New Video card advice

50Twuncle

I am trying to upgrade my 256Mb Geforce 9500GT to a 1Gb ATI Radeon HD 5570 (both PCI-E) and have a problem
The Geforce has no on-card cooling fan, it has an external fan bolted on the side of it - via a bracket - the new card is smaller and there is nowhere to mount the bracket
Is it OK just to disconnect the fan and rely on the on-card fan or would the original fan have cooled other components also ?

gonzo127

sorry i am a little confused by your description, is it possible to post up either pictures of your old card and your new card, or the actually products (ie what make -BFG/inno3d/XFX etc etc)

50Twuncle

gonzo127 wrote: »

sorry i am a little confused by your description, is it possible to post up either pictures of your old card and your new card, or the actually products (ie what make -BFG/inno3d/XFX etc etc)

original card - 256Mb Geforce 9500GT (MSI ?)
new card - 1Gb ATI Radeon HD 5570 (asus) (small format)
both PCI-E

ejsaunders

I think what it means is that there is a fan on the ATI card and not on the Geforce and is the ATI card's onboard fan powerful enough to cool it? Yes Kinda it doesn't fit properly unless you move the larger fan. It should be perfectly fine to disconnect it yes.

JasX

On board fan is designed to cool the card without external cooling needed.

If you don't do demanding gaming you'll certainly be fine as the card won;t be running too hot.

Other big issue might be if you have a particularly small/cramped PC case that'll restrict airflow and get hotter than a typical PC case, in this case you could look into getting an additional fans if you have space (case or slot fans) or invest in a better PC case (but moving all your PC internals to a new case will be a pain and puts them at risk of getting damaged if mishandeled)

Other small issue is if its fine now it might develop problems if you let your PC get clogged up with dust.... try to keep it somewhere clean (ie not on carpet) and open it up to check and possibly clean from time to time.

Finally if in doubt there is probably a temperature monitor utility built into the ATI driver or downloadable separately, you could install that and keep an eye on the temperature directly....

(my GTX 295 used to hit 95 DegC at times till i got a few extra fans.... yours shouldn't get near that hot )

GeoffX

I've an Asus 5770 - the CuCore model - and it comes with a piece of software called SmartDoctor which controls the fan's speed. Get the latest version from Asus's website, along with the latest driver. Then go to ATI's site and download the absolute latest version of the driver - version 10.8. You should install it over the top of the Asus version, which tends to be a month or three older.

50Twuncle

Thanks, alll for your advice