# Graphics card fan



## jon76 (Mar 11, 2015)

Hi all, my graphics card doesn't have a fan, it's a Radeon HD6450 after much searching, I came across this that I'm hoping will work on it as I've already ordered it, http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/6520015885.html?orderId=66079442290313  will this work? and does anyone know how to attach it to the card if it does? thanks


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## Darren (Mar 11, 2015)

So why exactly do you think you need a fan on it? 6450's aren't hot cards by any means.


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## beers (Mar 11, 2015)

lol that looks like it belongs on a 7600GT or something.

As above it was a waste of money when you could have put that toward a faster card.


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## jon76 (Mar 11, 2015)

I'm aware the card isn't very good, but it's where I'm getting the highest temps by a long shot, I could do with upgrading the card, but the one I'm looking at will be £100 or more, this was about £4, I measured the points between what looks like the screw distance, it is 4.3mm, the same as the distance on the fan, I actually used to have a 7600GT now that you mention it, it was on my previous build. Also the card is just about holding out, I play games like Dragon Origins, Skyrim, Sims, sim city, Broken swords, my card seems to be playing these pretty well.


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## Darren (Mar 12, 2015)

What temperatures are you getting? If that thing has a passive cooler (no fan) then it's pretty unlikely that it's just now starting to overheat. You're putting a fan on something that doesn't need one.


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## jon76 (Mar 12, 2015)

Last night I noticed  quite annoying slowdown while playing Dragon Age, I still don't know the reason why, but upon checking speccy just after quitting, it's reading 54 degrees c, while everything else is considerably lower, I originally had the idea because some models of hd6450, actually do have fans, so someone must have thought it needed one, and the card also has the 2 pin socket, when it arrives, I shall be attempting to attach this never the less, I was hoping someone who might have had experience in trying to attach a fan may have seen this before I make the attempt, thanks


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## Motoxrdude (Mar 12, 2015)

Yeah 54c is nothing to worry about. Your card is not thermal throttling. Your intermittent slow down is being caused by something else.


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## beers (Mar 12, 2015)

Motoxrdude said:


> Your intermittent slow down is being caused by something else.



Such as being a bottom-of-the-totem-pole card..

The 6450 really isn't a 'gaming' card based on its limited capabilities..



> some models of hd6450, actually do have fans, so someone must have thought it needed one



Clearly someone at the factory tested the design and production of the card you bought without the fan.


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## Motoxrdude (Mar 12, 2015)

beers said:


> Clearly someone at the factory tested the design and production of the card you bought without the fan.



Yeah exactly. Passive coolers were designed to operate with limited air flow. That's why they are typically much larger than their counterparts with a fan. 

You can verify if what why are saying by temporarily placing a case fan onto the heat sink of the 6450. If your performance increases then by all means find a means to mount a fan on your card, however I doubt you'll find an elegant solution.


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## jon76 (Mar 12, 2015)

beers said:


> Such as being a bottom-of-the-totem-pole card..
> 
> The 6450 really isn't a 'gaming' card based on its limited capabilities..
> 
> ...



A bottom of the totem pole card that so far has played all my games without slowdown, apart from the time I tried to put Sims 4 above half graphics, I also played Dragon age without issue for over an hour this afternoon, not that I disagree with you on my card, it is an awful card, but the game says it requires a "256 mb" card, more specifically a GT7600 or above, I'm sure even a card as old as mine more than matches up to that


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## jon76 (Mar 12, 2015)

Motoxrdude said:


> Yeah 54c is nothing to worry about. Your card is not thermal throttling. Your intermittent slow down is being caused by something else.



I will take this on board, there could be something else a miss here, I have ignored a couple of bsod's so far, which usually seem to happen when watching video's, occasionally I get a message saying something along the lines of "your video adapter has stopped working, either way, I've paid for the fan now, and one way or another, I will get the fan on


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## Darren (Mar 12, 2015)

Sorry if I came across as hostile about it but I was just confused why you thought you needed one. If you're getting lag spikes like that then you've got another issue.

Tried reinstalling your video drivers? 

http://www.computerforum.com/230370...nstall-graphics-drivers-amd-nvidia-intel.html


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## silv55 (Mar 12, 2015)

jon76 said:


> Hi all, my graphics card doesn't have a fan, it's a Radeon HD6450 after much searching, I came across this that I'm hoping will work on it as I've already ordered it, http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/6520015885.html?orderId=66079442290313  will this work? and does anyone know how to attach it to the card if it does? thanks



Jon76: here my fan progect to the same Ati video card HD6450, and i must say that it keeps it really cool  and will perform better,  special on gaming and streaming , and will last longer for sure.

http://www.computerforum.com/227325-ati-amd-6450-video-card-progect.html


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## silv55 (Mar 12, 2015)

silv55 said:


> Jon76: here my fan progect to the same Ati video card HD6450, and i must say that it keeps it really cool  and will perform better,  special on gaming and streaming , and will last longer for sure.
> 
> http://www.computerforum.com/227325-ati-amd-6450-video-card-progect.html



http://postimg.org/image/3nlvsh0k3/fcd77b79/


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## Darren (Mar 12, 2015)

silv55 said:


> Jon76: here my fan progect to the same Ati video card HD6450, and i must say that it keeps it really cool  and will perform better,  special on gaming and streaming , and will last longer for sure.



No it won't. Running a card at a lower temperature has zero impact on performance, as long as you're not getting throttled by your temperature being too high, which isn't the case here. Yes with better cooling you can overclock but strictly from just adding a cooler you'll get no added performance whatsoever. Cooler and quieter? Sure. Faster? No. 

Also by the looks of your picture you just have another fan put in a PCI slot. Jon is talking about a new heatsink and fan, which is a much more involved ordeal. I may be wrong about what you did to yours but just from what I can see it looks like another fan.


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## silv55 (Mar 12, 2015)

Darren said:


> No it won't. Running a card at a lower temperature has zero impact on performance, as long as you're not getting throttled by your temperature being too high, which isn't the case here. Yes with better cooling you can overclock but strictly from just adding a cooler you'll get no added performance whatsoever. Cooler and quieter? Sure. Faster? No.
> 
> Also by the looks of your picture you just have another fan put in a PCI slot. Jon is talking about a new heatsink and fan, which is a much more involved ordeal. I may be wrong about what you did to yours but just from what I can see it looks like another fan.



that's your opinion,and don't have to agree with it but i respect it.

your opinion is like when you are hot in the summer as long you don't get affect by it, you have no benefit by  having a small  fan blowing some fresh air at you.


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## Darren (Mar 12, 2015)

silv55 said:


> that's your opinion,and don't have to agree with it but i respect it.
> 
> your opinion is like when you are hot in the summer as long you don't get affect by it, you have no benefit by  having a small  fan blowing some fresh air at you.



Humans and computers do not function the same way.


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## jon76 (Mar 12, 2015)

Darren said:


> Sorry if I came across as hostile about it but I was just confused why you thought you needed one. If you're getting lag spikes like that then you've got another issue.
> 
> Tried reinstalling your video drivers?
> 
> http://www.computerforum.com/230370...nstall-graphics-drivers-amd-nvidia-intel.html



No worries, I do take things you and others on board as I have asked for help.

To be honest, I originally started trying to improve the cooling on the case, not the most desperate need to be honest, but money's tight at the minute and fans are cheap.

I've added a 14cm fan to the bottom of the case so I now have 1 x 20cm intake fan at the front, 1 x 14cm intake fan at the bottom, 1 x 20cm exhaust fan at the top and 1 x 12cm exhaust fan at the back, next I plan to get the side panel with the mesh that will fit a fan on rather than the transparent side panel I've regretted since buying the case.

The only other places I could see that needed cooling were the cpu as I can't boost the clock from 3.2ghz to 3.6ghz without the cpu warning alarm going off, I was considering getting a hyper 212 but that's a bit expensive and will probably wait until I have firstly a better monitor as mine is probably not even doing my graphics card justice, and that's saying something.

The graphics card was the only other part that won't cost much to cool, although I'm going to accept what people on here have generally said that the temperature I'm getting isn't causing issue, I've paid money now and I'm a stingy git, I need to get my money's worth.


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## Darren (Mar 12, 2015)

Cooling is only needed to a point. You don't want stuff overheating but you don't gain anything from running at say 40 degrees vs 55 degrees (Celsius). That's my main point. 

As for the actual fan installation I couldn't really tell you without seeing that specific cooler. You'll need some thermal paste too.


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## jon76 (Mar 12, 2015)

Darren said:


> Sorry if I came across as hostile about it but I was just confused why you thought you needed one. If you're getting lag spikes like that then you've got another issue.
> 
> Tried reinstalling your video drivers?
> 
> http://www.computerforum.com/230370...nstall-graphics-drivers-amd-nvidia-intel.html



Thanks for the link, forgot you included that, I know if I was going to remove a driver, I'd right click my graphics card in display adapters and uninstall, I will see if I continue having issue's, it works most of the time, and I have Dragon Age withdrawals, if an issue does come up I'll try uninstalling and reinstalling the driver in the method you've linked me to


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## Darren (Mar 12, 2015)

You might just be getting low framerate in some intense situations. What exactly is happening?


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## silv55 (Mar 12, 2015)

Darren said:


> Humans and computers do not function the same way.



I'd bet my life that if you had same ati card without fan, my card will last longer.


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## Darren (Mar 12, 2015)

silv55 said:


> I'd bet my life that if you had same ati card without fan, my card will last longer.



-.- 

I'd bet you my life that isn't even remotely what I was referring to. You said the card was faster. It's not.

YES it will run quieter and cooler (and thus possibly LONGER) but it will not run any faster simply because you put a fan next to it. Also longevity on a lower end card is pretty much skys the limit. With no moving parts it should theoretically last forever, fan or not. You only really need to worry about longevity on cards that are prone to throwing off a lot of heat and use fans to cool it, like my 7970.


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## beers (Mar 12, 2015)

silv55 said:


> I'd bet my life that if you had same ati card without fan, my card will last longer.



Facedesk.

Make sure your card gets the appropriate 8 hours of sleep every night too  

You could argue that the fan would be a more likely culprit to fail before the card does.  If paired with an insufficiently-sized heatsink for passive cooling, the card with the fan would thermal throttle and overheat while the passive one would exhibit no heat related issues from losing a fan.


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## Darren (Mar 12, 2015)

beers said:


> Facedesk.
> 
> Make sure your card gets the appropriate 8 hours of sleep every night too



I just about lost it.


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## jon76 (Mar 12, 2015)

Darren said:


> You might just be getting low framerate in some intense situations. What exactly is happening?



Well, I first noticed it taking ages to load the game, I was prepared to overlook this for the time being, then, just after I launch the game, I noticed the blue loading ring appearing for a while the screen is black, as if the game is about to launch, and it eventually does. Then, as I mentioned in a previous comment, I can't do anything at times, if I want to go into the menu, it takes ages, when the menu normally comes up instantly, character starts lagging as I try to run sometimes, I can't recall now whether it does it with massive amounts going on on the screen at the same time or not. 

It's not doing it that much though, as generally the game is playable, and most of the time there's no issue.


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## silv55 (Mar 12, 2015)

beers said:


> Facedesk.
> 
> Make sure your card gets the appropriate 8 hours of sleep every night too
> 
> You could argue that the fan would be a more likely culprit to fail before the card does.  If paired with an insufficiently-sized heatsink for passive cooling, the card with the fan would thermal throttle and overheat while the passive one would exhibit no heat related issues from losing a fan.



You talk like a Hardware seller!


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## Darren (Mar 12, 2015)

silv55 said:


> You talk like a Hardware seller!



He talks like he knows what he's talking about. 

Jon, that sounds like a mess. You've got some other issues going on outside your GPU.


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## Motoxrdude (Mar 13, 2015)

It honestly sounds like you have too much crap running in the background. Have you done some house cleaning so you don't have useless junk running in the background?


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## C4C (Mar 13, 2015)

Motoxrdude said:


> It honestly sounds like you have too much crap running in the background. Have you done some house cleaning so you don't have useless junk running in the background?



Don't forget dust bunnies might be hopping around. They tend to be small. 

This thread is golden.


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## jon76 (Mar 13, 2015)

C4C said:


> Don't forget dust bunnies might be hopping around. They tend to be small.
> 
> This thread is golden.



I have tried to lure out the dust bunnies with really small pieces of carrot, I've been sat here for some time now, and not one dust bunny, I'm beginning to get the impression they don't exist!


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## jon76 (Mar 13, 2015)

Motoxrdude said:


> It honestly sounds like you have too much crap running in the background. Have you done some house cleaning so you don't have useless junk running in the background?



I don't have a great deal running in the back ground, I run cc cleaner regularly, here's what I have running at the minute, obviously Waterfox isn't usually on while gaming 


photo hosting sites


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## silv55 (Mar 13, 2015)

Darren said:


> -.-
> 
> I'd bet you my life that isn't even remotely what I was referring to. You said the card was faster. It's not.
> 
> YES it will run quieter and cooler (and thus possibly LONGER) but it will not run any faster simply because you put a fan next to it. Also longevity on a lower end card is pretty much skys the limit. With no moving parts it should theoretically last forever, fan or not. You only really need to worry about longevity on cards that are prone to throwing off a lot of heat and use fans to cool it, like my 7970.



My mistake, i meant that video would be more stable if it's not over heating


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## Darren (Mar 14, 2015)

silv55 said:


> My mistake, i meant that video would be more stable if it's not over heating



:good:


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## Renzore101 (Mar 16, 2015)

jon76,

Just out of curiosity, why do you have a 750W PSU? With that rig I believe you could do with about 400W less. Also, I suggest investing in a new gfx card, it will open you up to a whole new world of opportunities.


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