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.
