There are tons of poor souls on the internets, asking "how to repair/replace/fix twin frozr fans" that they have 'broken blades/loud whining". You can also lube fans to fix fans that have gotten loud (you should regularly lube fans every 6-12 months, you'd be surprised how a fan you didn't even realize was loud, can be so much quieter).
And despite how expensive, rare, and seemingly irreplaceable and unfixable this fan is, these fans actually cool both quieter, and better, than almost any other stock aftermarket GPU fan out there. And unfortunately, while these fans are high quality in performance and sound, they are low quality in lifespan - running a 24/7 GPU work, will quickly kill these fans within a year.
And almost all the responses these people get, is bad advice from people talking out of their ass. "Just RMA it" - well you can't do that, because 'physical damage', as fan blades are, is not covered under MSi warranty, even if it isn't your fault that the fans or fan blades broke. MSi also asks $55 to 'replace broken fans', ie, they charge you how much it costs them, to throw your GPU in the garbage, and give you an entirely new one (yep, they replace it, which would be okay if you could keep the old gpu...).
However, I have unlocked the secret to the Power Logic PLD08010S12HH sleeve bearing fan that MSi uses, a fan made in China that is expensive as it is, that is not sold in the US, that you have to pay exorbitant shipping to buy yourself, that MSi does not carry themselves, and that MSi does afterwork so you actually can't buy specifically a replacement.
You can find a Power Logic PLD08010S12HH Dual Fan module (same model number), but it's not really a dual fan module - it's just 2 x Power Logics with a not-so-subtle Y-Splitter. But, in order to get 2 x 75mmx10mmx10mm PWM 4 pin fans with 35x35x35mm triangle GPU fan mount, this is the only thing out there.
So I'm going to tell you how to remove the fan head to your Twin Frozr fans (all Twin Frozr's use this fan, just each different TF version has a different fan head, is all).
Broke a fan blade by sticking your finger in one of the 2 places in the world a finger should not ever go? Pop off the fan blades, and swap them out, from either a Power Logic (either ask kindly someone who has broken twin frozrs and doesn't know how to fix them themselves, like I did) or buy a single Power Logic, OR you can actually buy a totally different 75x75x10mm fan, like the cheap Everest on Newegg, and use that fan head.
Your fan is starting to make a grinding, whining, or any kind, of noise? Pop it up, and lube it up, and your good to go! (See http://www.overclock.net/t/773256/prepping-a-sleeve-bearing-fan-for-work/0_100 for how to do that).
So how to do it:
Note, that this isn't just for Twin Frozr II fans, but also any fan that doesn't have a cap at the end, but rather has hard plastic, ie every fan that isn't easy to open
As you can see, the TF dual fan module, has some work done by MSi so you dont see any y-splitter. Notice the 2nd fan has only 3 wires.
1. Remove the sticker so you know what your working with. Unlike most fans, you aren't going to have to recover anything, so feel free to scrape it off in anger. You don't even have to be particularly gentle, although be careful about the 'top', as if you've run your fan for a while, the sticker will burn onto the voltage regulator chip.
By 'top' of the frame, I mean very obviously the single frame thing sticking out, opposite of where 3 of them are sticking out (or 2 frame legs and the wire thing, it's very obvious).
2. There is glue holding together the plastic GPU frame, and the PCB. You need to break the glue, first. You do this by taking a knife, and very, VERY gently, sticking in between the PCB and plastic, and then stick it again, so you go all the way around...
EXCEPT the top and bottom! - the voltage regulator chip, which has a hole so you can see it clearly at the 'top', is very fragile, and WILL BREAK if you touch it with a knife in there, so avoid it. Also be sure to avoid the legs of the chip, just stay far away from it. There are electronics all around the PCB, but they are all pretty hardy, save for the voltage regulator chip. On the bottom, the PWM wires attach to the fan and are on quite delicately as well, you don't want to break those either.
Also, you can stay away from the obvious little transistors, they aren't going to glue the plastic frame to the transistors.
You don't need to be too thorough, the glue should break pretty easily. It's much more preferable you dont break the glue, and find out in the next step that it didn't break, then break your wires off or your voltage chip, just slight pressure on the voltage chip and it'll 'slip' right off the pcb.
3. Now that you broke the glue, pry the thing off using tweezers. Enter from the middle-left or middle-right. It's much better to use tweezers here - using a knife/razor will apply pressure to all of the plastic frame and potentially break it, even if you broke the glue and especially if you didn't. With tweezers, you are lifting right by the base of the plastic frame, instead of applying pressure to the frail edges of the frame, and if you broke the glue it'll pop right off.
If the plastic frame is resisting, like you feel it pushing back when you do this, it means the glue didn't break. Go around, very carefully, again with a knife, and try again.
4. If your fan is just making noise or you want to lube it up, all you need to do is put lube inside here (sometimes the plastic o-ring here will be in the fan hole, sometimes on top of the copper round thing in the plastic frame, hence, a pic of 2 frames where the o-ring is on it, and not).
5. The rest is like popping the fan head off any fan. You'll find a plastic o-ring holding the fan in place, so it doesn't fly off when you turn on the fans. Hold your thumb over half of the hole, because it will FLY off and you'll never find it again if you don't (I'm serious, I just lost one), and use a knife to violently dig in behind it, and 'drag' it out. You don't really need to do this perfectly.
Sometimes, you might find 2 plastic o-rings, as I mentioned in step 4, in which case just pull both out.
Note: my thumb isn't over the hole, just so the picture could be clear.
6. There you go, fan off. Make sure you have enough lubrication if you are replacing the fan blade, especially if it's coming from a fan that was dried out or heavily used.
7. Put it back together.
I'm not sure if you should glue it back or not, because while the frame does sit very, very tight, I'm thinking the high RPM of the fan might just wiggle wiggle wiggle a bunch and cause issues. It's up to you if you want to glue it, but if you do, avoid a glue that melts it, and just put a tiny dab slightly in, so you can break it in the future if you have to get back in.
Be careful when putting the frame back, you can actually **** up the legs on the voltage chip quite easily. Set the fan down, bladeside bottom, and push the plastic frame, very slowly and deliberately, back onto the PCB, and be sure you dont squash onto the legs of the voltage chip. DO NOT WIGGLE IT BACK ON!
Or grab it with both hands and push the frame down with both thumbs.
**** *****es. Get reps.
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx7go-cA9tc&feature=youtu.be
And despite how expensive, rare, and seemingly irreplaceable and unfixable this fan is, these fans actually cool both quieter, and better, than almost any other stock aftermarket GPU fan out there. And unfortunately, while these fans are high quality in performance and sound, they are low quality in lifespan - running a 24/7 GPU work, will quickly kill these fans within a year.
And almost all the responses these people get, is bad advice from people talking out of their ass. "Just RMA it" - well you can't do that, because 'physical damage', as fan blades are, is not covered under MSi warranty, even if it isn't your fault that the fans or fan blades broke. MSi also asks $55 to 'replace broken fans', ie, they charge you how much it costs them, to throw your GPU in the garbage, and give you an entirely new one (yep, they replace it, which would be okay if you could keep the old gpu...).
However, I have unlocked the secret to the Power Logic PLD08010S12HH sleeve bearing fan that MSi uses, a fan made in China that is expensive as it is, that is not sold in the US, that you have to pay exorbitant shipping to buy yourself, that MSi does not carry themselves, and that MSi does afterwork so you actually can't buy specifically a replacement.
You can find a Power Logic PLD08010S12HH Dual Fan module (same model number), but it's not really a dual fan module - it's just 2 x Power Logics with a not-so-subtle Y-Splitter. But, in order to get 2 x 75mmx10mmx10mm PWM 4 pin fans with 35x35x35mm triangle GPU fan mount, this is the only thing out there.
So I'm going to tell you how to remove the fan head to your Twin Frozr fans (all Twin Frozr's use this fan, just each different TF version has a different fan head, is all).
Broke a fan blade by sticking your finger in one of the 2 places in the world a finger should not ever go? Pop off the fan blades, and swap them out, from either a Power Logic (either ask kindly someone who has broken twin frozrs and doesn't know how to fix them themselves, like I did) or buy a single Power Logic, OR you can actually buy a totally different 75x75x10mm fan, like the cheap Everest on Newegg, and use that fan head.
Your fan is starting to make a grinding, whining, or any kind, of noise? Pop it up, and lube it up, and your good to go! (See http://www.overclock.net/t/773256/prepping-a-sleeve-bearing-fan-for-work/0_100 for how to do that).
So how to do it:
Note, that this isn't just for Twin Frozr II fans, but also any fan that doesn't have a cap at the end, but rather has hard plastic, ie every fan that isn't easy to open
As you can see, the TF dual fan module, has some work done by MSi so you dont see any y-splitter. Notice the 2nd fan has only 3 wires.
1. Remove the sticker so you know what your working with. Unlike most fans, you aren't going to have to recover anything, so feel free to scrape it off in anger. You don't even have to be particularly gentle, although be careful about the 'top', as if you've run your fan for a while, the sticker will burn onto the voltage regulator chip.
By 'top' of the frame, I mean very obviously the single frame thing sticking out, opposite of where 3 of them are sticking out (or 2 frame legs and the wire thing, it's very obvious).
2. There is glue holding together the plastic GPU frame, and the PCB. You need to break the glue, first. You do this by taking a knife, and very, VERY gently, sticking in between the PCB and plastic, and then stick it again, so you go all the way around...
EXCEPT the top and bottom! - the voltage regulator chip, which has a hole so you can see it clearly at the 'top', is very fragile, and WILL BREAK if you touch it with a knife in there, so avoid it. Also be sure to avoid the legs of the chip, just stay far away from it. There are electronics all around the PCB, but they are all pretty hardy, save for the voltage regulator chip. On the bottom, the PWM wires attach to the fan and are on quite delicately as well, you don't want to break those either.
Also, you can stay away from the obvious little transistors, they aren't going to glue the plastic frame to the transistors.
You don't need to be too thorough, the glue should break pretty easily. It's much more preferable you dont break the glue, and find out in the next step that it didn't break, then break your wires off or your voltage chip, just slight pressure on the voltage chip and it'll 'slip' right off the pcb.
3. Now that you broke the glue, pry the thing off using tweezers. Enter from the middle-left or middle-right. It's much better to use tweezers here - using a knife/razor will apply pressure to all of the plastic frame and potentially break it, even if you broke the glue and especially if you didn't. With tweezers, you are lifting right by the base of the plastic frame, instead of applying pressure to the frail edges of the frame, and if you broke the glue it'll pop right off.
If the plastic frame is resisting, like you feel it pushing back when you do this, it means the glue didn't break. Go around, very carefully, again with a knife, and try again.
4. If your fan is just making noise or you want to lube it up, all you need to do is put lube inside here (sometimes the plastic o-ring here will be in the fan hole, sometimes on top of the copper round thing in the plastic frame, hence, a pic of 2 frames where the o-ring is on it, and not).
5. The rest is like popping the fan head off any fan. You'll find a plastic o-ring holding the fan in place, so it doesn't fly off when you turn on the fans. Hold your thumb over half of the hole, because it will FLY off and you'll never find it again if you don't (I'm serious, I just lost one), and use a knife to violently dig in behind it, and 'drag' it out. You don't really need to do this perfectly.
Sometimes, you might find 2 plastic o-rings, as I mentioned in step 4, in which case just pull both out.
Note: my thumb isn't over the hole, just so the picture could be clear.
6. There you go, fan off. Make sure you have enough lubrication if you are replacing the fan blade, especially if it's coming from a fan that was dried out or heavily used.
7. Put it back together.
I'm not sure if you should glue it back or not, because while the frame does sit very, very tight, I'm thinking the high RPM of the fan might just wiggle wiggle wiggle a bunch and cause issues. It's up to you if you want to glue it, but if you do, avoid a glue that melts it, and just put a tiny dab slightly in, so you can break it in the future if you have to get back in.
Be careful when putting the frame back, you can actually **** up the legs on the voltage chip quite easily. Set the fan down, bladeside bottom, and push the plastic frame, very slowly and deliberately, back onto the PCB, and be sure you dont squash onto the legs of the voltage chip. DO NOT WIGGLE IT BACK ON!
Or grab it with both hands and push the frame down with both thumbs.
**** *****es. Get reps.
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx7go-cA9tc&feature=youtu.be
