gotta keep it cool

[Kit Pepper]

Whilst giving my PC it's annual dust cleaning, I carelessly broke three of the props on one of my video card cooling fans. Not a big problem, as the new fan is less that $20 and is an easy switch out. I ordered a new pair. The problem is it will take at least two or three weeks (probably more) for delivery. I can't find any place where I can get it sooner. Obviously I'll miss a few missions and I'll be grounded till then. This is almost unbearable, to miss out on the start of the new campaign. I'm wondering if I should risk running it with only one fan. I could keep the side panel off, and run an outside fan on it. To risky? Another Idea is to put the fan back in and run it with the missing blades. Unfortunately the balance will be off, and that might cause problems of it's own. I could snap off a few more blades to make it less unbalanced. But at least it will be some air flow. Again, too risky? Perhaps all I can do is wait for the replacement fans to arrive. Any ideas are welcome. Thanks.

[Donkey]

Well depending on what GPU you have it may run "cool" anyway. So a couple of thoughts (in no particular order):

1) Run it with something like HWInfo running in the background and look at your temps. You may be ok on just one fan.
2) use something like MSI afterburner to increase the remaining fan speed to 100% if you feel that one fan doesn't have quote enough oomph.
3)Most GPUs will simply thermal limit themselves if they get too hot, thereby preventing damage. Not something you should really rely on, but worth keeping in mind.
4) as you suggest, try with the broken fan or another blower fan just outside the GPU to see if they help.

The key is to see what your temps under load are. What GPU are you on?

[Kit Pepper]

I have the Zotac GeForce 1070 Ti with two 11 blade fans. I guess I wouldn't know the temps unless I ran it for a bit with a full load.
The replacement fans should arrive by Sept 22. I'd miss MG mission #1

[Donkey]

So having talked to a friend of mine who knows a lot about GPUs, he says to try and keep a 1070 below 85C.

And yes, try running MSI afterburner whilst you are playing for 15 mins or so. That keeps an eye on the temperature (as well as clock frequency, voltage etc...). And note, you can use MSI Afterburner to override the fan speed if you want to see if that makes a difference.

[Kit Pepper]

hmm, I have an MSI motherboard. Maybe that app is built in. I'll reassemble it tomorrow with the one good fan, leave the side panel off, add a table fan if necessary, and watch the temps.
Thanks for the tips Donkey.

[ArcEye]

As Donkey says with afterburner you should be able to set the fan speed higher which should help keep the temps down although less of the cooler will be getting airflow. You will get more noise from increasing the fan speed though.

[Donkey]

hmm, I have an MSI motherboard. Maybe that app is built in. I'll reassemble it tomorrow with the one good fan, leave the side panel off, add a table fan if necessary, and watch the temps.
Thanks for the tips Donkey.

You can download it from here:

https://download.msi.com/uti_exe/vga/MS ... 1d2802bf3f
As Arceye says, once you ramp the fan it will be noisy - but it's only for one mission so not a big deal.

You can download HWInfo here:
https://www.hwinfo.com/files/hwi_710.exe

This will allow you to keep an eye on all your GPU temperature probes, I suspect Afterburner just reports the GPU itself and it's not a bad idea to keep an eye on all the temp readouts you can see.

[Kit Pepper]

Great information guys. Thanks for the links.
I am however rethinking "leave the side panel off" because of the routed airflow my fans give me (11 fans in all). If the panel is off, the air will just be dispersed about, not directed on the heat sinks, or filter and vent out efficiently. If I can get a small enough fan on that 95 mm area of the heat sink, and be able to close the panel it might keep everything cool enough.
I'm off to the mountains for the weekend, but I'll test when I return.

[Kit Pepper]

I put my tower back together and added a small 4" desk fan inside blowing on the empty space where I took out the broken fan. I ran the game on a few practice missions and the temp got up to 70 C. The limit is 83 C so I guess I was safe. I think it will be good enough to fly until my replacement fan arrives.

[Donkey]

Yup, sounds golden.