The Mother Board

I have a fairly nice mobo from WinFast. It's running right now but I believe I have been having a thermal event. Sure enough when I open it up, there is a Vette fan sitting in a crater just behind the graphics card. The fan is seized up. Popped it out and tried looking for a replacement. It is a Vette A4010H12S and all I see in my web searching is a three-hole mount. I have to have a four hole mount because the fan is suspended by a plastic surround which screws into the fins just outside the crater.

Question: Where is the best place for me to go look for these replacement fans?

Here's a picture stored in my GoogleDrive (I hope this works...!)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2nN56mmXNNHbEtnNk1BRTlKRDg/edit?usp=sharing

Hoib

12V three-pin fan, the only thing we need to know is the actual size of the thing.

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System error, strike any user to continue...

In that model listing, "Vette A4010H12S", the bold number may indicate its size.
No luck in finding a direct replacement.. but check eBay for "GPU cooling fan 40" or whatever size the fan is. Also check for a CPU cooling fan. www.newegg.com/ also has many listings.
In the meantime, perhaps it is still useful if you relube the fan's bearing.
Under the label should be a small rubber plug, and under that the bearing. One or two drops of light-weight oil such as 3-in-1 or sewing machine oil (never use WD-40!!) worked in by finger-spinning the blades for about two minutes should restore its health. Blot out the excess, put back in service.
Those small DC fans cannot tolerate friction. When the bearing lube dries out, they stop working. In a worst-case scenario, they melt-down.
A CPU fan or PSU fan can have the same issues.

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40mm indeed Karl, I just found the spec sheet:
http://www.vettecorp.com/support/downlo ... /A4010.pdf

$10:
http://www.magefirm.com/vette-a4010h12s ... fan-p-8004

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We hate rut, but we fear change.
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In looking at the Vette manual...
A = Axial
40 = 40mm square
10 = 10mm high
H - High spd
12 = 12 V
S = ?

So the nomenclature is: A4010H12S. However, there are a bazillion of this number out there and I've not been able to locate the correct one. All I see is fans that have a three hole spider mount.

This thing is suspended in the crater by virtue of the surrounding plastic holder. The holder and fan insert are a one piece construction. That is, you can't remove just the fan from the holder.

Hope we can come up with something. I'm not running this thing without cooling.

H

ok after a bit more coffee I understand your issue, the label on your fan doesn't match what it is in reality. Did you try and take that label off to see the REAL make/model?

Other than that, I suspect ANY 40mm 12V 3-wire 4-hole fan would do the job. These things are usually quite generic in nature.

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We hate rut, but we fear change.
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System error, strike any user to continue...

The "S" in the model description may mean it has a Hall sensor to monitor RPM speed.
Just did a check on eBay for " 4010 " fans and found over 600 listings. Most 2-wire, but many 3-wire. As evasive noted, any near-identical fan that has the same dimensions and hole alignment should work.

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Stupidly Priced
http://www.thefanvan.net/40mm-fans/
Ron

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OK, I peeled off both labels. There is nothing under them! I went after them with a magnifying glass to see if there were any other inscriptions or marks. None found. There is also no lube port on either side. I removed the OEM label (Winfast) as well as the Vette label. It's a solid mass of plastic covering the entire face on both sides.

BTW, the "S" stands for sleeve bearing. As noted by Vette, these are the least reliable. Also Vette closed it's doors back in 2012 when bought out by Wakefield, now known as Wakefield-Vette. Their rep states they no longer manufacture or sell fan products.

The three hole mounts (spider mounts) are too small. The cage that surrounds this thing has hole spacing at the four corners that is quite a bit more distant than the 3-holers that you see. The thing actually mounts with screws that jam inside the fins.

Now that I know any 4-holer will work, let's go for one of the stupidy priced ones and see what I come up with. I guess I don't have to worry about "thermal characteristics" so much as to try and get a fan to fit into the crater. I just want to get air moving off the fins.

Another confusion that'll have to be cleared up by FanVan. http://www.thefanvan.net/evercool-40mm- ... 4007m12ca/
This has 12V in the heading but 5V in the description. Doesn't anyone check these things?!

I'll be back with results after I purchase.

H

Small DC cooling fans are almost all 12 volt.. but some are 24 volt, and 5 volt models are used in laptops. Too much "generalization" by authors.
I had a fan failure on a video card, and it was made similar to how you describe your findings. had to drill a tiny hole in the plastic front face of the fan, to get oil into it! After two "service" intervals, it finally froze and melted itself out of the frame. Video card was then DOA. Yes, sleeve bearing types are the least reliable. Not meant to be serviced or maintained. Part of our 'disposable' influence of life.
Have you thought about comparing a CPU cooler fan to what you need? just might be lucky. The Socket 370 and 478 models are cheap, and still available "new". Most are 4-screw mount, and likely would have the third sense wire.

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F@H.. to solve mankind's maladies.. in our lifetimes!