Question Fan pinout on PNY GTX 970?

[punkncat]

Does anyone happen to know what the pinout is for the 4 wire stock blower fan?

EDIT- Auras 2 ball bearing model bd06625mhbpab 12VDC 1.2A fan - in case this might help someone.

The stock fan on this card was excessively loud so I ordered a new one from China, the only place I could find it. Waited four days short of the month and it is as bad as the original. I pulled something fairly high on the jankiness scale and utilized the 80mm (I think) fan from a stock AMD cooler. It was the perfect size to screw directly to the heat sink. Actually, does a superb job of cooling the card, better than the stock blower ever did and TBH a bit of a performance jump to boot.

It is for sure one of those function over form type things.

I attempted to find something about pin out but it appears that details on this card are as unobtainium as the fan itself. The wires for sure do not follow the same pattern as the stock CPU fan. Does anyone know what it is?
I do not have a riser card or other way to get to those pins while the card is powered.

It would be nice to free up the fan header and get this solution responding to the GPU, if possible.

 

[Ralston18]

Try using a multi-meter to map out the pins and plugs by number and color.

May provide a clue or two.

FYI:

https://landing.coolermaster.com/faq/3-pin-and-4-pin-fan-wire-diagrams/

https://i0.wp.com/blog.duklabs.com/...ermaltake-Riing-Fans-Pinout-ARGB-and-Fans.jpg

Google for other references if and as necessary.

Just an immediate thought.

 

[stonecarver]

I pulled something fairly high on the jankiness scale and utilized the 80mm (I think) fan from a stock AMD cooler. It was the perfect size to screw directly to the heat sink. Actually, does a superb job of cooling the card, better than the stock blower ever did and TBH a bit of a performance jump to boot.

I did the same on a AMD R9 380x and your right the card ran cooler than it ever did with the stock fan from factory.

Yeah it's a pain to do the pin out on the wires. In my case the factory fan was on it's way out so I had no reservations about exposing the wire and spreading apart and yanked as much of a leash I could out of the side of the card and use volt meter while card was running on exposed wires. I didn't cut the wires from the fan just exposed them.

In my case I had system built on bench so no case in the way.

Ones I had the correct pin out wire voltages I cut the originals fan wiring with its plug for the header and transplanted it to the doner fan.

If there's something I'm forgetting sorry memory laps it was 2019 I had to do the mod.

 

[punkncat]

Pretty good idea, but unfortunately the cable for the fan on this model is probably 2" or so long. Even plugging it in while putting the shroud back on is tough. I did pull the plug side of that cable off the original bad fan which is even shorter than that. If I cannot figure out what the pin out is by way of a schematic that may be my next choice. As of right now it is just the red/black connected for the fan to run full speed and is darned quiet. If I cannot find the answer I am probably going to splice it into a molex connector and just run it around back for always on, full speed.

I have actually been quite impressed with the performance this card was leaving on the table. I did quite a few benchmarks with it so I could get pics of screenshots of Riva. Where it was running at 99-100% and temps in the 70's, now that I did this the card is sitting at around 60% usage and the temps have yet to come above 45 for anything at 1600x900. I have had it sitting here running Heaven for hours and it is smooth as butter now, on high.

The down side being it looks as janky as it is. I might have to consider moving this to a metal side case rather than glass side. Full disclosure, of course, but at least they won't be staring through the glass at it.

 

[punkncat]

Actually, you did just make me think of something. I will see if I left enough cable on that old fan and hook it to a 9V battery. That will at least tell me power and ground.

 

[punkncat]

Try using a multi-meter to map out the pins and plugs by number and color.

May provide a clue or two.

FYI:

https://landing.coolermaster.com/faq/3-pin-and-4-pin-fan-wire-diagrams/

The link for Cooler Master seems to make sense. I tried the pin out for the bottom left 4 pin connector, which happens to be CPU/system fan pin layout, but that did not work.

I am quite familiar with the use of a meter and as it relates to low voltage. However, I am not a 'motor' guy. The question would be will there be some level of resistance on the control and tach wires where black to red should be open? Closed?

 

[Ralston18]

Not really into fans, RGB, etc..

Overall, as I understand it, the speed is controlled via voltage (PWM).

FYI:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/201...e different,several thousand times per second.

https://storables.com/articles/how-does-a-fan-speed-controller-work/

From the first link:

"While DC fans use different currents to control the fan speeds, PWM models only use a constant voltage, usually 12 volts. To control the speed of the fan, the PWM signal turns the fan on and off several thousand times per second."

I would not expect that a multi-meter (even digital) would provide any indication of such "manipulations".

However, I did get a bit curious and googled PWM a bit.

Went way beyond pinouts per se.

Appears doable if the requirement is to measure such things.

https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=353245

Some RaspberryPi or Ardino inline device with digital output display.

Will defer to the electronic hobbyists among us. 🌩️

 

[punkncat]

In spite of how well this is working, even wired just for full speed, the moment I send the pics explaining the janky look the conversations end. Not sure what I am going to attempt to do at this point. I don't have another card available at the moment, so I might just have to pull it down and try and source another GPU. I have one on the way as we speak, but it is going to be for a very special build of these parts I got. A beautiful black with red/white striped Z170A Tomahawk AC. I only have a 7400 for it, but have been keeping an eye open for a 6th or 7th gen K CPU. Among all the stuff was a brand new in box EVGA tower cooler that is going to look boss with it.

 

[stonecarver]

In spite of how well this is working, even wired just for full speed, the moment I send the pics explaining the janky look the conversations end.

Are you referring to a picture to a buyer.
It's been pounded into buyers heads used GPU are evil and if there is alterations they RUN. It's kind of like "Oh hell no and they move on"

I get it and you get it but a buyer will get cold feet.

One option I have done is buy a dead card and transplant the fan and better plastic shroud to make one card whole again.
But your back to the fan loud again or was it a defectively loud one you started with. Meaning a different OEM put in there would be quieter.

I have two doner cards that you can pick if you want the fan out of it. One is a GTX 670 and the other is a GTX 760.
I guess I should also ask is your card a Founders Edition If not I also have a EVGA duel fan set-up for a GTX 970 if that's what you need.
If this can help I can just drop in the mail.

 

[punkncat]

I want to say the 670 fan is the same...Gensheng/PNY cooler as an assy.


I did actually find the pinout by destroying the old broken fan. I was trying to get in there far enough to test with a 9V with the short leads I left myself and come to find that the circuit board for the fan was marked. I have the CPU fan now scaling from the GPU demand, but it sure does look bad, lol.

I am considering moving this into a steel side case, surely would disclose, but at least that way they don't have to see it.

 

[stonecarver]

I want to say the 670 fan is the same...Gensheng/PNY cooler as an assy.

Yours if you want it.

 

[punkncat]

If the 670 is a reference card I do not believe the fan will fit. The fan on this one is an assembly where it fills out the end of the card and holds the fan. I could have sworn I linked it somewhere...

 

[stonecarver]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/375198382750?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr=1&amdata=enc:18Z-a7GfLQUKlfn1See1uVw35&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=375198382750&targetid=1585159290171&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9031499&poi=&campaignid=19894961968&mkgroupid=148855406073&rlsatarget=pla-1585159290171&abcId=9307911&merchantid=717013650&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA_5WvBhBAEiwAZtCU70oxCR3H8hhpLul6tJc4wePvCHqaReioOVuE9Z5_lhewauAcQJRipBoCIuIQAvD_BwE

This is the GTX 670 donor same model.

 

[punkncat]

That is a super sexy card right there. The fan on that one is different but I really appreciate the offer of help.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/194100137639

skip down past the "similar items"


I actually figured out the pinout as mentioned above. I had some old LED light strips that were inside that wire loom stuff, so I cut a section of that off and pulled it over the connection/splice I made. I could not find my soldering rig, but was able to locate some B wire connectors (beanies) and cut those in half and used them for the splice, pushed that all into the loom, and used a zip tie and tape on the ends. I was also unable to find my shrink wrap or I would have used that.

Aside from a sort of unfinished look that comes of seeing the cooler ala GT6xxx series, it is actually not bad at all. As was discussed it is running far cooler and has increased performance just a touch since it doesn't throttle any more.