Dire situations call for desperate measures — especially when your PC performance is at stake. When SamoesA DIY’s graphics card started running too hot, he knew a solution was necessary. Armed with a 3D printer and a few extra components, SamoesA DIY devised a creative solution to the problem by designing custom housing for a bigger fan that wasn’t in any way originally intended to cool a graphics card.
According to SamoesA DIY, the GPU started overheating a while back. In an effort to resolve the issue, a temporary solution was to attach a couple of CPU fans. However, this proved to be a futile effort as the heating issue reared its ugly head once again. This time, a more permanent solution was necessary and SamoesA DIY had just the tool — a server fan. This unit was much bigger than the processor fans he had before, measuring in at 120mm. The biggest hurdle here would be finding a way to mount it to the graphics card.
In a video shared to YouTube, SamoesA DIY shows us the complete design process for his 3D printed solution. He created a fan shroud totally from scratch with exact parameters to mount the fan to the graphics card. At the end of the video, he includes a few charts that show how well the setup does at lowering the overall temperature.
To print the final design, SamoesA DIY used a Creality Ender 3 S1. We reviewed this printer last year and regard it overall as a quality printer. While it can be a bit pricey, the performance results speak for themselves which is evident here in SamoesA DIY’s demonstration video. In this case, SamoesA DIY created the design using Solidworks, a paid CAD application used by both professionals and hobbyists alike. That said, you could create something similar using something open source, such as Blender.
If you want to get a closer look at this custom 3D-printed solution, take a look at the video shared to YouTube by SamoesA DIY. The video is mostly just a timelapse of the design and build process but it gives great insight into how the project developed from beginning to end. We really appreciate not only the work he put into the build also the inside look at how the housing was created.
