SLI 560 ti's getting hot

[tah jones]

I'm always using Tom's Hardware when searching for answers but this time I have a question of my own. My computer is relatively new (just under a year) and I noticed the other day the back fan isn't spinning, I believe its the one known as push-pull because its 2 fans attached to each other. I don't know if it ever worked as this was my first time moving the PC from my house to a friends and thus my first time actually looking at the back and noticing that it doesn't spin. I also have 2 video cards but I never utilize SLI for fear of overheating, this could be because that fan never sucks the air out, or because I need an additional fan pointed directly in between them. When I do enable SLI my top card can get to 95c+ and the other is in the high 80s. My question is how would I go about repairing / replacing the one that doesn't work when it is attached to cooling tubes, and where would I plug an extra fan in if I bought one like the COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO which I heard was good. I don't really have any experience in this area so I think taking the entire machine apart is kinda out of the question for me. Thanks in advance for the help, I appreciate it.

 

[Z1NONLY]

"Back fan"?

Back of the case? Back of the CPU cooler? Back of one of your video cards?

Please explain which fan you are talking about. A pic would be great.

 

[rene13cross]

Yea definitely. It's really hard to even make sense of your post. Just post some pix if you can, might make things a lot easier.

 

[tah jones]

http://i.imgur.com/dnIuj.jpg and http://i.imgur.com/B7plD.jpg

 

[tah jones]

I believe it's supposed to be pulling air out the back like an exhaust but it just doesn't spin :|

 

[wr6133]

That fan is part of your radiators setup check its connected properly, if it is and still doesn't work just buy a new 120mm fan and replace it.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Is the fan plugged in ?

If not, contact your CPU cooler manufacturer or system builder for troubleshooting / replacement.

 

[Z1NONLY]

The fan, or the splitter, if there is one. Maybe try pugging the suspect fan into a header by itself.

 

[tah jones]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Before I posted this last night I opened it and spent a can of duster cleaning out the fans and sucking it up with a small vacuum. The backside of the broken one looks like mini radiator but it was 100% covered in dust. Still doesn't work after cleaning though.

Before calling for a replacement I'd like to try plugging it into a different spot but I'm not sure where. What is a header?

 

[socialfox]

Header refers to the motherboard connector for the fan, should either be 4 or 3 pins.

Should look like this:
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f320/RDCXBG/360%20SUX/FanHeader028.jpg

 

[tah jones]

What if my motherboard doesn't have an extra one? Are these things easy to replace?

 

[socialfox]

If you are replacing a fan then you should have a vacant header from the motherboard, if you don't have any headers you can always try the 3 pin to molex adapters. It will connect the fan directly to the power supply but don't expect to change the fan speed or monitor its rpm.

Here is a visual:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812201009

 

[tah jones]

Thanks a lot everyone. I appreciate the help. I'm going to give these things a try when I get some free time. That adapter looks useful, the power supply can handle a fan plugged directly into it?

 

[socialfox]

Yep the power supply will handle any computer fan you throw at it (not literally :lol given you have the molex connectors.