On Sat, 23 Jul 2005 21:27:31 GMT, "Steve" <ask@guest.com>
wrote:

>Hi,
>I'm in the process of quietening my PC. The results so far have been good
>and the noisiest thing left is the graphics card's fan.
>
>Since I don't use my PC for games or anything 3D, I'm wondering if it would
>be safe to turn the fan off?

No, usually it's not safe. "Some" cards run cool enough
that they can have fanless heatsinks, but that's not the
same thing as having a fanned 'sink with the fan shut off,
because the 'sink is far smaller (usually) and the
non-spinning fan even further impedes passive flow-by.


You could buy an aftermarket 'sink known to be quieter,
though you dont even mention your make/model of card so
that's hard to guess about. Other potential options are
throttling back the fan some with an inline resistor,
diodes, fan controller of some sort. You'll have to monitor
the card temps to determine if it remains cool enough.