This week I was running into an issue where my video card would get so hot it wasn’t able to work correctly.  I have a BFG nVidia 8800GT OC card that has a fan built into it.  The card is about 1 year old and I haven’t had much more than a hiccup with it’s performance since installation.

After going into my nVidia control panel to adjust the fan settings, I noticed that even at 100%, my fan was making little noise, which is very unusual for any GPU fan.  I opened my computer case and noticed that my fan was moving very slowly with a “vibrating wobble” to it.  I feared the worst and have read about the bearings, brushes and fans going bad out of nowhere.

I searched eBay and various other places to see if I could just get the fan, since it wasn’t that hard to get to and remove.  I was only able to find used video graphics cards and wasn’t sure that was my best option, at least, it would be my last option.

Without a budget to just upgrade to the tune of $150+, I decided to see what I could do to add extra cooling.  I have plenty of 4 pin adapters coming off my power supply, why not search for a case fan that can be plugged directly into that?  After searching BestBuy.com (we have a local store) and Amazon.com (backup to Best Buy), I found that Best Buy has a couple of options that fit into my budget.

What I Found

I was able to find an Antec 80mm 3-speed LED TriCool fan.  I am not a fan of the LED, but it seemed every fan had that as an option.  Moving on, I removed the fan from the package, connected it to my power supply and bingo, instant cooling to my GPU.

Warning

Just so you know, I took the cover off my video card to allow the new fan to pull heat right off the cooling fins.  I do not recommend removing your video card and tampering with it unless you feel 100% confident with electronic items like this.

Right now the new fan sits right on the cooling elements and keeps my card at a cool 150 degrees fahrenheit.  The fan base is thick plastic, but because the card will NOT overheat, there shouldn’t be any fear of it melting.

Introduction

My name is John, I am 31 years old and live in the great Midwest.  I have always had a passion for technology and love writing about it.  Gadgets, new technology, technology in the new, are just a couple of the topics that I enjoy writing about.  The internet is so vast and such a great tool, that is why I also like to contribute to review sites and blog about products myself.  Others want to buy what’s best for them and it never hurts to read a review or 20 before you make that purchase.  I hope that you enjoy spending time here and might even add your own 2 cents via the comment form on my posts.

Welcome to my new blog.  I have been in the process of starting a new “tech” blog for sometime now.  I haven’t been able to find a domain name that I was happy with, until now.  ConsumerTechBlog.com is born.

I plan to post about technology in the news, general technology, gadgets (old and new), technology experiements and much more.  If you like technology and gadgets, you can keep up with me by subscribing to my email feed so that you can comment with your own 2 cents on my posts as they become available.

That’s it for now, I am going to work on my first “real” post and hopefully some of your stick around to see it.