Question about GPU cooling

[Usual_suspect]

i have a Gigabyte WindForce GTX 970 and the middle fan (it has three fans) literally popped off leaving just the place where you’d connect the actual fan piece.

I decided to reconnect the fan piece but I ran into a very annoying issue: when I’m gaming and my fan speeds rev up past 50% it starts a super loud clicking noise. I assume its because the fan is wobbling as its not securely in place, so my question is: if I just leave the middle fan out and let the other two fans run will I run into any potential issues outside of overheating like the fan motor burning out or creating excess heat that could possibly damage my card?

 

[AltTabbins]

Try it and check temps. If its stays cool under load, I wouldn't worry about it. If it gets warm, buy a replacement fan assembly.

 

[Usual_suspect]

I checked idle temps they hover around 40C... I’ll have to do some gaming tonight and check again, thank you for the response.

 

[kasakka]

The cooler on those cards is my all time favorite. I was so disappointed when the Gigabyte 980 Ti was loud as a jet engine.

 

[Usual_suspect]

The temperatures last night maintained a consistent 57-64C with 65-70% load with fan speeds set to auto; the highest the temp went was 72C but that was for about five minutes and the GPU being under 77% load.

So I’m thinking it should be okay for now, although I do need a reason to convince my significant other to let me upgrade to a 1070.