Page 1 of 1

How to rehab an old video card??

PostPosted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 8:58 pm
by BirdieExpress
I have an old GForce4 64 RAM card that I pulled out of a dead machine. I installed it on my main machine but it runs extremely rough. I cleaned the fan out the best I could and reinstalled and it still sounds terrible (really terrible, the whirring sound surges back and forth like someboy keeps gassing the engine). Is there a way to rehab a fan so it runs like new again??? Besides the fan, do other parts of the card ever wear out? Apologies in advance for being video-card challenged.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 4:46 am
by terrell
i used to have a 3dfx voodoo5 that would peel paint off the walls. so i'd take it out, take the 4 little, teeny, tiny screws that held the 2 fans together, blow all the dust (can you imagine that's what we breathe constantly?) off it with a can of compressed air, then put a drop of very light oil (i used the oil that came with my shredder) on the fan spindle. quiet enough for church use for another 3 months.

edit: great place to find drivers and instructions for properly uninstalling the old and installing the new:

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?s=0e6a520a8fecbbe4c05287ac74590f22&t=67799

edit #2: oh yeah, and be very careful if you use a vacuum cleaner to clean the dust off the little gray filter material. it's not fun tearing the vacuum cleaner bag open to recover them (not that that would actually happen to anyone).

PostPosted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 5:13 am
by BirdieExpress
Sounds like a winning idea, assuming I can figure out how to take it apart. Do you think a little WD40 qualifies as light oil?

PostPosted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 5:31 am
by terrell
BirdieExpress wrote:Sounds like a winning idea, assuming I can figure out how to take it apart. Do you think a little WD40 qualifies as light oil?


lol. i'm not quite sure what effect wd40 might have. you only want a drop. maybe spray wd40 on something that will allow you to put one drop on the spindle. spray your bicycle chain, then let the last drop fall on the spindle. waste not want not.

you will definitely have no trouble taking it apart. it's putting it back together is the challenge. j/k

PostPosted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 9:24 am
by txTarHeel
terrell wrote:...

edit #2: oh yeah, and be very careful if you use a vacuum cleaner to clean the dust off the little gray filter material. it's not fun tearing the vacuum cleaner bag open to recover them (not that that would actually happen to anyone).


LOL! This is where those cans of compressed air come in quite handy, T.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 9:43 am
by terrell
txTarHeel wrote:LOL! This is where those cans of compressed air come in quite handy, T.


i hear ya there. i had compressed air and a vacuum. 'nother thing ya wanna be careful about is those spinning brushes on the bottom of the vacuum cleaner. pppfffttt! how was i s'posed to know about attachments? i mean, hypothetically speaking of course. 08=

PostPosted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 4:31 pm
by BirdieExpress
I took my computer to church today.... nobody knew. 8) Thanks for the tips terrell.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 4:37 pm
by terrell
BirdieExpress wrote:I took my computer to church today.... nobody knew. 8) Thanks for the tips terrell.


you're very welcome, be. back on the ol' 3dfx forums, that was THE hot topic for quite awhile.