How to silence FX1500 and FX3500 nVidia cards

[SDH]

The tips below have converted these cards from barely usable (due to the noise issue) to great inexpensive Windows-7 and Windows-8 compatible video cards for those on a budget.  This information applies equally to the nVidia Quadro FX1500 and the FX3500 cards.  I have not measured, but would bet that this technique can be used on many other nVidia and ATI cards.

1.  Both cards had fan noise problems with their original firmware, but there are HP firmware updaters to partially fix that, released by HP years ago, but not applied by most of us.  You can find the updaters by google searching for sp36321 for the FX1500, and sp36323 for the FX3500.  These firmware updates drop the baseline (quiet) fan speed, and also reduce the time interval from the fast (loud) fan speed dropping back to the quiet baseline fan speed.  You also can find those two service packs directly from HP by doing a google search on "xw6400 drivers", going to the top google HP result, choosing the workstation, going to XP Professional 32-bit, going to the Firmware section of the resulting listing, and the two will be down towards the bottom of that section.  They can be launched from within your Windows operating system, and run pretty much automatically.

2. These cards are still excellent, but if used for a long time may have their original fan bearings worn down adding to the noise issue.  Also, even with the HP firmware update applied they still remained unnecessarily loud because they ran at only two speeds (reasonably quiet too rarely, and loud too often).  They have a 2-wire 2-voltage fan speed control system, and they ramp up to the loud speed far too often, without need.  The solution is to replace the original heatsink/fan with an aftermarket one that runs so quietly that you virtually cannot hear when the speed changes from the slower to the faster rate.

In contrast, the more recent nVidia Quadro FX cards have 4-wire PWM fan speed modulation, a much better fan speed regulation algorithm, and don't have this noise problem. 

3.  Zalman has two replacement GPU coolers that work great on these cards, the VF700 and the VF900.  The VF700 variants have only two card attachment points and have delicate cooling fins.  The VF900 variants have 4 card attachment points and two thermal "heat pipes" (which greatly reduce the delicacy of the cooling fins when compared to the VF700, as you can see in the images).  The VF900 are better, cheaper now, and easier to find, and the attached PDF includes the best price I have found on these (as the first page).  The best VF900 version that I have found is the VF900-Cu, and sources are provided for both the Zalman cooler and the little fan-wire adapter you'll see towards the end of the attached PDF.  Shipping costs can get you, so its best to have several to do at once, or have other projects you need parts for.  With the VF900 you use the four mounting holes termed "5" because the holes in the card's PCB for the 4 mounting studs are exactly 75.5 mm diagonally apart.

4.  The swap-out takes about 15 minutes each, and now I can hardly hear the cards at either fan speed.  GPU temperatures stayed significantly cooler than with the stock heatsink/fan during all of my stress-testing of the cards.  I have done one VF700-Cu and multiple VF900-Cu conversions now.   Excellent outcomes, and these cards run on the latest W7 and W8 drivers available at nVidia.com.

5.  The first page of the PDF is the best price I could find for the VF900-Cu, and the second page shows the more delicate VF700-Cu conversion at the bottom left.  Parts for the VF900-Cu conversion are elsewhere in that image.  The parts at the top right corner are ones that come with the kit, but that I don't use.  Both cards you see are FX3500's, and the rest of the pictures deal with the actual VF900-Cu conversion.  A few images into the PDF is one showing the VF900 laying "top down" with the 4 threaded studs screwed into mount holes #5, and a proper dab of Noctua nonconductive thermal paste on the GPU face in the middle.  The video card is then rotated over onto those 4 studs sticking up, and it is easy to perfectly align them to their 4 corresponding mounting holes in the card if you have good lighting.

The card slips over the 4 studs, compressing the Noctua thermal compound perfectly.  Finally, on go the spring-loaded thumb screws.  Screw those down a bit each one as you finish, sequentially, to spread the paste evenly and compress the rubber washers equally.  The thumb screws will "bottom out" as the 4 little rubber washers beneath the card and the paste settle into their final form.  Don't overtighten; go slow, sequentially.

6.  That last photo of the backside of the converted HP FX3500 card shows the updated flashed firmware version on the P-Touch label, and it is worthwhile to note that every HP and Dell version of the nVidia FX cards I have done HP firmware updates on has accepted the HP update without a problem.  This includes recent ones such as the FX3800 and the FX1800 from both HP and Dell.