non-ref gigabyte 5870 fans

[zvs]

One of the two fans in my 5870 stopped working.. I took it apart once, it started working again for a day or so, stopped again..  I took it apart again, got pissed, and did bad things to the shroud.

Is there anyone that sells those fans w/ the back 'bracket' (that you screw in) still attached?  or am I gonna have to shell out like $50 for some goofy aftermarket cooler?  sigh.

or... is there some other way to handle this?  Is it safe to just remove the shroud entirely w/ just the heat sink and have a huge floor fan blowing into it?

[ssateneth]

Having a big ol floor fan wont work well. It doesn't have the necessary pressure to squeeze in fresh air between the cooling fins. You're probably better off cobbling together 2 80mm fans and tying them on. 120mm probably won't have the necessary pressure, plus if they're anything like the non reference 5850's, that is a loooong heatsink.

If you're intent on mining with it, find some 80mm's and tie em on. If you're gaming or selling, better start looking for replacement/aftermarket parts unless you're comfortable selling as a frankenstein.

[zvs]

Having a big ol floor fan wont work well. It doesn't have the necessary pressure to squeeze in fresh air between the cooling fins. You're probably better off cobbling together 2 80mm fans and tying them on. 120mm probably won't have the necessary pressure, plus if they're anything like the non reference 5850's, that is a loooong heatsink.

If you're intent on mining with it, find some 80mm's and tie em on. If you're gaming or selling, better start looking for replacement/aftermarket parts unless you're comfortable selling as a frankenstein.

I used some zip ties and dropped a fairly decent silverstone fan level w/ the left side (haha)... I can still only get 340mhash with it (750/150) without having GPU temp go above 70o (and VRM's above 76-77o)... but at least it's going again.... 75% efficiency, not too bad..

I'm starting to look around to see where I can find one of those gimpy fans that gigabyte uses in their cards.  Shouldn't be more than $10-$11, I'd think..

I could also do what you said, just tie on some other fans... like some of these replacement ref fans.   I'd need to buy some 4pin extension cables or something though..