Replacing ATI 58xx/5970 Ref cards' fan (not a guide)

[rearwheels]

Hi guys,

I had 1 5870 and 1 5970 fans making weird noise (bad), so I decided to search for replacement fans, and also to perform some maintenance on the cards.
Other than replacing the fans, I found that some thermal pads were breaking apart, thus I got replacement thermal pads and thermal glue to glue the thermal pads to the heatsink/cover of the cards.

Things I bought:
1. Replacement fans from (http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=10330120683) (cheaper source: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=10794821928)
2. Thermal pads from (http://www.dealextreme.com/p/heat-sink-thermal-silicone-paste-10cm-10cm-0-1cm-35819)
3. Thermal glue from (http://www.dealextreme.com/p/fujik-silicone-thermal-glue-50ml-grease-like-4579)

The main problem was getting the replacement fans. These are from China, and they accept various forms of payment that are only available in China, though I think they ship worldwide.
RMB$50 should work out to be about US$8 (back of envelope calculation).

I tried to use Alipay and other forms of payment with my credit card (I'm in asia, not china), and none of my credit cards worked (ok, I only tried 2, as those are the 2 I expose to internet purchases). So I used a concierge service which bought the items on my behalf, paid for it, got it shipped to their office and then they shipped it to me. In the end, I paid about US$12 each including the service charges of the concierge. It took about 3 weeks.

The 3 weeks wait was fine, as the items from Dealextreme took about the same time.

I'm not writing a step-by-step guide here, just to share some information on what I found out.

So here goes the pics:

Ordered 4 replacements




Old (left), New(Right)




Thermal paste/glue




Thermal Pads




Thermal Pads (Parts to replace)



Thermal Pads (longer piece is done)




Remember to glue down the wire here



That's all.

[1714913079]

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[vapourminer]

Ive wondered where to get replacement GPU fans too, but the couple times Ive killed them I just go with straight aftermarket cooling. your way is way cheaper though. gotta remember that link.

but one question.. why the thermal glue? why not standard thermal paste. I use artic cooling MX2 with better than stock results. done like 6 GPU cards with it so far.

[haploid23]

i'm in the US. any way to get one or two of those? i don't think people here in the US can go through the check out process on that website

[mikeo]

i'm in the US. any way to get one or two of those? i don't think people here in the US can go through the check out process on that website

Agree, also in US. Someone needs to import these in quantity and resell to US customers at a reasonable profit.

[rearwheels]

Ive wondered where to get replacement GPU fans too, but the couple times Ive killed them I just go with straight aftermarket cooling. your way is way cheaper though. gotta remember that link.

but one question.. why the thermal glue? why not standard thermal paste. I use artic cooling MX2 with better than stock results. done like 6 GPU cards with it so far.

The thermal glue is to glue the thermal pads to the metal casing. The VRMs will sandwich the thermal pads to transfer the heat to the casing.

I guess it's not obvious that the thermal pads do not have a sticky side.

I use proper cpu thermal compound for the gpu to heatsink contact.

[vapourminer]

The thermal glue is to glue the thermal pads to the metal casing. The VRMs will sandwich the thermal pads to transfer the heat to the casing.

I guess it's not obvious that the thermal pads do not have a sticky side.

ah, I get it now. the times Ive had to redo nvidia cards with thermal pads they were still sticky enough (apparently the stock pads on the the nvidia folding cards Ive done this to may be different) to keep and just reuse.

[ssateneth]

The new one looks a little smaller... Also says it uses less amps which means lower rpm... Is there a higher amperage one somewhere? I can't read chinese.

Also have you considered buying a lot and selling them to other miners whos fans have died out on them?

[deslok]

The new one looks a little smaller... Also says it uses less amps which means lower rpm... Is there a higher amperage one somewhere? I can't read chinese.

Also have you considered buying a lot and selling them to other miners whos fans have died out on them?

Less amperage does not necessarily indicate a lower rpm fan it could be an induction of a higher quality motor.

[rearwheels]

The thermal glue is to glue the thermal pads to the metal casing. The VRMs will sandwich the thermal pads to transfer the heat to the casing.

I guess it's not obvious that the thermal pads do not have a sticky side.

ah, I get it now. the times Ive had to redo nvidia cards with thermal pads they were still sticky enough (apparently the stock pads on the the nvidia folding cards Ive done this to may be different) to keep and just reuse.

Actually it's the replacement thermal pads which does not come with a sticky side.

[rearwheels]

The new one looks a little smaller... Also says it uses less amps which means lower rpm... Is there a higher amperage one somewhere? I can't read chinese.

Also have you considered buying a lot and selling them to other miners whos fans have died out on them?

The size is exactly the same (all mounting holes fits as well). Only the specs of the motor/fan is different.

Though I've not checked the rpm difference of before and after. I installed it and it kept the card cool. That's good enough

I really do not want to be a middle man for this, I'm sure that's someone staying in China who can co-ordinate this.

[ssateneth]

The new one looks a little smaller... Also says it uses less amps which means lower rpm... Is there a higher amperage one somewhere? I can't read chinese.

Also have you considered buying a lot and selling them to other miners whos fans have died out on them?

The size is exactly the same (all mounting holes fits as well). Only the specs of the motor/fan is different.

Though I've not checked the rpm difference of before and after. I installed it and it kept the card cool. That's good enough

I really do not want to be a middle man for this, I'm sure that's someone staying in China who can co-ordinate this.

Theres some fans which seem to be the same on ebay, but the markup is outrageous. They want $22 and $30 per fan.

[ssateneth]

I need a 5870 fan now. :/

[chunglam]

Thanks for this "not a guide" . I have two 5870 fan failed last week and follow the link buy ten pieces of replacement fans from the link (http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=10330120683) provided by OP. Cost me RMB$488 plus RMB$35 shipping(~USD$67). Finished the replacement work last night, now all my rigs are working at full speed

[rearwheels]

Damn...you are going to hate me now. I did a search on taobao and found this:
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=10794821928

RMB$16 each. 

[chunglam]

At least the one by your link is proven , thanks.

[mikeo]

Is there a link to US (or eBay) source for this fan yet?

[epsillion]

Here is a link to ebay for the same fan i believe

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/75mm-ATI-Radeon-Video-Card-Fan-Replacement-37mm-4Pin-D7525B12HP-0-C01-12V-0-94A-/180779041435?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a1745429b

[PatrickHarnett]

I did a fan replacement today, but I tend to use fans from the GPUs that have previously died.  Today it was an XFX card to Sapphire 5970 (the only reason I kept the xfx one was for the fan replacement).

There are some shortcuts once you get all the screws identified.  Remember the two little screws above the output connectors, and the four hex bolts.  There are something like 34 screws in total to remove (I haven't counted properly.)

I've never had a problem with VRMs and leave the original sticky in place.

For the thermal paste, I did some research on this a year ago and have this tip: use the existing paste, but refresh it with mineral oil.  I use tiny amount of spray on CRC (WD40?), mix it with a toothpick or similar and reset the heatsink.  I've done this regularly with GPUs and CPUs and it works very well.

[max in montreal]

Here is a link to ebay for the same fan i believe

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/75mm-ATI-Radeon-Video-Card-Fan-Replacement-37mm-4Pin-D7525B12HP-0-C01-12V-0-94A-/180779041435?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a1745429b

need one but just ordered 4...ill keep you up to date.

[max in montreal]

got all 4 2 days ago, will replace a few tonight.