I keep my big rig at my parents house in their shed. This has many benefits including no noise annoyance, no other heat sources and among other things very cheap electricity. However, my dad finds the operation quite fascinating... So much so that he recently poked at one of the GPU's and broke a fin off one of the fans!
This was a bit of a pain initially as I tend to run the fans at 100% since there is no issue with the loudness of the rig. However with this fan now being out of balance there was some serious vibration which shook through the frame and onto the desk. First off I reduced the fan speed down to a point where I wasnt sitting in the resonant frequency of the vibration. This was easily done using fan speed slider in MSI Afterburner and simply feeling the GPU and rig for movement at specific speeds. This so happened to be around 40% speed, so I reduced clocks and undervolted to compensate for the reduced cooling and went about figuring out a solution to my problem...
First off I checked eBay for Asus R9 290's which were broke and going for spares and repairs, but wow! Those things are going for silly money and I only needed a single fan. I guess they are fetching such a price because buyers are thinking they can refloat the solder or repair them somehow... Anyway, I had to figure out a different solution. So I began scouring the internet and came across some cheapish aftermarket fans which looked like they might fit the heat sink of the GPU. I was seriously considering just going for these, but I was also conscious that this might affect the resale value of the card later down the line so I began to hunt for a genuine Asus part. It was in doing this that I discovered DHGate.com which have a ridiculous amount of spare parts and components all shipping from China and I managed to find a like for like replacement with Asus logo and everything for a mere £20 delivered!
After waiting a couple of weeks, the new fan has now arrived and I replaced it. Everything is working swimmingly once again and I documented the repair process just incase you guys might find it of interest.
Shot of the broken fan on the GPU
*Close up on broken fan.
*The new part! Arrived promptly from China!
Step 1: take off the metal shroud. Only 4 small screws held it on so was super easy.
Step 2: carefully remove the 4 pin power connector from this little socket. I had to use a small screwdriver to prize it out.
Step 3: Unscrew and remove broken fan - again this was only 4 small screws
Step 4,5,6: plug in power for new fan. Screw on to heatsink and reinstall shroud!
Bonus step 7: Mount GPU back onto riser on rig.
Step 8: Marvel at your handiwork!
I hope you have enjoyed this little insight into one of the odd jobs that crops up when mining and see you in the next one!
Cheers!
- A