ATI HD Rad 4600 fan died

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andytampa

andytampa

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Apr 28, 2013
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I've already replaced a graphics card and now the replacement is having the same problem. If I can replace just the fan, it would be alot cheaper since the card is fine.

The card is an ATI HD Radeon 4600. I've seen replacement fans and heat sinks, but they take up a second PCI slot. Does anybody know of a fan I can use to replace the dead one that is a low profile? The other thing is that the plug on the card is 2-wire. Many I've seen have 3.
 
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Kari

Kari

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Jun 16, 2004
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what sort of heatsink/fan does the card got? axial or radial? If it is some small axial fan you could just bolt any case fan onto the heatsink and connect the fan to a molex or mobo header or even a fan controller instead. You would likely lose any temp based fan speed adjustment thou...

years ago I 'modded' a 80mm case fan onto an ati 9800pro graphics card after the small (40mm?) fan on it jammed, hooked it into 5V on a molex connector so it was nice and quiet and the temps were even better than with the original fan (when it still worked). Wasn't pretty but it worked. :)

edit about the low profile..
the thinnest fans in the 80mm category tends to be 15mm thick, like Yate Loon D80SM-12, 80x80x15mm, 2500rpm
if you go smaller there are 10mm thick ones: like Noctua NF-A4x10 FLX 40 x 40 x 10 13-18dB and Fractal Design Silent series R2 50 x 50 x 10mm

edit2 scythe also makes 'slim' versions of couple of their models that are 12mm thick:
http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc_top.html
 
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andytampa

andytampa

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Apr 28, 2013
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I don't know what you mean by axial or radial. All those specs you said about the low profile fans above with all the numbers (40x40x10 etc.) are gobbledy-beloved patriot to me.

The ATI 4650 comes with a fan that fits in a heatsink. The card with cooler only uses one PCI slot width. If I have to replace fan plus heatsink, it can only use a single slot width. I don't have any extra room. There isn't room between two cards to put a 80mm fan.

After pulling the fan out (it's not doing anything in there anyway), I was able to measure it. It's 45mm and the space in the heatsink for the fan is 50mm. It uses a two wire plug. Because of some ways I've seen measurements in some of my searches, I've determined that the three mounting holes are 39mm apart in a perfect triangle. I've seen some online that way and will take another look for that. They weren't expensive, but shipping them from China was. I'm going to look again.
 
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Kari

Kari

Splendid
Jun 16, 2004
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radial fans are designed to blow the air radially outwards from the fan, so sort of sideways. Axial fans blow straight backwards along the fans central axis, all the case fans are like this. Replacing a radial fan that is nested inside a plastic shroud (which directs the airflow through the sink) is going to be more problematic than with a more open heatsink desing that uses an axial fan. Though quite often axial fans are used in thin 1slot heatsinks to blow the air sideways...

So you have another card in the next slot, could you move that card to another slot farther down? or are all the suitable slots already in use...

If you really need to get the fan to fit inside the heatsink with those 3 mounting holes, it might be possible to mod a bit unusual case fan that uses only 3 plastic supports that attach the central hub to the outer rim. like this one http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&prod=73
Basicly you'd need to cut off that outer rim and then screw it through the 3 supports.
Whether those types of fans are any easier to find locally, I dont know :)

On the other hand, the replacement fan doesn't necessarily have to be attached to the heatsink, as long as it is relatively close and blows air towards the sink it might still be effective enough keeping it cool. But that depends on the type of the heatsink and if it has shrouds around it and stuff...

Just some food for thought if nothing else. :)

oh about the pins in the plug, the 3rd pin is used as a sense for the rpm, so you don't need to have it connected, the fan will work just fine as long as it gets ground and some voltage through the other 2 pins. Swapping the 3pin plug for a 2 pin plug might be really easy if the wires are attached into the plug with similar tiny fingers, or in the worst case cut the wires from both fans and then solder the original wire end to the new fan leaving the rpm sense unconnected. use some heat-shrink or electrical tape to cover the soldered wire joint.
 
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andytampa

andytampa

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Apr 28, 2013
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Modifying a fan to fit such as you describe is more than I wish to go through. I do understand what you describe regarding the wires and it is the plug that only accepts 2 wires. Even if I plugged the third wire into nothing, the plug itself would not fit in the plug on the board. I've seen fans somewhere online with a mounting such as I described, but left the links and don't know where they are now. They were very inexpensive, but it cost more to ship them.

The fan is an axial fan that sits nested in the heatsink, but the majority of the heatsink is off to the left of the fan. The part of the heatsink sitting on the chip is under that major portion. It would appear that a radial fan would be better so as to blow the air through the length of the heatsink.


Here's an update: I contacted ATI which is now AMD and asked them about a fan. They said they stopped manufacturing the Radeon line years ago and that other companies make them. They named a few of the companies and since VT is in front of the model number on the sticker on the board, I am assuming VisionTek is the company that made it. I contacted them and found that the board has a lifetime warranty. They're sending me an updated fan and heatsink in the mail for free. They said I had a choice between that or RMAing the board. My computer works better with a graphics card installed so I opted for the fan.
 
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