Graphics card reaching 125C

have you cleaned out the inside of your computer lately? is the fan on the card still working?

Well, since you mentioned it I just now cleaned the computer. As far as I can see the graphics card's fan is working, as it is on the underside of the gfx it's a bit hard to see. Now it's running at 89C. As the comp started it was at 77C. Any other suggestions ?

My mistake, I just checked again and the fan is not working. I have a GeForce 4 MX 64MB gfx which has a working fan on it. Do you think I could change the two fans so I have a working fan on the Fx 5700 Ultra.

it's possible..i've never changed the fan on a graphix card..but i know it's possible...they do make fan kits for specific cards for a better fit

Any leads as to how this could be done? I've been trying to remove the fan from the GeForce 4 MX & it honestly looks like it will be some [bleep] of work.

well..to my knowledge..those fan's and heatsinks are attatched with thermal epoxy...which means you really have to pry it off with something...we've got someone here who has done this before let me point h im at this thread.

Dsenette flagged me down....

yeah, they are a stinker to remove, but not as bad as it seems--to remove the heatsink, anyway

If you have a make and model, it would be helpful, but the basic procedure is this

Take a ziplock FREEZER bag and put your video card in this and seal it

Place the videocard in the bag in the freezer for AT LEAST a half hour...hour is better.

Freezing thermal expoxy makes it brittle

Remove the card from the bag and quickly (within a minute or two) and then you want to take a flathead screwdriver and a credit card and carefully pop it off

here is a diagram in good old ASCI art

the fan is attached to the heatsink, which is glued to the GPU, note the heatsink lip extends ever so slightly beyond the top of the Graphic processing unit (GPU)

You want to slide a creditcard or atop the printed circuit board (pcb) until it abutts the CPU and you should be able to slide a flathead screwdriver on top of the card and underneat the lip of the heatsink until it touches the gpu...slide it back so it is not touching the GPU and then TURN the screwdriver 90 degrees--this will pop the heatsink and fan off

||||||||||||||| <fan
-------------------- <heatsink
GPUiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii +++++++++++++++ <screwdriver
GPUiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii ========================<credit card
--------------------------- PCB


Now, here's tha hard part...the thermal epoxy is a bear to clean off! Almost nothing works, but here's how I eventually got it all off

a box of q-tips
Some acetone from the hardware store...usually more concentrated then nail polish remover which is 90 percent acetone

You literally have to rub it off layer by molecue layer...Put the acetone in a small cup or something, dip the Q-tip, then carefully put the acetone on the thermal epoxy with the qtip...you can dab it on heavily, but DO NOT GET IT ON THE VIDEOCARD PCB (the top of the GPU is strong and impervious to acetone, but the PCB will melt!)

Let it soak for 30 seconds or so, then rub it with a qtip and you will see a slight amount come off

It literally took me 3 hours of near constant rubbing to remove it all--and you must remove it all

Now, as for attaching.

Make sure that the power cord from the new fan will plug into the new videocard (or external plug)

Assuming you card does not have mounting holes, you need to glue the fan back on --thermal glue is getting harder to find, but you can find some on the internet--but

if I can give some advice.

What I did was use two small dabs of epoxy and some arctic silver thermal paste, like this


-----------------------------
|--------------------------X|
|--OOOOOOOOOOOOO--| x = epoxy
|--OOOOOOOOOOOOO--| O = arctic silver
|--OOOOOOOOOOOOO--| - = nothing
|--OOOOOOOOOOOOO--|
|--OOOOOOOOOOOOO--|
|--OOOOOOOOOOOOO--|
|--OOOOOOOOOOOOO--|
|X--------------------------|

stupid sql error

couldn't fix ascii art for a while

What a master piece Gerry, you couldnt stick that in the canned replies thread could you, never know when youll need to remove an epoxy HSF.

I would just buy a new aftermarket gpu cooler fan. Get a fan that is made for your current video card that way you know that the fan will be able to handle the heat of the card. Ya, the old fan would work but there is a chance that it wont have enough airflow to cool the 5700 Ultra.


If it was a 5700LE it would be fine but the Ultra is actually a card that is clocked abit higher than the geforce 4 mx 64mb is.

Edited by jrm20, 09 March 2006 - 06:47 PM.

or instead of bothering with all that stuff why not just buy a VGA cooler of some sort i dont no how effective they are but im sure that would save all of the bother and probably safer just incase you break something (not implying that u will lol)

The problem with buying an aftermarket vga cooler--or atleast potential problem, is that MOST of those are designed for videocards with mouting holes and canno tbe mounted any other way.

Some of these older cards require a fan mounted to a heatsink, which are directly attached to the CPU--in my case, I needed to get a 40mm fan and cut off the mounting pins, then adhere it

I do agree that an old GeForce 4 MX 64MB fan might be inadequate--not sure what the specs are on that.

Well, let me sort out some of the confusion. The graphics card with the fan that is not working is GeForce FX 5700 Ultra made by BFGTech. The card that has a working fan is GeForce 3 Ti 500 made by Nvidia, im sorry about the mistake before where I stated GeForce 4 MX.
Now, well is there honestly a point in replacing the fan or would I be better off purchasing a VGA cooler, one that I've seen is the Vcool by Antec btw I do have to say the process of removal of the fan & insertion of new one was very decently brought forward, thanks a lot for that.
I had made plans of purchasing a new gfx in May & well I cannot purchase it before that. So if maybe there could be a good short term solution I would really appreciate it.
Also how much would the gfx get damaged running at about 90 - 115C most of the time ?

Really? that was epoxied on? Or was it just the ti300 (incidently, still one of my favorite cards of all time...if the thing could do Directx 9, it would still kick some lower end cards butts today)

That card looks like it has two mount points for a vga cooler, so you will not have to epoxy that back on the ultra

Personally, I'd spring for a new vga cooler for $10