MAX Fan Question

[Smarm]

I just got a MAX to replace my G400. The MAX had the original fan on it. I was using a Card Cooler sitting over top of my G400 and RR-G cards.

Would replacing the original fan with a TennMax fan be better and allow me to remove the Card Cooler? or should I just leave the Card Cooler and use the original MAX fan?

[Damien Green]

As long as you're not overclocking you're G400 Max you should have no problems with the standard fan, you shouldn't even have to use a card cooler.

My system has every slot occupied in a full tower case with two very hot 10,000 RPM scsi hard drives and an equally hot Athlon 800.

This system creates a phenomenal amount of heat, so much so that I've put four extra fans in various places (i.e. one below the hard drive cradle, two on the case air vents. Result - system runs at a constant 29 - 31 degrees centigrade, the Matrox card does not over heat, in fact it's the coolest card in the system.

Hope this helps you a bit - experimentation is the key - try it and see if it works. If it doesn't think about ways you can cool you system better.

[Brian R.]

I have one of the original MAXs. The fan on the current version of the MAX is superior in cooling to the fan on the original version. I own both generations of the MAX. The original MAX that I have is quite stable and the fan is at least adequate. The fan on the original MAX got a little noisy and I replaced it with a TennMax version. The TennMax is at least adequate. Both the original and the TennMax fans do adequate jobs of cooling during 3-D game play.

[This message has been edited by Brian R. (edited 29 June 2000).]

[Smarm]

Cool. Thx guys. I've several fans in my tower case. Even at a 133 MHz FSB my mobo stays around 28C.

How can I tell whether I have an original or newer version of the MAX?

[Brian R.]

Actually, there may be more than two versions of the MAX. I'm not sure. The versions I was referring to were the two different fans that I've seen. The new fan can be identified by having three wires leading to the connector. The original MAX has only a two-wire fan. (There may be other fan versions also). I received my first MAX within a couple of weeks of introduction (2-wire fan). The new MAX was purchased around 2 months ago (3-wire fan).

There was a change in the maximum AGP transfer rate from AGP 2x to AGP 4x at some point early this year. The newer version can be identified by having a "4A" in the part number. The AGP 2x version didn't.

I don't know if the change in fans was accomplished simultaneously with the change in maximum transfer rate.

There are MAXs made in various countries, such as Ireland, Canada, etc. I don't know how much of the fan-change issue is a result of simply a difference in manufacturing site.


[This message has been edited by Brian R. (edited 30 June 2000).]

[xortam]

My first Max had a 2-wire fan with metal-fins and the board was made in Canada. It turned out to be defective and I exchanged it for a newer Max that had a 3-wire fan with plastic fins and the board was made in Ireland. It seemed many users were experiencing difficulties with the original fan but I don't know if it was ever positively determined if the fault was in the fan, the Canadian board, or anything at all. I'm referring to boards produced in the first few months after introduction.

[Smarm]

Well, I have a 3-wire fan and it was made in Ireland. No "4A" in the part number tho.

[Rob M.]

Matrox replaced the metal bladed, 2 wire fan with a plastic 3 wire fan early, within a month or two of the original release. AGP 4X came much later. The problems I experienced with my original Canadian boards also came up with the Irish one.

[europa]

Does anyone have a clue what voltage the Max fan runs at, and what cfm.

[Greebe]

The fan operates on 5vdc and I doubt it moves much more the a few cfm.

[This message has been edited by Greebe (edited 09 July 2000).]