What are the implications of replacing a blower fan on a video card heatsink with a conventional fan ? Referring to this :
http://www.circuitremix.com/index.php?q=node/83.
The blower fan would be pushing air directly towards the heatsink fins, right ? The conventional fan ?
Blower fan vs conventional fan on a video card heatsink ...
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The problem with this example card (8800 GT) is that the first version fan was fairly small and had to spin fast and loud to cool the card under load. Also the BIOS was updated because the fan would only run at about 29% until it reached 90c and that was too hot, so the new BIOS runs the fan faster.
A blower fan can have a low profile and move the air in one or many directions to the side of its rotation so it fits in narrow areas like PCI slots.
Most graphics cards with blower fans seem to be designed with the shroud exiting out the back PCI slot and taking up two PCI slots. The 8800 GT cards are a single slot and are not designed to push the air out the back, but more out the side and into the case. So I guess a conventional fan would be ok on this card the way this example is because the air does not have to be directed all towards the back. I have seen other cheap fan mods to these cards with better results.
I suppose you could make a shroud to use a conventional fan to blow air out the back but I don’t think it would be as efficient as a blower fan because the air would have to turn 90 deg in the shroud with a conventional fan.
Arctic Cooler made some fairly quiet blower fans for their VGA card coolers
A blower fan can have a low profile and move the air in one or many directions to the side of its rotation so it fits in narrow areas like PCI slots.
Most graphics cards with blower fans seem to be designed with the shroud exiting out the back PCI slot and taking up two PCI slots. The 8800 GT cards are a single slot and are not designed to push the air out the back, but more out the side and into the case. So I guess a conventional fan would be ok on this card the way this example is because the air does not have to be directed all towards the back. I have seen other cheap fan mods to these cards with better results.
I suppose you could make a shroud to use a conventional fan to blow air out the back but I don’t think it would be as efficient as a blower fan because the air would have to turn 90 deg in the shroud with a conventional fan.
Arctic Cooler made some fairly quiet blower fans for their VGA card coolers
One problem with blowers is that in computers and many other applications including air-cons and some notebooks, is that the fins are very very small relative to the bearing if you compare it against a axial fan. Hence it has to spin much faster to get the same airflow/pressure.
But it's the lack of space (and shape of space) for axial fan that results in blowers being used.
The point being... it's hard to compare blower and axial fans for performance, because the 80mm fan will more likely get you lower temperatures compared to the blower, even though the air isn't expelled out of the back. People have tried removing shrouds and disabling the small fans and blowers on video card hsfs and mounting bigger fans instead for overclocking, and it's almost always cooler and quieter as long as the new fan isn't too loud.
Even with the Arctic Cooling, which has good-sized blower fins, removing the shroud and placing a 80mm fan proved to be cooler.
One idea I have though, is mounting the fan such that it points to the back, and making a shroud that's around 2 pci slot wide (or ~half the fan). Half of the airflow goes through the shroud, while the other half... you can use it to blow the back of your card.
But it's the lack of space (and shape of space) for axial fan that results in blowers being used.
The point being... it's hard to compare blower and axial fans for performance, because the 80mm fan will more likely get you lower temperatures compared to the blower, even though the air isn't expelled out of the back. People have tried removing shrouds and disabling the small fans and blowers on video card hsfs and mounting bigger fans instead for overclocking, and it's almost always cooler and quieter as long as the new fan isn't too loud.
Even with the Arctic Cooling, which has good-sized blower fins, removing the shroud and placing a 80mm fan proved to be cooler.
One idea I have though, is mounting the fan such that it points to the back, and making a shroud that's around 2 pci slot wide (or ~half the fan). Half of the airflow goes through the shroud, while the other half... you can use it to blow the back of your card.