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ATI rage 128 very noisy fan. Can I replace it?
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: London, UK
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The ATI rage 128 card in my powermac G$ 450 is making a heck of a racket. Very noisy, it also seems to throttle up and down quite a lot.
The fan looks like it's replaceable with 4 screws. Can I just take it off and find a similar item in a computer store? If I can, hopefully it will make my machine much quieter.
Cheers,
J.
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By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out - Richard Dawkins
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Administrator  Join Date: May 2000
Location: California
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My 8500 fan gets like that now and then. Here is what I do: - Unplug the fan power connector from the video card.
- Undo the 4 fan screws, you will need a fine Phillips screwdriver. The fan will lift off the heat sink. Set the fan down with the underside facing up.
- On the underside of the fan, which you can reach now, the hub will be covered by a circular sticky. Peel up the sticky about halfway, to expose the fan's center shaft.
- Unbend a paper clip, and dip the end of it into some clean oil. Then use the end to transfer a small amount of oil to the fan's shaft. Just enough to coat where the shaft goes into the bearing. Enough oil will wick into the bearing to solve the problem. Don't get any oil on the sticky tab.
- Push the sticky tab back down. Put the fan back on the vid card, restore the screws. Don't torque them too hard.
- Plug the fan leads back in, plug the vid card into the AGP slot.
- Boot and enjoy your quieter G4.
At some point this trick may stop working when the bearing wears out too much, but your computer will be very obsolete by then. Still, if someone knows of a good source for replacement ATi fans, I'd be interested too.
(Last edited by reader50; Dec 23, 2003 at 10:54 PM.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
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Originally posted by Freeflyer:
The ATI rage 128 card in my powermac G$ 450 is making a heck of a racket. Very noisy, it also seems to throttle up and down quite a lot.
The fan looks like it's replaceable with 4 screws. Can I just take it off and find a similar item in a computer store? If I can, hopefully it will make my machine much quieter.
Cheers,
J.
Yes you can. However it's worth noting that you might be able to replace it with a faster card for the cost of the fan.
If you do get a fan, be sure to get some thermal compound for heat transfer. I recommend Arctic Silver 5 for higher-end GPUs, but for a Rage 128 whatever the store has should be fine.
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Mac Pro 2x 2.66 GHz Dual core, Apple TV 160GB, two Windows XP PCs
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Seoul/New York
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I don't even think you need a fan for a Rage 128. My Cube came with a Rage 128 in it and it didn't have a fan.
Just attach a passive heat sink to the gpu.
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Moderator  Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Arizona
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I have never seen a Rage 128 with a fan either.
Interesting...
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I like chicken
I like liver
Meow Mix, Meow Mix
Please de-liv-er
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Administrator Join Date: May 2000
Location: California
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Most Sawtooths came with an OEM Rage 128 Pro in the AGP slot. That is how mine came, and it has a fan screwed on top of the heat sink.
Mine has since been retired for an 8500. Both tended to get fan-noisy after about a year.
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: London, UK
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Reader50 you are a star!
Did exactly what you said, except I used some teflon bicycle chain lube, and the fan is now silent.
Excellent.
J.
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By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out - Richard Dawkins
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