how to R9 Nano Nuctua fan Mod

[Narnash]

Hello LTT Com,

 

yesterday I worked a bit on my R9 Nano as a sideroject to my SFF 5,1 L case.

The goal was to replace the original kinda cheap R9 Nano fan, with a much quieter one. In this case a Noctua NF-A9x14, this one should fit without protrude out of  the original Nano cover. Moreover the goal of the Mod was to get a quieter "good looking" R9 nano that still can handle a ramped powerlimit to hold the 1000MHz core clock without any problems and ... ,that was very important to without voiding the warranty.

 

Here now how I proceeded:

 

 

This was everything I needed (excluding tools and a bit of glue, preferably a strong one which can handle temperatures of more than 100°C)

a Noctua NF-A9x14

a Phobya PWM Adapter for VGA (normal 4pin fan female to male small 4pin)

and the R9 Nano  

 

 

Taking of the Cover and the fan is as easy as to remove 4 very small phillips headed screws(the cover may stuck a bit on the IO so you have to push it a bit to take the cover off)

 

 

Both fans in comparison show that the Noctua fan is a bit taller the biggest reasons for that are the frame and a thicker base of the mounting.  That a OEM fan mounting is thinner and less bulky is normal.

 

 

Placing the fan on the heatsink shows that there is no way that I simply cut a bit an the frame and stick it on there, the frame have to go ...

 

 

Sadly the base where the actual fan is mounted isn't big enough to simply screw it on the cover (yet)

 

 

The cables of the adapter and the fans (Noctua and the OEM one are the same) doesn't match, keep it in mind when soldering.

 

 

I know it's a sacrilege to harm a Noctua fan but for this Mod we can't get along this ...

 

 

... I even take it a step further!  D:  I removed a bit more of the base of the fan and at the end I removed the aluminum plate no need to trust two types of glue at the finished mod.

 

 

A little test fit ... looks nice so far!

 

 

At this point a skiped a lot of the process I did the most of the work at my workplace in the cellar, the light was very bad I couldn't make any good pictures with my smartphone-cam.

At first I simply soldered my already cutted fan wires and the small adapter part together (having in mind that the colors aren't accurate)

Than I made a triangle out of a thin scrap steel sheet, every side of it is 50 mm long (2" should work, too) I took the Nano's cover with me and marked the holes for the screws with a thin marker and drilled them with a 2,5mm drill (2 mm should work, 3 mm maybe but nothing bigger).

Than I pained it, leaved a bit blank where I wanted to glue it since I know my used 2K glue from my work  (which I even colored black with pigment) can react to some kinds of paint. To be sure it fit in the end I glued my triangle and the fan while the triangle is already screwed in with the original screws. And than I was basicly done.

 

 

This picture is with the fan attached and with a little bit (not much ) of bending the metal cover arms which hold it in place it sit very flush in there.

 

 

That is how it look from the other side. Now assembling it back together. Just plug in the fan, put the cover on it#s spot and screw in the 4 small screws.

 

 

 

And that is how it look and working in my PC

 

 

 

 

 

I have to add that the R9 Nano now doesn't run cooler ! I could actually register a temperature increase of 4°C at 100% fan speed (resulting in a temperature of 76°C in Heaven Benchmark settings on Ultra with x8 AA with a resolution of 1920x1080 ) 

But I reached my goal ... the Nano is much much much quieter now, the mod actually make the card look in my opinion better than before with it's cheap lacquer finish and I can undo this Mod without much effort so that nobody can tell that fiddled with the card. I should be able to make use of my warranty if I have to.

[Mr.Meerkat]

2 minutes ago, Narnash said:

I have to add that the R9 Nano now doesn't run cooler !

That was expected considering that you're still using a 92mm fan which also spins considerablly slower at full pelt  

[rphawks]

Very nice mod! 

 

8/8

[shadowbyte]

looks dank

nice mod m8

[Narnash]

16 minutes ago, Mr.Meerkat said:

That was expected considering that you're still using a 92mm fan which also spins considerablly slower at full pelt  

Sure but sometime I read posts that make me feel like some people think that noctua fans can turn off physics 

 

 

[Korgan]

Hi!

 

First of all I want to thank you for the great images and the great mod. I followed your instructions but used a converter for the fan power cable => http://www.aquatuning.co.uk/cables/fan-cables-und-adptors/20542/phobya-pwm-adapter-fuer-vga

 

I used the bigger Noctua fan => http://noctua.at/en/nf-a9-pwm.html

 

The card now runs @ 1060Mhz with out any drops and it never passes 80c with the fan @ 1800rpm

 

Images

 

 

 

 

[Narnash]

3 minutes ago, Korgan said:

Hi!

 

First of all I want to thank you the great images and the great mod. I followed you instructions but used a converter for the fan power cable => http://www.aquatuning.co.uk/cables/fan-cables-und-adptors/20542/phobya-pwm-adapter-fuer-vga

 

I used the bigger Noctua fan => http://noctua.at/en/nf-a9-pwm.html

 

The card now runs @ 1060Mhz with out any drops and it never passes 80c with the fan @ 1800rpm

 

Images

 

Nice! 

It looks a bit wierd with such a thick fan and would kill the sense of SFF for myelf but in the end very nice. 

I would consider to 3d print a new top cover for the nano and I would make the cable a bit shorter cable or at least the cable from the adapter shorter  

 

Is that white thermal paste or paint on the fan blade?

[Korgan]

Thanks!

 

I was looking for a R9 FuryX when I found a Nano cheap. As you can see I have a big case. So I wanted to get the most out of it.

 

The white on the blade is some glue I accidentally got there

 

I did not have any tools to cut in metal so I used a bit of plastic to make the base where I glued the fan.