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Powercolor 5850 fan whirring

elrasho

elrasho

elrasho

Soldato
Joined
12 Jan 2009
Posts
6,504
I have had my ATI 5850 for just over 1 year and now the fan has started to make a whirring noise. I have tried to adjust the fan speed although that does not help.

It happens at random times too so its not temperature related. I've sent a support ticket to Powercolor. Anyone else had dealings with their support, are they good? Also what can I do about the whirring?
 
May not be relevant but I had problems with the fan on my 6850 a while back and it turned out to be air disturbance from a powerful side fan.
Dont suppose you might have a similar issue ? Unlikley i know but worth a shot :
 
Theres no other fans near the card apart from a 80mm but thats been there all the time. Was thinking of getting a Zalman VF3000A but I don't think it will fit as I'm running crossfire with another 5850
 
The Zalman VF3000A is very bulky, I lose 3 PCI slots if I put the card in the bottom PCI-E slots. That means I'd have to take out my XFI sound card :(

I've looked around and the 5850 I bought off OCUK for £115 is now £160! The 5850's are expensive! Im beginning to think if the fan goes and the card is out of warranty (think Powercolor only give 12month warranty) should I get a 6
 
elrasho said:
The Zalman VF3000A is very bulky, I lose 3 PCI slots if I put the card in the bottom PCI-E slots. That means I'd have to take out my XFI sound card :(
Click to expand...

I know, I have one! You can take the shroud off which gives you another couple of MM to play with.

If you can find one a Zalman VF1000 or Scythe Musashi they are considerably thinner, there's also the Zalman VF2000 LED which will work (although it only lists up to the 4890 it'll be fine).

http://www.zalman.com/eng/product/Product_Read.asp?idx=339

You can get that for £29 and it's about a cm thinner than a VF3000.

elrasho said:
I've looked around and the 5850 I bought off OCUK for £115 is now £160! The 5850's are expensive! Im beginning to think if the fan goes and the card is out of warranty (think Powercolor only give 12month warranty) should I get a 6
Click to expand...

Yeah, no point buying a 5 series now unless you get one used. Wouldn't throw it away just 'cos of a faulty cooler though.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Raikiri :) The Scythe Musashi looks really good for me, I could stick that on my 5850 then swap them round so the Sapphire 5850 is in the first PCI-E and the Powecolor 5850 in the other leaving me room for the XFI sound card :)

Now need to find a reputable seller that has a Scythe Musashi
 
Cant find any in the UK so went looking on flebay USA and found someone that does International shipping. The stock fan is whirring almost everytime I switch the PC on, I set the fan speed to 100% for 2 minutes then back down to 30 (the default) and the whirring disappeares. Also this card is running 10C hotter than the other 5850.

Having looked at Scythes website they say: "It is recommended to use the heatsink-plate coming with the original cooler to cool the VR/MosFET". As my current fan is faulty so I still need to use the heatsink-plate from the stock cooler?
 
The heatsink/fan can be removed whilst still keeping the plate, like this:

IMG_0057-1.jpg
 
Raikiri said:
The heatsink/fan can be removed whilst still keeping the plate, like this:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the pic, that will help a lot :) But Ive been thinking, since the whirring stops after I increase the fan speed to 100% for 2mins is it really worth my while getting this cooler?
 
I've sent the following eNote to Ebi-er:

"Hello,

The fan on my Powercolor 5850 graphics card has become faulty. It is making a loud whirring noise and I've also noticed the temperatures of the card increase.

If I increase the fan speed to 100% for 2 minutes then put the fan speed back down the whirring stops only to start again shorty after.

Please can you raise an RMA request. Also please note I am running two 5850 graphics cards in Crossfire and so if this card cannot be repaired I would like a replacement 5850 sent to me otherwise I won't be able to use crossfire.

Thanks"

Hopefully they'll send a replacement 5850 although their website says they don't have any, maybe they'd get one from Powercolor?
 
my asus 5850 started making a horrible sound a few weeks back, but I found that just putting pressure on the card with my finger anywhere seemed to silence it, even poking the psu below it seemed to work.

My Lian-li case has some anti theft device goes from the top of the case to the bottom with some screw down plastic fingers (quite hard to describe lol!), I had left it out because it just got in the way, but putting this back in with the plastic finger screwed down tight onto the 5850 has stopped the sound altogether.

If putting pressure on the card works for you then it might be worth seeing if you can support the floating end of the card with something.
 
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