Are all graphics card boards (for the same model I.E. a 980ti) the same?

[DeliveryGodNoah]

To clarify, I know fans are differnet depending on the manufactuers, but the board underneath is my concern.

My graphics card, a Windforce 980ti, has had some issues with its fans. The center fan was having issues spinning up and was making a grinding noise. I thought maybe the way I had my case was putting weight on the shroud and turned my case differently so the card itself was straight up. This helped the noise, but the fan still had problems. And temps are 90 C which is throttling gaming performance painfully.

Well, now all the fans are having the issue, and since I bought the card from Amazon probably 3 years ago I don't believe there's a warranty. I'm getting temps of 90 C and it's painfully throttling game performance.

On top of that, with graphics card prices being as disgustingly high as they are, I can't exactly just buy a new card right now (even older ones...).

My PC is my primary source of entertainment, so I panicked searching the web for an answer.
I'm much too discouraged from going for a full water cooling solution, but I did come across Arctic Cooling aftermarket coolers. Specifically this one: https://www.arctic.ac/us_en/accelero-xtreme-iii.html

Will this work with my card? Do all 980ti's have their GPU chip in the same spot? I honestly don't know.

 

[lumineZ]

No they dont. Since each manufacturer makes they`r own PCB (the board that holds the GPU, VRM, MOSFETs, etc etc.

If you just want it to work above anything else. I would just rip the fans off so that the cooling block is all that are left. Then get one or two 120mm fans and just use zip ties to lock them in place. Connect fans to your motherboard and set them high enough in RPM so they can cool the card. I can almost guarantee that this will make your GPU run cooler than it ever has.

Keep in mind that this is a quick and dirty fix just so you can make your system run until you get a new card.


Or contact Gigabyte support and ask what a new fan(s) would cost you.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Cooler has to be designed specifically for the card model. Some coolers MIGHT work on more than one card model, but when they do, they will be different models that use the same basic board configuration and will be from the same vendor, ie, Gigabyte, ASUS, XFX, Sapphire, etc.

A cooler for an EVGA card is not going to fit an ASUS card, except POSSIBLY when it comes to some of the water coolers that are somewhat universal or custom loops. Air coolers are generally on a per card or at least per series basis.

 

[dontlistentome]

Besides zip tying new fans on there, another possible cheap fix is to clean/oil your existing fans.

Sometimes they get gunk in the hubs. You can watch videos on repairing computer fans on Youtube. In short, you will uncover the fan hub after removing the fan. Sometimes all it takes is a very small drop of oil(I use sewing machine oil). Allow excess to drip out, then reassemble. If all it needed was lube, you're good.

Sometimes you need to clean the fan hub. This will involve disassembling the fan hub. It's not hard but the clips holding the pieces together are very small, so it can be tedious. Then you clean the hub and reassemble it. Then oil, and reattach the fan to the card.

If that doesn't work then you need a new fan. Even if it does work you'll need to do this again when it needs lube again. There's no way to predict how long that'll take.

 

[Darkbreeze]

http://www.overclockers.com/em-spinning-lubricate-pc-fans/

 

[groves.damien]

you can most likely source a replacement fan(s) from ebay simply determine the correct size fan your card uses and them see if that size is available, you might have to replace the power connector on the replacement fan with the one on your current fam however common fan sizes for video cards are 40mm 60mm 80mm you can email the card maker and see if they can supply you with the fan sizes that were used on your card model

as to video card boards, very few companies make their own custom boards (asus is one) most simply use the nvidia reference board design, and then use their custom designed cooling solution, which is usually a forced air solution