30min 4870 X2 fan mod

So I'm sitting here thinking about a way to use the fans on this ultra hardrive cooler, put it to actual use other than paper weight.


So I thought hey maybe if i take the thing apart and put it on the back of my 4870 X2 it might help temp slightly so I begin taking it apart.


AS you can see it just uses a simple molex connector.

I had this ultra 700w modular PSU layin around so I jumped it. I will be using this for a dual PSU setup in the future, but that's another day.

Haha I couldn't find any double sided tape so I just used rolled up electric tape. (not for permanent use)

The fans seemed to made to fit for this.


Like is said, this is only for testing purposes.


On to the testing:

IDLE TEMPS BEFORE FANS
GPU1= 42°C GPU2=36°C


I left the sensor log running and ran 3D06 then checked the log for highest temp.

Highest recorded temp was 57°C


Now to run a test with the fans on
IDLE TEMPS WITH FAN
GPU1= 40°C GPU2=33°C
GPU1= 2° Drop GPU2=3°Drop

Another run of 3D06

Highest recorded temp was 56°C
Only 1° difference in load temps.

RECAP
IDLE NO FANS: GPU1= 42°C GPU2=36°C
IDLE WITH FANS:GPU1= 40°C GPU2=33°C

LOAD NO FANS: 57°C
LOAD WITH FANS:56°C

Well it was a fun little mod but the due to the marginal difference in performance, im not going to keep or permanently mount the fans on there. It did look nice though. But I think the fans would be better suited for somethings else, not sure what but we'll see what happens. Thanks for reading!

CDdude55 said:

Looks good.

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Yeah I will admit, it did look pretty cool.

mlee49 said:

Great Job m8! You know many people fail more than they win, the important part is to keep trying and soon enough your get it right.

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Well it did "work" just not very well! lol I'm sure these little fans are good for something though.

Hmm I was actually kinda thinkin about doing that with mine...
here back of the pcb

JrRacinFan said:

Nice thinkin' j! I bet it work awesome!

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meh...not as good as I hoped for but ohwell.

1Kurgan1 said:

Well it was worth a shot, but here's my question. How much CFM do those fans really move? They are looking a bit on the weak side. Maybe something with a bit more powah would cool it off a bit better.

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I have not a clue. It might be hard to find some fans that size that move allot of air.

coodiggy said:

with nearly no air gap or directed flow; or good source of fresh air for those fans; you're creating a "circulation" issue.. Basically Just stirring up the air in this area, and possibly recirculating already used hot air from just right under that fan. Same thing happens with CPU cooler's to some extent but much less since they have a free flowing path. If you could seal off the edges of the backing plate against that fan, then you could force air through all that area, cooling the backing plate a little as well... I think you'd do better overall with a more free flowing air path.. you could put them to better use, help redirect the intake air. Pointing one 90 up from the intake path, to behind the drives etc.. in the general direction of the GPU socket backside; mount the other fan, possibly perpendicular to the back of the GPU card, blowing down the back side of the card and towards the CPU cooler etc..

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Yea I agree with most of what your saying...I think if I mounted the the fans at an angle say 45 degree angle it would help allot...but this was just for testing purposes, I usually have a 120mm blowing across the backside of the card when its all in the case. with probably yields better temps then what i did... but maybe a combination of the small fans mounted at an angle and a 120mm fan feeding cool air from the outside of the case. but having now way mount the fans at an angle I may just be happy with a single 120 fan for now.