excess heat from vid card

[slaxl]

hi all, new here first post. I have a small problem i was hoping someone might be able to help with. Basically i noticed my room was rather hot, and my pc was running too hot aswell, the airflow in my case is severly restricted by wires, and i finally decided to do something about it, but i noticed something odd, the video card was hot enough to burn when touched, i checked it and the fan wasn't working. I dont know how long its not been working for, but needless to say im concerned. It is an MSI Nvidia Ti4800se, if anyone has had similar expiriences id be grateful to hear of solutions.

Obviously first thing i did was check for obstructions to the fan, cleaned out dirt, and made sure the wires were connected properly and they are. unfortunatly at the moment i dont have the money to get a new card, so if i cant find a solution then ill have to keep using a spare 32mb card i have lying around... not very good :)

anyone with ideas or help would be greatley appreciated, thanks.


p.s i dont know if this is the right section, but as its mainly about heat, and therefore cooling i decided this would be the best part :)

[Panama Red]

Replace the fan. Clean off all the old thermal compound and apply some Arctic Silver 5 or equivalent. A new fan may even come with some compound. Look under VGA fans or chipset fans at your favorite shop. Here's a link to Newegg for reference. I'm not familiar with the UK e-stores.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=property&DEPA=1

[slaxl]

thanks :) i didnt know you could buy replacement fans for cards, although i knew they were removable as i considered going to watercooling. anyway, ive detatched the fan and given it as much of a thorough cleaning as i can (thought about soapy water ;)) and am going to try again, in the vain hope that the rotor blades were just too dirty to move. I doubt it and may even consider upgrading video cards, ill find the money somehow.. always do.

[Panama Red]

Unlikely, but the plug on the vid card may be dead. Try plugging the fan into another mobo fan connector and see if it will run. Hate to see you buy another fan only to find out the card is bad. I wouldn't run it too long without the any fan at all on there tho. Even without the blade turning, the fan body is acting as a heatsink and drawing the heat off the chip.

[slaxl]

the card works without the fan, like i said i think, it had been running for quite some time without the fan, and had reached temperatures where it was too hot to touch. but yeh, cleaning it out thoroughly made no difference, ill look into finding a new one tommorow, if i cant find one locally (i like to use local pc shops more than online, more trustworthy once you get to know them, and easier to return :)) then i may just go for the whole new video card

[Eagle]

if you want to look for shops... the 1 i usally use is ebuyer...

http://www.ebuyer.com

[slaxl]

yeh ive used ebuyer in the past, they are good, but if its in the local shop ill get it there.

[Designer]

Unfortunately Ebuyer don't do VGA heatsinks and fans,

Check out this link:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Other_Coolers_57.html


Might be worth a look

[chad18e]

Hey SLAXL,

Recently I encountered a simply problem when my girlfriend and I were playing Raven Shield on my LAN. We are in Germany, and air-conditioning is not something that my apartment is equipped with, and sometimes my computer room can get quite "stuffy". Well, anyway, she began having "jumpy" response and "artifacts". (Hercules 3D Prophet 'Radeon 9000')
After about 3 minutes of dealing with that, I went to the local MEDIA MARKET and purchased a THERMALTAKE GIANT II for 30 Euro. Let me tell you! This is maybe one of the best 30 Euro I have ever spent! The increase in performance was incredible!
The downside is the noise produced by this little gadget, but it does not really bother me. It could, however bother someone who is into quiet computers.
The installation was fairly simple. I purchased an extra tube of Artic Silver Thermal Paste, and really went crazy (used generously) when putting this bad-boy together. I did not even use one drop of the Thermal Paste that came with it.
This is my story. And I am sticking to it.

:D

www.thermaltake.com
the product is the Giant II

[WhatsThisBoxFor?]

You might want to be careful with thermal paste, I have heard, so correct me if I am wrong, that excessive amounts of AS can result in bad cooling, and what you really want is a very thing layer. This maybe only for processors and so correct me if I am wrong.

[chad18e]

Actually, I used the excessive amounts on the contacts between the bottom and top Heatsinks and the Heat Pipe. I used a very thin layer on the actual GPU top and bottom.
It did get kinda messy putting the heat pipe into place, but doesn't seem to cause any problems, except for the "ugly white-goop" smeared all over it.

[WhatsThisBoxFor?]

I forgot in my last post so: Welcome (or Wilkommen if your prefere :) ) to PCMech.

I was just making clear to anybody who doesn't know about thermal paste. I found the giant III on dabs (shame eBuyer doesn't do them) I looked quickly and think it is compatible with the Ti4800 but you might want to double check.

Its at: http://www.dabs.com/uk/Search2/Product+Details.htm?quicklinx=316H&searchphrase=giant

[chad18e]

Thank you ("Welcome is fine", I am American) :D

Is saw the Giant III also, but It looks a little more complicated, and could be a little costly. Could also be more of a Space/Power miser (However I am seriously considering one for my 9800 Pro).

[WhatsThisBoxFor?]

It works out ot be about 31 euros so it is about the same price as yours was, I think you could probably get cheaper coolers, and I don't think slaxl will be overclocking so he might be able to get a cheaper fan that would do.