Anyone ever upgrade their video card fan/heatsink?

[blur xc]

I've got this card - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143161 and the fan on this thing screams like a banshee, especially during boot up, before the nvida driver/fan speed control takes over. Every other fan in my case is damn near silent. When I first built the pc I had to do a double take to maker sure they were working right, they are so quiet. The noise is getting more annoying every day- any suggestions for a good aftermarket gpu cooler?

Thanks,
BM

[LowSky]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118037

but at that price point you can pick up a newer fanless card, like these
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709+600030348+600029795+600007321&QksAutoSuggestion=&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Configurator=&IsNodeId=1&Subcategory=48&description=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

[Paqman]

any suggestions for a good aftermarket gpu cooler?


You can fit a fanless cooling kit to a 9600GT, something like this (http://www.thermaltake.com/product_info.aspx?PARENT_CID=C_00001254&id=C_00001255&name=Fanless+330+&ovid=n) should do you. I always buy my GPUs fanless in the first place, I hate noisy PCs.

[Redo]

I always put aftermarket cooling on my video cards. Stock fans are usually terrible for noise.

The Accelero S1 with the Turbo Module is a cheaper option that will work great:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186016
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186021

[cariboo]

The fans on BFG fans aren't very good, I bought three BFG video cards at the same time, and the fans failed on all three. I picked up some very inexpensive fans from ebay, and replaced the fans on a GT210 and a 9400GTS. On the 8400GS I replaced it with a fan from another brand of video card that had died. All three cards now run cooler than they did with the original fans, I saw an average drop of 10°C per card.

BTW the fans from ebay were $4.50CDN total including shipping. :)

[blur xc]

Thanks for the suggestions! That accelero fanless model looks real attractive. At first I was nervous about going fanless, but if it works, what's to complain about?

Thanks!
BM

[Redo]

Thanks for the suggestions! That accelero fanless model looks real attractive. At first I was nervous about going fanless, but if it works, what's to complain about?

Thanks!
BM


While Arctic Cooling officially says to use the $9.99 Turbo Module with the S1 on 9600GT (the two fans in the second link I gave above), there are people who run the Accelero S1 on 8800gt's fanless and have no overheating issues (40C idle, 60C load). The 9600GT runs cooler, so it shouldn't be an issue.

As with any cooling, don't install and assume it works. Monitor those temps for a good week or so to make sure it's installed right and everything is working.

I've always recommended to use ceramique or quality any ceramic based thermal compound. It's non conductive, so an accidental smudge has zero chance of shorting any circuits like the silver based ones potentially can: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100009

And Arctic Silver's thermal compound remover works GREAT. I highly recommend it if you want to make your life easy. I bought it year or so ago, it'll last me forever, and I'll never have to fight cleaning off caked on thermal grease with rubbing alcohol ever again: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100010


Naturally rubbing alcohol to remove the old thermal compound will work, and any thermal compound that comes with the S1 would work just fine. But I've worked on so much custom cooling I like to make my life easy :p

[blur xc]

While Arctic Cooling officially says to use the $9.99 Turbo Module with the S1 on 9600GT (the two fans in the second link I gave above), there are people who run the Accelero S1 on 8800gt's fanless and have no overheating issues (40C idle, 60C load). The 9600GT runs cooler, so it shouldn't be an issue.

As with any cooling, don't install and assume it works. Monitor those temps for a good week or so to make sure it's installed right and everything is working.

I've always recommended to use ceramique or quality any ceramic based thermal compound. It's non conductive, so an accidental smudge has zero chance of shorting any circuits like the silver based ones potentially can: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100009

And Arctic Silver's thermal compound remover works GREAT. I highly recommend it if you want to make your life easy. I bought it year or so ago, it'll last me forever, and I'll never have to fight cleaning off caked on thermal grease with rubbing alcohol ever again: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100010


Naturally rubbing alcohol to remove the old thermal compound will work, and any thermal compound that comes with the S1 would work just fine. But I've worked on so much custom cooling I like to make my life easy :p

Thanks for all the advice! I already monitor all my temps on my conky. My computer is hidden in a cabinet (which is currently passively vented, but I'm installing a fan on it too) and I monitor the temp in there with a digital reptile cage thermometer.

BM

[blur xc]

update:

I did eventually get that arctic cooling fan-less setup a few weeks ago. Installation was a snap and it looks way trick compared to the oe setup. I also installed another 5" fan in the side of my case over the video card, and a 250mm fan to draw the hot air out of the cabinet in which my pc resides. Overall, it's a lot better - it doesn't run any cooler than the oe bfg cooler, but at least its quiet, and it seems to be a lot less tolerant of higher ambient temps. When the temp gets over 80f in that cabinet, the gpu temp gets upwards 62C, but opening the door and letting some air in drops the temps to below 55C in a matter of minutes, and it gets as low as 50C. The nvidia settings manager deal states that the thermal cutoff temp is 105C, which sounds crazy, but if true, 62C is well below that.

My CPU temps over around 34-36C idle, and get into the mid 40's under load, so I'm pretty happy. Now I just have a low hum compared to the high pitched whine I had previously.

Net step will be to drill some discrete vent holes so the cabinet temps stay low w/o the door having to be held open. My 1yr old has taken to climbing inside the cabinet and turning of the power to my ups or playing with the button of the front of the case when no-one is looking. Not good... some vents and a nice child lock will fix that.

thanks for the input-
BM