Fixing GPU Fan? | Bitcointalksearch.org

ssateneth

legendary

Activity: 1344

Merit: 1004

Quote from: crazyates on December 08, 2012, 02:57:10 PM

I just did this for a laptop fan for a customer a week or two ago. Normally I like to remove the fan to re-oil it, but this Lenovo was a PITA to take apart, so I just drilled it and taped it up after. Works like a charm.

Use a piece of tape that wont unstick. I find scotch wont hold a seal vs. oil, but electrical tape will hold its seal.

crazyates

legendary

Activity: 952

Merit: 1000

I just did this for a laptop fan for a customer a week or two ago. Normally I like to remove the fan to re-oil it, but this Lenovo was a PITA to take apart, so I just drilled it and taped it up after. Works like a charm.

ssateneth

legendary

Activity: 1344

Merit: 1004

Quote from: AndrewBUD on November 27, 2012, 06:42:05 PM

Is this a reference design 5870?

I may have a replacement fan if you want one.

I have revived dead fans by drilling a small hole in the fan to add some mineral oil. Not completely dead fans but ones that are starting to make noise and/or slow down.

Exactly what I do. I have recently figured out how to pop open fans now too with better success rate, but I do that only as a last resort (i.e. I drilled a hole but theres a plastic chunk that rubs inside the fan and I need to remove it)

chewie

member

Activity: 75

Merit: 10

Btw, assuming that you've had your GPU for awhile now, you may want to try to clean up your GPU's thermal paste, and reapply non-conductive thermal paste, which will help your GPU run much cooler too.

It's not very hard to do, and only requires a couple extra steps, but in the long run you'll see significant benefits from doing this.

chewie

member

Activity: 75

Merit: 10

Option 1 is not very hard to do, even a caveman can do it. I had a similar situation, and I went for option 1 after purchasing a fan off of Ebay. It was not hard at all. It was just a matter of unscrewing the top from the main body of the gpu, and unplugging the fan cord, and doing the same steps in reverse order.

AndrewBUD

hero member

Activity: 1078

Merit: 502

I have Only done this to reference fans.

Vdizz

newbie

Activity: 15

Merit: 0

I never messed with reference fans - they seem to be much better quality vs 'aftermarket'

Since its almost impossible to find them online or they cost too much (http://www.pchub.com/uph/laptop/1225-90718-24930/Firstd-FD7010H12S-Server-Frameless-Fan.html) I decided to fix 'em myself

BTW, it's not a fan that fails, it's the oil lubricant drying up. Here's a quick procedure, if there's more interest i'll post pictures

1) remove the cooler
2) unscrew/remove a bad fan
3) be very careful here - you'll see open space all around where fan connects to the power. Insert a flat head screwdriver and loosen up the fan from the base.
4) when separated, pour tiny bit of vegetable oil into a small socket where fan pin goes in.
5) put it together and spin the fan with your fingers. It should be as good as new.

I've fixed 4 fans so far, all of them going strong for months.

AndrewBUD

hero member

Activity: 1078

Merit: 502

Is this a reference design 5870?

I may have a replacement fan if you want one.

I have revived dead fans by drilling a small hole in the fan to add some mineral oil. Not completely dead fans but ones that are starting to make noise and/or slow down.

Stephen Gornick

legendary

Activity: 2506

Merit: 1010

Quote from: Orbit45244 on November 27, 2012, 03:19:17 PM

2) How do I fix the fan on the GPU?

Your first question should be ... should I even mess with a broken GPU for mining?

And that would depend on what you pay for electricity, as in a few hours your mining proceeds will drop by half, making GPU mining unprofitable for anyone who pays more than maybe seven cents per kWh. Following that in a matter of weeks will be ASIC shipments, which will be the final nail in GPU mining's coffin.

If you want to repair it for sale or for whatever reason, here's a source for parts:
- https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/gpu-repair-service-and-parts-123996

Orbit45244

newbie

Activity: 57

Merit: 0

I did some maintenance on my mining machine this weekend, and I noticed that one of the fans on my Radeon 5870 is failing. The fan sporadically stops and starts again, and when it is running it doesn't run very fast. The other fan on the 5870 is running fine, and the 5870 still works once cgminer throttles the card after detecting the overheating and failing to increase the fan speed. I only lose 90 mhash/s from cgminer's throttling.

In my mind I have two options to rectify this:
1) Fix the fan on the card.
2) Buy a new card.

Even though Option 2 is in the realm of possibility, I'd like to go with Option 1 because the card still works, it just needs the fan fixed. However, I have no idea how to fix the fan. So I have two questions:

1) Is there a good reason to go with Option 2?
2) How do I fix the fan on the GPU?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Topic: Fixing GPU Fan? (Read 7427 times)