now because you will get it back when Ethereum goes POS

2) Take off the fan with shroud and zip-tie on a couple of case-fans. This method might require some rewiring however and it will make the GPUs take up more room. But case fans are very reliable.

3) Fix your current fan that's dead.


Basically you do this. Get some floss or some string. Once you got the blade off, just use mineral oil, 3-1 oil, motor oil, pretty much anything except WD40.




Here is a video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnYWO_ypEXI



Keep in mind these fans are absolute crap, and on some I ended up ripping off the stator from the mount plate. No big deal, just need to put some super glue and snap it back in.

And it will work good as new. You might have to repeat this every 3 months - 1 year.

[MiningDoc]

Just Google aftermarket gpu cooler.  Plenty out there that work much better than stock and easy to put on

[szafa]

Send to warranty if have.

[Vann]

That's why I love the Sapphire dual ball bearing X-Fans on the RX series. One screw to take off the fan for maintenance and cleaning and no wires to run or deal with. Replacements are $12.50 each including shipping from Sapphire and they are super easy to replace.

[Bitsaurus]

That's why I love the Sapphire dual ball bearing X-Fans. One screw to take off the fan for maintenance and cleaning and no wires to run or deal with. Replacements are $12.50 each including shipping from Sapphire and they are super easy to replace.

Yeah I stayed away from Sapphire ever since the 6950/7950 days. I changed every single fan on over 30 6950 because every one failed in 2 years and some of the ones on my 7950s I changed more than 3 times. I guess Sapphire got sick of RMAs for fans and improved their fan quality and modular design.

I have yet to have a single Twin Frozr fan fail - they must protect from dust intrusion really well.

[M4x1221]

Where can you buy this type of fans ?

[nc50lc]

Send it to a Computer Technician, like asadeb said, those stuck fans only needs a drop of machine oil in order to function well again.
I'm a computer technician and doing this annually to my fans to keep them silent and efficient.
There are different methods depending on the fan.
Most of these GPU fans have Covering or Label Sticker under it, this covers the center area where the one-drop machine oil goes.
You don't need to pluck the blades up, just unscrew the fan from the heatsink then turn it upside-down and you will see it.

Your wobbly fans are questionable though.
It might be the plastic parts around the bearing or shaft that got melted by the heatsink's heat.
Those fans must be replaced.

[adaseb]

Send it to a Computer Technician, like asadeb said, those stuck fans only needs a drop of machine oil in order to function well again.
I'm a computer technician and doing this annually to my fans to keep them silent and efficient.
There are different methods depending on the fan.
Most of these GPU fans have Covering or Label Sticker under it, this covers the center area where the one-drop machine oil goes.
You don't need to pluck the blades up, just unscrew the fan from the heatsink then turn it upside-down and you will see it.

Your wobbly fans are questionable though.
It might be the plastic parts around the bearing or shaft that got melted by the heatsink's heat.
Those fans must be replaced.

With the Gigabyte fans you can't peel the sticker, there is a plastic in the way. Only way would be to drill thru the plastic, so its easier just popping off the fan blade.

[Mike011]

Sewing machine oil is the best if you can get you hands on it. Worst solution (that will still help your fans) is to use your regular kitchen oil for cooking (only if you have absolutely no other oil). Still curious, why WD 40 is not good for fans?

[64dimensions]

In line with adaseb's #2 suggestions.


1a) Sending it back is the best.

1b) Ebay and Alibaba will sometimes sell replacements, but you have to deal with the risk, time delay, sometimes high cost and ingenuity when the replacement plug is not quite exact.


2) My version of adaseb's #2 is to use a 120mm silenex fan that uses a thermistor temp sensor for speed control. I remove the bad fan and cable tie the silenex on to the fan housing with the air direction into the card. The thermistor bead is jammed into the exhaust side of the cooling fins. This is my last stop before scrapping. Oil all over everything would be a dust magnet.

[MagicSmoker]

If the fans are wobbly then the bearing is bad; adding oil isn't going to help.

WD-40 is not a good choice of lubricant because it is mostly solvent (roughly the same as kerosene) with just a little bit of light machine oil present.

Note that cooking oils have a tendency to polymerize over time and/or go rancid (specifically, oxidize to the carboxylic acid) and rancid oils stink like you wouldn't believe.

[MiningDoc]

Sewing machine oil is the best if you can get you hands on it. Worst solution (that will still help your fans) is to use your regular kitchen oil for cooking (only if you have absolutely no other oil). Still curious, why WD 40 is not good for fans?

WD-40 is a solvent meant to remove oil.  It's not hard to go down to even a rite aid and get a small can of 3 in 1 oil.  Works great.

[Mike011]

^^ Thanks for the info. I always thought that WD 40 somehow greases the surface.
On the same note, has anyone tried Ballistol?

[M4x1221]

I work in electric motors and I can say the best for that type of fan is sewing machine oil. The one I use is Zoom Spout. You can find it on Amazon.

[akuci]

There are some replacment fans on AliExpress so you might try them. I will buy a few for my G1 cards.

[tekno]

i dont think gpu fans easily brokable parts. i never change them until 2+ years. but im thinking to change thermal compound before this summer.

[akuci]

i dont think gpu fans easily brokable parts. i never change them until 2+ years. but im thinking to change thermal compound before this summer.

And void your warranty.

[X299]

So some of my fans are now wobbly or fail to spin. What are the options here? replace fan or housing? Trim the edges that are catching? Mostly looking at gigabyte 480s and msi 480s. Is there an aftermarket place for this?

At what rpm did you use your video cards, how many percent....50..60% or what?