XFX has a new idea for AMD RX 7000 GPUs: swappable fans, but some gamers are asking - why?

XFX has 'something cool' coming, or more specifically something coming for the cooling solutions on its higher-end AMD Radeon RX 7000 graphics cards - namely replaceable fans.

VideoCardz spotted XFX publicizing this move on X, noting that the graphics card manufacturer has already made swappable fans a reality over in China with its Phoenix Nirvana products (a few weeks back, so not long ago).

It looks like the same idea will be coming to the US (and we'd imagine other regions as well), and if XFX follows in the footsteps of what it did in the Chinese GPU market, we will see RX 7900 XTX, RX 7900 GRE and RX 7800 XT graphics cards that have these swappable fans.

The idea works just as you'd expect - you can pop out each fan individually, and, er, put it back in. Or rather, put another fan back in, which is the point - if one fan breaks, or you damage it somehow (these things happen), it's easy to buy a replacement and substitute it to get your card back up to full (fan) speed. Thereby avoiding the hassle of sending the graphics card back to the vendor to replace the fan.

Land of confusion

Some punters are distinctly jaded, or confused, about this idea though, asking what's the point of it really? Well, as we mentioned, it's just a (much) more convenient repair process if something goes wrong with a fan, and furthermore, you can easily (and thoroughly) clean fans by popping them out. Indeed, this allows for customization of your board, too (in terms of using different color fans, if you're really into the visual aspect of your gaming PC).

That said, the worry is that the mechanism to make the fan detachable might somehow go wrong (resulting in a loose fan, perhaps - or more wear over time on a fan). Indeed, there are accusation levelled on X about how this might mean XFX isn't confident that its fans will last - not a fair criticism, and more a bit of mud slinging in our humble opinion.

Still, you come up with an idea, and you can guarantee a sizeable portion of the internet will be ready and waiting out there, ready to knock it down.

One sticking point which VideoCardz highlights is that XFX isn't selling the standalone fans to be installed in these graphics cards in China yet - but presumably it's just a matter of time before they're available to buy. Otherwise there really isn't much point to this whole idea...

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