Controlling NVIDIA GeForce 5200 fan speed

  I have a low profile PCI NVIDIA GeForce 5200 graphics card that I just
installed and the fan is really noisy.  Also I'm running it in a
laptop docking station so it's on top of my desk where I can hear it
nice and clear.  Is there anyway to slow down the fan speed or other
wise minimize the noise?  It's a DVI card if that makes a difference.

Thanks,
Nate Baxley

 No.just get a new fan.

  On 7 May 2007 07:04:06 -0700, Nate  Baxley


Yes but slowing down the fan will result in higher temp, we
don't now how much thermal margin the card has.  If you
underclocked it, that will reduce heat production and
increase stability some at higher temps but is your docking
station even cooled as well as a typical ATX case?  If not,
that could be part of the reason the fan is running at such
a high speed already.

I'm suggesting the situation is more complex than just
slowing down the fan, but if all you want is to do that
without care of the possible consequences you can put a
series resistor on the positive power lead to the fan,
perhaps around 47-68 Ohm, 1W might work.  Be sure it's a
good connection and sufficiently insulated, I suggest
soldering then secured in heat shrink tubing.  An example of
this done to a different card, but I think I used a larger
2W resistor as it was what I had on-hand at the time.

http://69.36.189.159/usr_1034/video/7600gt.jpg

The other alternative might be installing a different
heatsink if you can find one that fits a low profile card,
or another fan with same mounting, size, shape if you had
some other video card fans that were compatible and were
rated at low RPM, current.    Another option might be a
passive heatsink if the docking bay has sufficient airflow
but I would expect limited space in it and possibly not fan
at all moving air past the card so the possiblity of
overheating might be a lot higher unless it's underclocked
quite a lot.

 No you can't, actually.  That underpowered video card generally has to
strain to provide good graphics details, and so the cooling fan has to run
at higher speed to keep the card from thermally failing.

--

DaveW

___________