BFG GeForce 210 loud fan noise

AirCool

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 10, 2008
Messages
200
I have a BFG GeForce 210 video card that has very loud fan noise. I bought it new a few years ago and I hardly use it because it has a loud fan noise. Today, I took it out for an older PC. I found online that someone mention there is a BIOS update that will fix the fan noise (I think it always run at full speed).

Obviously BFG is long gone. Do you guys know if such a BIOS exist and if yes, where can I get it?

Also, since the G210 is an low end GPU is it okay to just discount the fan? I don't mind it dying but I don't want it to take my PC with it.
 
If you can get good steady airflow over the card it is possible it could run reliably without the fan, though you'd want to keep an eye on the temps to make sure it's not getting excessively hot. Another thing you could try would be getting ahold of a spare molex connector and using a pin extractor to connect the fan cable to the +5v and ground. That would run the fan at significantly lower speeds and is a trick I've seen done before. If you're not against doing some soldering you could also add a potentiometer in-line to reduce voltage and fan speed manually. All of these things have risks associated like any other mod but any increase in heat should only be a risk to the card itself.

Or if you've got $10 sitting around you could get a new 210 with a larger, quieter fan from our the clearance section at our online store:

http://store.galaxytechus.com/Galax...ce-special--90-day-limited-warranty_p_41.html
 
This is a very interesting idea.

I tried running the card w/o fan and the temp range is 70c to 100c, vs 60c to 70c with fan. I stopped testing after it reached 100c, which is just playing an H.264 video. So I think the temp can definitely go higher. So running without fan is out of the question. The card also has no speed control.

I don't have a spare power cord but I wonder if I can just get 5V from the card itself? (Never mind, just checked. There is no 5V from PCIe). I have some resistors laying around, I guess I can break out the fan cable and run it through a resistor.
 
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This is a very interesting idea.

I tried running the card w/o fan and the temp range is 70c to 100c, vs 60c to 70c with fan. I stopped testing after it reached 100c, which is just playing an H.264 video. So I think the temp can definitely go higher. So running without fan is out of the question. The card also has no speed control.

I don't have a spare power cord but I wonder if I can just get 5V from the card itself?

Doubtful but I couldn't say for sure without intimate knowledge of the card. I know our 210s are all invariable 12v output on the 2-pin connector. Only way I know to change that is with a resistor, pot, or different power source altogether. If there is a way to do it with firmware I sure don't have the info you're looking for.
 
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