Installing Windforce fans on Gigabyte graphics cards

Gigabyte has been using Windforce series fans for quite some time now, and they have never been our favorites, especially for GPU mining rigs, since they are, in fact, cheap fans with bearings that are less durable when used in high temperature and dust conditions .

Heat and dust are two very common things for many mining GPUs, and Gigabyte even used the same fans in their Nvidia P106 based GPUs, and we recently checked what happens in just three months of use. for mining with this. We even had a bad experience when Windforce fans started to fail after about a month of use on RX 400/500 series GPUs, as well as on the GTX 1070 when used for mining, so you can imagine why Gigabyte video cards with these fans on Not really our first choice for GPU mining rigs.

The metal hub used by Gigabyte Windforce fans is 2x5x5.5 mm (inner diameter 2 mm, outer diameter 5 mm and height 5.5 mm) and you can easily find the right size for ball bearings for these sizes. You will need two bearings 2x5x2.5 mm, as well as one spacer with an inner diameter of at least 2 mm and an outer diameter of 5 mm, the thickness of which is 0.3-0.5 mm, which must be placed between the two bearings. If you do this, you will get the perfect replacement for the standard metal sleeve, substantially upgrading the fan to a double ball bearing and making it look like new or even better. The modernization of the double ball bearing will make it more durable and resistant to higher operating temperatures and dust, and you will have more free time for mining without problems with fans. The only drawback is that the upgrade procedure may or will void your warranty, unless, of course, you follow this procedure carefully and save metal sleeves for reinstallation, if you need to return the video card for replacement due to a problem with the board itself. not the fans.