GPU fans started failing, had to improvise a little

[JaredKaragen]

FYI;  if you pull the old fans off, and read the part numbers off the label, you can search it on ebay/amazon and find new direct-fit replacements.  Worked a charm for my Asus 980 that's been running 100% since it first hit the shelf.

I myself in between fan changes have taken 120mm case fans and just leaned them against the card that I have removed the fans from   Gets you by.

[Marvell2]

Hello All,

Just wanted to share my funny experience with these cards I purchased around a year ago.

The cards Im talking about are the Gigabyte RX 570 Gaming 4G: https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-RX570GAMING-4GD#kf
They are pretty much the worst cards I got for mining, even though I bought them early on for 160$ each, and I got 30 of them.
At first they were great, amazing value for money and ROI, elpida memory, they do 29.5mh/850mh eth/dcr; and 900 h/s on cryptonight.

They worked great for 10 months, and then the fans started failing; these fans can not handle dust at all. They are very poor in cooling; and unless I set the fans at 80% or more, the gpu temps would easily reach 75C.

The funny thing is that half of my cards would have the rear fan failing, either completely stop working, or work at a much slower rpm; to the point that I had to only mine cryptonight due to the lower power requirement for the algorithm compare to dual mining.

So I got this idea..

A week ago, I purchased these fans: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Brand-Original-Delta-AUB0812VH-pwm-DC12V-0-41A-80mm-computer-cpu-case-axial-cooling-fan/32541022969.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.Fy7LDH
And these splitters: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SATA-Port-to-10-Way-12V-3-4Pin-Computer-CPU-Cooling-Fan-Splitter-Hub-with-PWM/32842778420.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.Fy7LDH

Removed the shroud and fans from the gpu, and stuck the new delta fans I got on the heatsink (using some metal wires, and a bit of clamping).
and this is the result
https://image.ibb.co/hSBvY7/IMG_20180213_WA0006.jpg

Currently, out of all the cards I have; Nitro+ Limited Edition, XFX GTS Edition, Nitro+ 570 8GB, and Powercolor Red Dragon golden sample; these cheap elpida cards are my favorite xD

Temps on the gpu are at around 39C under the same conditions, and they consume less power (compared to the original fans, 12v @0.5A, the new ones are 12v @0.41A).

So I lose the warranty, but I've already recovered their cost and much more, and they still run perfectly, so I am very happy

Now im thinking to do the same for all my other cards, and probably turn one of the AC units I got off to save on electricity

so the cards work even with the fans not connected to the 4 pin connectors on the gpu?

[Rune_Coin]

Hello All,

Just wanted to share my funny experience with these cards I purchased around a year ago.

The cards Im talking about are the Gigabyte RX 570 Gaming 4G: https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-RX570GAMING-4GD#kf
They are pretty much the worst cards I got for mining, even though I bought them early on for 160$ each, and I got 30 of them.
At first they were great, amazing value for money and ROI, elpida memory, they do 29.5mh/850mh eth/dcr; and 900 h/s on cryptonight.

They worked great for 10 months, and then the fans started failing; these fans can not handle dust at all. They are very poor in cooling; and unless I set the fans at 80% or more, the gpu temps would easily reach 75C.

The funny thing is that half of my cards would have the rear fan failing, either completely stop working, or work at a much slower rpm; to the point that I had to only mine cryptonight due to the lower power requirement for the algorithm compare to dual mining.

So I got this idea..

A week ago, I purchased these fans: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Brand-Original-Delta-AUB0812VH-pwm-DC12V-0-41A-80mm-computer-cpu-case-axial-cooling-fan/32541022969.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.Fy7LDH
And these splitters: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SATA-Port-to-10-Way-12V-3-4Pin-Computer-CPU-Cooling-Fan-Splitter-Hub-with-PWM/32842778420.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.Fy7LDH

Removed the shroud and fans from the gpu, and stuck the new delta fans I got on the heatsink (using some metal wires, and a bit of clamping).
and this is the result
https://image.ibb.co/hSBvY7/IMG_20180213_WA0006.jpg

Currently, out of all the cards I have; Nitro+ Limited Edition, XFX GTS Edition, Nitro+ 570 8GB, and Powercolor Red Dragon golden sample; these cheap elpida cards are my favorite xD

Temps on the gpu are at around 39C under the same conditions, and they consume less power (compared to the original fans, 12v @0.5A, the new ones are 12v @0.41A).

So I lose the warranty, but I've already recovered their cost and much more, and they still run perfectly, so I am very happy

Now im thinking to do the same for all my other cards, and probably turn one of the AC units I got off to save on electricity

Thats great idea tbh, have you tough about upgrading your GPUs like getting new ones or ?

[QuintLeo]

FYI;  if you pull the old fans off, and read the part numbers off the label, you can search it on ebay/amazon and find new direct-fit replacements.  Worked a charm for my Asus 980 that's been running 100% since it first hit the shelf.

I myself in between fan changes have taken 120mm case fans and just leaned them against the card that I have removed the fans from   Gets you by.

Have to be careful about that, Power Logic in particular makes a ton of fans with the SAME "part number" that have different pinouts for different manufacturers and even different cards by the SAME manufacturer.
I would not buy their fans though, they're the folks that make the TOTAL JUNK fans that Gigabyte uses in their recent cards.

And yes, the cards will work with no fan connected to the GPU directly - you just don't get to monitor or set the fan speeds with my setup.
In THEORY, you could dig up some PWM fans to use instead, and splice them into the old connectors, but IMO too much hassle as long as the cards are staying cool.

[JaredKaragen]

FYI;  if you pull the old fans off, and read the part numbers off the label, you can search it on ebay/amazon and find new direct-fit replacements.  Worked a charm for my Asus 980 that's been running 100% since it first hit the shelf.

I myself in between fan changes have taken 120mm case fans and just leaned them against the card that I have removed the fans from  Gets you by.

Have to be careful about that, Power Logic in particular makes a ton of fans with the SAME "part number" that have different pinouts for different manufacturers and even different cards by the SAME manufacturer.
I would not buy their fans though, they're the folks that make the TOTAL JUNK fans that Gigabyte uses in their recent cards.

And yes, the cards will work with no fan connected to the GPU directly - you just don't get to monitor or set the fan speeds with my setup.
In THEORY, you could dig up some PWM fans to use instead, and splice them into the old connectors, but IMO too much hassle as long as the cards are staying cool.

This is true, but the pigtails are highly distinguishable, and pretty easy to compare in the auction photos.
Good note though.

And Ill confirm;  so far my GTX 9xx cards work perfectly fine with frozen or no fan attached.  I doubt the gtx 10xx series would act differently.  What a wicked problem that would be to troubleshoot:  "My pc wont work because my video card fans weren't spinning..."    what a nightmare....

[baga105]

I had 2 broken fans on my Asus R9 390x.. (yeah, that card that uses 200+W for mining). Those shit asus fans were noisy as formula 1 on the race track, so I was kinda happy that i broke them down
As a replacement i just bought 2 fans for the computer case and connect them through molex. The temperatures were OK (60-65°C) and the formula noise was gone!

[WaveRiderx]

When did Sapphire get good?  They were junk a few years ago.  I take it they are ball bearing now?

Just only buy ball bearing fan cards.  And try to run decent temps so they aren't spinning super fast.

[BennyT]

When you guys replace failed fans, do you plug the new fans into the power supply or are you using the board GPU to power the fans?

[WaveRiderx]

When you guys replace failed fans, do you plug the new fans into the power supply or are you using the board GPU to power the fans?

The more powerful ones require more juice than the GPU connector will give, but if they are low power it's fine.  Plus the GPU connectors are smaller.

[philipma1957]

When you guys replace failed fans, do you plug the new fans into the power supply or are you using the board GPU to power the fans?

both  depends on what is easy on that rig

[Souran]

FYI;  if you pull the old fans off, and read the part numbers off the label, you can search it on ebay/amazon and find new direct-fit replacements.  Worked a charm for my Asus 980 that's been running 100% since it first hit the shelf.

I myself in between fan changes have taken 120mm case fans and just leaned them against the card that I have removed the fans from   Gets you by.

Thats what I thought of doing at first, but the stock/replacement fans were more expensive than the ones I got if I include shipping, they perform poorly, and they consume more power

[Souran]

Hello All,

Just wanted to share my funny experience with these cards I purchased around a year ago.

The cards Im talking about are the Gigabyte RX 570 Gaming 4G: https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-RX570GAMING-4GD#kf
They are pretty much the worst cards I got for mining, even though I bought them early on for 160$ each, and I got 30 of them.
At first they were great, amazing value for money and ROI, elpida memory, they do 29.5mh/850mh eth/dcr; and 900 h/s on cryptonight.

They worked great for 10 months, and then the fans started failing; these fans can not handle dust at all. They are very poor in cooling; and unless I set the fans at 80% or more, the gpu temps would easily reach 75C.

The funny thing is that half of my cards would have the rear fan failing, either completely stop working, or work at a much slower rpm; to the point that I had to only mine cryptonight due to the lower power requirement for the algorithm compare to dual mining.

So I got this idea..

A week ago, I purchased these fans: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Brand-Original-Delta-AUB0812VH-pwm-DC12V-0-41A-80mm-computer-cpu-case-axial-cooling-fan/32541022969.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.Fy7LDH
And these splitters: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SATA-Port-to-10-Way-12V-3-4Pin-Computer-CPU-Cooling-Fan-Splitter-Hub-with-PWM/32842778420.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.Fy7LDH

Removed the shroud and fans from the gpu, and stuck the new delta fans I got on the heatsink (using some metal wires, and a bit of clamping).
and this is the result
https://image.ibb.co/hSBvY7/IMG_20180213_WA0006.jpg

Currently, out of all the cards I have; Nitro+ Limited Edition, XFX GTS Edition, Nitro+ 570 8GB, and Powercolor Red Dragon golden sample; these cheap elpida cards are my favorite xD

Temps on the gpu are at around 39C under the same conditions, and they consume less power (compared to the original fans, 12v @0.5A, the new ones are 12v @0.41A).

So I lose the warranty, but I've already recovered their cost and much more, and they still run perfectly, so I am very happy

Now im thinking to do the same for all my other cards, and probably turn one of the AC units I got off to save on electricity

Thats great idea tbh, have you tough about upgrading your GPUs like getting new ones or ?

There's no point to replace the gpus; as long as they are running, mining and generating profit, then I keep them, and if I got the budget to get more rigs, then I just add to what I got.

[VoskCoin]

Just to chime in I have a zotac 1070 mini with a failing fan fortunately it’s a 2 fan model and still runs cool but worries me about the other 6 I have

https://twitter.com/voskcoin/status/964252560981921793

Said rig / card / fan

[QuintLeo]

When did Sapphire get good?  They were junk a few years ago.  I take it they are ball bearing now?

Just only buy ball bearing fan cards.  And try to run decent temps so they aren't spinning super fast.

They were ball bearing during the LITECOIN GPU mining craze, so years ago.
I don't remember a time they were junk, but I did spend several years ignoring discrete GPUs 'cause the on-MB video chipsets were "good enough" for anything I was doing for a long time, then the A10 iGPU took over.

[QuintLeo]

When you guys replace failed fans, do you plug the new fans into the power supply or are you using the board GPU to power the fans?

The ones I use COULD plug into the GPU power (they use LESS total power than the original fans), but I find that setting them up on a MOLEX to run from 5 volts gives plenty of airflow AND very low power usage.
They're not PWM so there's no real point of trying to set them up on the GPU power connection.

[WaveRiderx]

When did Sapphire get good?  They were junk a few years ago.  I take it they are ball bearing now?

Just only buy ball bearing fan cards.  And try to run decent temps so they aren't spinning super fast.

They were ball bearing during the LITECOIN GPU mining craze, so years ago.
I don't remember a time they were junk, but I did spend several years ignoring discrete GPUs 'cause the on-MB video chipsets were "good enough" for anything I was doing for a long time, then the A10 iGPU took over.

Really? I had 12 sapphire 7970s DUAL X models during that time and most of them had failed fans in under a year. I was a noob so was running 70-80% speed at the time. They were also loud even at lower speed, maybe it was the motors.  

Now I run at 40-60%. I'll hand it to them though, they replaced them through RMA without hassle. Then I sold them.

[Metroid]

Friend is using 12v 3pin case fans and so far no problems, 12 asus gpus and all of the fans failed, gigabyte 2 fans, sapphire and evga, nothing at all.

[JaredKaragen]

Just to chime in I have a zotac 1070 mini with a failing fan fortunately it’s a 2 fan model and still runs cool but worries me about the other 6 I have

https://twitter.com/voskcoin/status/964252560981921793

Said rig / card / fan

Ive noticed; when one fan begins to go out;  the second isn't far behind it.....

I dont know why;  but its always the case.

Maybe it has something to do with the failing bearing adding vibrations to the other and making it follow suit.

[dealpass]

Good discussion here on brands and fans, bearings, and orientation of cards.

My question... is water cooling more energy efficient or helpful to make a card overclock and work better or gain more hashrate? Or is a working air cooling system just as good as a GPU water cooling system? I have never tried water cooling and am just thinking about the summer time and proper planning.

[WaveRiderx]

Good discussion here on brands and fans, bearings, and orientation of cards.

My question... is water cooling more energy efficient or helpful to make a card overclock and work better or gain more hashrate? Or is a working air cooling system just as good as a GPU water cooling system? I have never tried water cooling and am just thinking about the summer time and proper planning.

only if you're talking about a couple/few cards on your main rig.  with many cards/rigs air is the way to go.  the best thing is to find a way to exhaust the heat to the outside.  the better and faster one can do that the cooler the cards will run while using lower fan speeds.  as for hashrate most people underpower their cards while still overclocking to get the most efficient hashrates, so watercooling won't really help unless you using them in a confined space like a main rig where they will get very hot and are running 100% power going for maximum hash.  on 1080ti's that would though be particularly helpful in that case yes since they run best hash at high power. lower model cards don't really need 100% though.