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My post secondary days gaming pc. Was build by one of my friend back then.... it serve me well ... played GTA San Andreas on it! One funny thing, the motherboard is hold up by ONE screw.... I didn't know back then, until I look at it recently .... it is amazing how it worked for so long. And oh, what cable management? I had no idea how pc works back then (still don't really) it was just my friend told me I should buy this and that and he will help me build it. I think I used some blue plastic wire to try manage the mess of cable.... oh well Here it is !That HP CD writer was from my family's second PC lol.... so long ago. I got that Apple sticker from my second gen ipod. lol I was like hmmm sticker... STICK!

Hi all! I just joined about 2 days ago. I joined because after years of watching Linus' YouTube Channel, I finally try to tinker my pc and was very excited of the result. Just want to say Thanks to Linus and his crew for providing tech info so a average joe like me can do some tinkering on his pc!

I found out that once I exit from any graphic base program, it cool downs much quicker than stock. I think most of the noise came from guess what.... the cheap 7 bucks year 2007 fan lol. I think I will change it later on. Also, I find out what actually happen to my stock fan... The fan actually sliced it own cable over time and thus a dead fan lol you would think something like this doesn't happen to a card that cost quite a lot when it first came out. Here are some pictures.

First of all, I want to say Thank You Linus and your crew! With your videos over the years, you and your crew have slowly give me courage to tinker with my own pc. When I saw the video of you and your kids build not one but two pc, it give this 32 year old big kid assurance that he too, can touch and tinker his own pc sometimes! Second of all, for those who are here to see the end result, just scroll down to the near bottom, I tend to type a lot non sense so... yeah... Last of all, everyone has a different build, different mind set when they approach fixing things. But I strongly belief that when you want to fix something that is expensive or you care very much about it, have the mind set that thinks might not work! Give it a thought on what should you do if the thing you are trying to fix become repairable and, are you willing to part away from that item? If your answer on both questions are yes, then go for it! If not, get some professional to do it for you. Anyways here is my first time experience on fixing something like this. Sorry for the long story, spelling mistakes and bad grammar, but I hope you enjoy the read! So one late night not long ago, I was watching YouTube. Then I saw a video under recommend section " Video Card Dead Fan Repair Guide" This spark my interest as my one of the fan of my Asus GTX 970 Strix is dead since 2 weeks after I bought it back then, (yes I was too lazy to get it fix). Now forward to present day, the year of 2018, around 10 months after LTT Video Card Dead Fan Repair Guide video came up, I have stumble upon it, it make me wonder, me, a lazy guy who has next to nothing experience on pc modding or building, (the most I ever did was slotting two 4 GB DDR3 rams into my PC over the year) can I do it?? I mean, Linus make it so easy. Surely, it won't be that hard, RIGHT? Well, kind of. (I feel like I watched too many of LTT video since what I just typed up there sounds like what Linus would say during the intro of his vid) After I watched the video, I type up my vid card model on youtube and see other people take of the fan. Then, I procrastinated about 2 more weeks, remember I am lazy! Anyways, forward today. It is one of the hotter day in Vancouver, I woke up, watch more LTT with back on my mind making a list of stuff I need to fix my dead vid card fan. At first, I thought, hey! I got two cheap made it china fan which my friend gave it to me back in the early 2007! and guess what? It has LED on it! WOOT! But then I remember, during the vid from LTT, Linus advice us not to use cheap fan. So reluctantly, I gave up on using those LED lit fans. After some thinking and watching the LTT repair guide again, I came up what I need to perform this fix: 1 screw driver, Some zip tie, 2 Noctua 120 mm NF-S12A fan (I really don't care about the colour of the fan anymore, since I just gave up using LED lit fans, might as well go with something that is good and ugly), 1 anti static wrist band, ( I don't think you need it but it give me a sense of security, I mean, this is my first time I have ever pull something out bigger then a ram card out of my pc). With a goal and a shopping list on my mind, I went for a lunch break and watch more video. Procrastinator for life! Around 3 30 pm, I start off my adventure toward Canada computer, since NCIX is no more, (I love them! they build this rig I am using and it is where I first see Linus on youtube, and one my friend use to work there!) Anyways, while i was driving, I was both excited and afraid. I am excited since I got to buy some computer stuff! and whats more, going into one of those store is like going to an arcade shop when you were a kid with no money, you know, so many game you want to play but you only have 25 cents on you kind of feeling. I was afraid because usually these chain PC store, they have sales rep and I am not the type like to be follow around and try to fish out some commission from, no matter how polite the sales rep are. I mean, I don't mind they make commission from me, it is just that I want to be alone, so I can look around and whisper out sound like OOOooo and ahhh and wowwww to myself quietly . (yup, I am wired.) The experience I got from Canada Computer was great. I walk in, found where their cooling aisle,grab the fan i need(without looking too closely this will haunt me later), grab a static wrist band / mat set, grab myself a electronic repair kit, pay, then walk out. The things were easy to find, sales rep are nice, either they are not commission base, which I highly doubt it, or they are good enough to sense I don't need help. Once I got back to my place, I start cracking! even the procrastinator can't wait! So here comes the fun part. Few things I found out: 1. Make sure you measure what the size of fan you want to use. Bigger fan make become obstruction to other things on your Motherboard. 2. Make sure you check what kind of power cable the fan you have uses and what kind of power cable slot you have spare on your motherboard. I ran into trouble later on my fix. 3.Some people say you don't need big tower anymore, since the mid size one is pretty good these days, but at the end of the day, if you have room, get a big tower, you get more room to play with and my god do I needed it with my nooby fingers! 4.Should of pick a cooler day to do something like this. I mean I was already sweating buckets since I am so nervous to begin with. With the heat, I got owned in about.... 10 mins. Lol. So first, I take the dead fan apart, then the cover of the card. I did it opposite order as what Linus show us in the vid but I find it was easier to take the fans out first on my card since if I try to take the cover off first, the fans get in the way. Second, I take out the one of the Noctua fan and test fit how should I arrange it. This is important as the wire of the fan need to stay clear out of any other slot beside your video card in case you want to add some other thing on those slot later on. Third, I took out one side of those nice rubber corner that Noctua equipped the fan. The side I took out was the side that will make direct contact with the heat sink. Since I do not know what's the melting point of those rubber, and I know the video card gets up to 70 to 75 c when I play games, I have decided, with no scientific backing, that hard plastic might have a little more heat resistant. I could be wrong, guess we will find out later on. Forth, I zip tie one of two fan on to the vid card's heat sink, Do not tighten it so you can make some adjustment as you go. Fifth, I zip tie the second fan with the first one, on this, I tighten it as much as I can since the two fan will stay as one piece forever till the end of time! mahahahaha. Six, I zip tie the corners of the second fan that are zip tie free up till this point to the vid card. Again, not too tight, as you might want room to readjust. Seventh, I adjust the position I want with the fan unit then tighten the zip tie. Up till this point, it took me about... 40 to 50 mins as I was a nervous rack at beginning. Eighth, I cut off any excess zip tie and slot the card back into the motherboard. Ninth, I Attempt to connect the fan's power cable to the motherboard. Then i find out the slot its been use and I don't have spare. It has been use by my H80i cpu cooling unit!!! ( At first I thought my motherboard was so old it doesn't support that kind of cable, but it does! As you all might already know I am not tech savvy like Linus, I do not know what this might do to my power distribution toward my cpu cooling. I mean, it has couple wires hooked into the unit. But that was my only option at this point. If I didn't overclock my cpu, (with a help on youtube video on how to clock i5 2500k on a Asus P8P67 motherboard days ago. This is also one of the reason why I want to fix my fan as I want to overclock my vid card with the provided software that came with the card.) I won't be too worry about it. But oh wells, I mean the system is old, I am getting old, so what's there to loose? Tenth, I start to panic. Well Maple Syrup! what the hell am I going to do now? Eleventh, well I have no choice, but go for balls to the walls.(is this how you use the phase? sorry I was a ESL student) I think I pick that up from LTT maybe? I uses the Y cables that comes with the fan and tap the fan cables into the cpu cooling cable slot lol. 12th, okay typing 11th in English was cool up till 11th now just annoys me so sorry. Anyways, 12th, I tug the cables away, and zip tie any loose cables. (there aren't many as NCIX staff did a good job on it!) and left the side pannel of the tower out and power up the system. Oh make sure you connect the vid card power cable too. or you will be like me repeat step 12 again. 13th, cross my finger and bathroom break. 14th, It booted! and works! I ran some game I have : Mass Effect Andromeda, Sim4, both on Nvida :optimal" with high to med setting. And check the temp. For Sim4 which is not a vid card demanding game, it hover around 65c before the fix, I would get 55 c but that's with me crank the fan max speed and noisy level. For Mass Effect Andromeda, it hover around 72 c. Again, I would get around 69 c before the fix with max fan speed and max noise. So all in all, I think it is worth it as I trade off for a bit higher temperature with much lower noise level. It was so noisy at one point, my sister would complain she can hear the fan noise even when she was in her room, with is one wall behind my pc. I will stress test my cpu as I am still not sure what the wire set up might do to the system. lol. Prime95 here I come! Here are some picture from my fix. This is how I position my fan, I took out the lower brown rubbers corners on the fans. This is just after i plug everything in... the wires are not tie yet. Messy... I know This is the aftermath of my 1st DIY, lol.....note that one fan is from china, 7 Canadian rubbies worth, back in 2007. lol... I changed my old 140 mm fan's position to the front as I won't be putting any more optical drive and it seems like this is where I can get more air flow. I just shove the fan in there no screw as it was a tight fit lol. sI end up using one of the LED lit cheap fan on the bottom to push air in. Is not the best but at least it push some cold air into the vid card's fan. Everything put back in place. Looks janky AF but meh, it works! I think I will replace the thermal paste of the vid card later on to get better temp. right now at idle, is sitting at 35c.