My crossfire 5850 dilemma

elrasho · 20 Sep 2011 at 18:04

One of my 5850's (the Powercolor one) fan has started to make a whirring noise which disappears if I increase the fan speed to 100% for 2 minutes then put it back down to 28% (my idle fan speed setting).

I think the fan is going to die soon as the temperatures have gone up by 10C on idle. I was thinking of my options and was hoping you guys could give me some guidance:

1. RMA it to ****** although I've had bad experiences with RMAing and service from them in the past. Took them 3 months to RMA some memory and they originally cancelled my 5850 order as I wanted it to delivering to work not home, why could they have not just contacted me first instead of cancelling the order!? I spoke to them about this RMA and they said they would give me a partial refund if they couldn't find a replacement 5850. That's no good to me as I want crossfire 5850s and so will have to buy another one with the money they give me, and 5850's are going for around £160!

2. Buy a Scythe MUSASHI cooler from Ebay America as no one has it in the UK. This will void my warranty but is the cheapest option

3. Do the RMA and get a partial refund. Sell my other Sapphire 5850 (which I bought from here 3 months ago) and then buy a single card... but which one?. The 6970 is appealing but crossfire 5850s are still better than that, the next cards up are in the £400 price range which is too much for me.

So guys what do you think I should do?

EDIT: I thought we could mention competitors names now?

j.col · 20 Sep 2011 at 20:45

the fan in my hd5850 went as well. (seems to be a common problem)
i bought a stock hd4870 casing off a water cooler for £5 and swapped over the fan,
job done.

of the options, i would pick 3.
sell the other hd5850 and then buy 2 x hd6850's. also dont the hd6series, crossfire better?

edit.
there are other coolers that fit, from my research here are some ideas

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?247217-Twin-Turbo-Pro-installed-on-my-5850
or
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=15085745
or
http://translate.google.com/transla...Cooling_Accelero_Twin_Turbo_Pro-3.htm&act=url
or
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?236156-After-market-cooler-for-the-ATI-5850/page2

mickyflinn · 20 Sep 2011 at 21:05

Get an aftermarket cooler like the Accelero TWIN TURBO Pro for about £24.

http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/22/accelero-twin-turbo-pro.html

elrasho · 20 Sep 2011 at 21:23

mickyflinn said:
Get an aftermarket cooler like the Accelero TWIN TURBO Pro for about £24.

http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/22/accelero-twin-turbo-pro.html

Thanks mate, some reputable UK suppliers have that in stock. From the pictures is looks like it doesn't take up a lot of space, so I'll have enough room to crossfire right?

mickyflinn · 20 Sep 2011 at 22:36

Its not small it may take up an extra slot, i had it on an 4870 its an awsome cooler.

elrasho · 21 Sep 2011 at 10:15

Ok e-bi-er have authorised the RMA and want me to pick a date for a courier to come pick up the card. I'm gonna try cleaning the fan fins one more time, if that doesn't work I'll send it back. Worse case scenario is they can give me a partial refund right?

Something inside me is saying get the partial refund and then pay some more and get another Sapphire 5850 from OUK, then I'll have two identical cards so it'll look better lol

elrasho · 28 Sep 2011 at 11:37

e-bi-er have finally given me some concrete plans as to how to take things forward.

I can return the card, if they see its faulty theyl refund me £150 cash then I can buy a 5850 from here

Only issue is the fan has stopped whirring lol! Took it out on weekend and gave it a propper blast again with the some canned air, more dust came out too. Put the card back in and the whirring has stopped, but it still runs 10C hotter than the other 5850

elrasho · 4 Oct 2011 at 09:15

I'm still thinking about this one. Im leaning heavily to sending the card to e-bier, getting a £150 cash refund, selling my other 5850 and using the money to get a GTX 580 Phantom 3GB card.

Before I go down this path I have a few questions if someone could answer please.

1. Will my Crosair HX 620W be enough to power a GTX 580

2. I have an ASUS P7P5DD Pro motherboard and Coolermaster Storm Sniper case, will I be able to SLI?

3. Does the GTX 580 do PCM audio over HDMI?

4. What software should I use to adjust the fan speed/temperature ratio?

Si105 · 4 Oct 2011 at 09:45

If the card no longer makes the 'whirring' noise they probably won't give you anything. Some cards do run hotter than others.

Use msi afterburner to adjust speed/temperature ratio.

elrasho · 4 Oct 2011 at 09:49

Si105 said:
If the card no longer makes the 'whirring' noise they probably won't give you anything. Some cards do run hotter than others.

Use msi afterburner to adjust speed/temperature ratio.

It does make the whirring noise but its not as often. Should I hang fire and see if it totally dies?

Marine-RX179 · 4 Oct 2011 at 10:14

Not sure if they would give you a refund for a card that "may be dying" than a card that's actually "dead" or with clear problems like artifacting. If they can't find the fault of the whinning noise of the cooler, they might send the card back to you and bill you for their time testing the card. Anyhow, not even sure if they consider whinning fan is a good enough reason to warrant a RMA...

elrasho · 4 Oct 2011 at 10:18

They classed it as a "overheating" issue with the card, I did tell the guy its not overheating just running hotter the usual and the fan makes a whirring noise at random times. I've got another 5 months warranty left on it so I suppose I could wait.. what to do what to do!

Marine-RX179 · 4 Oct 2011 at 10:24

elrasho said:
They classed it as a "overheating" issue with the card, I did tell the guy its not overheating just running hotter the usual and the fan makes a whirring noise at random times. I've got another 5 months warranty left on it so I suppose I could wait.. what to do what to do!

Out of curiousity...when did you first noticed the temp of the card gotten higher than "usual"? Cause during the the current heat wave, the temp of the hardware become 8-10C higher for most people.

elrasho · 4 Oct 2011 at 10:25

This was before Summer 2.0, the increase temperate is due to the fan not working properly.

Marine-RX179 · 4 Oct 2011 at 10:26

elrasho said:
This was before Summer 2.0, the increase temperate is due to the fan not working properly.

ok, fair enough. If the fan truly has a problem, then they are definitely qualify for RMA.

iB CoMpL3XiTy · 4 Oct 2011 at 10:35

Usualy one of the two cards in CF or SLI will run hotter than the other, If you run the "Faulty" card on its own is it still +10C hotter at idle than it should be?

A whirring fan may not be enough to RMA it, maybe make a video of the problem, post a link to E-Bi-er and see what they say?

The whirring noise is definitely the cards fan? Your sure its not coil whine?

Marine-RX179 · 4 Oct 2011 at 11:01

Yea...it's normal for the top card to be hotter than the bottom card or on its own due to restricted airflow in the case.

elrasho · 4 Oct 2011 at 12:18

iB CoMpL3XiTy said:
Usualy one of the two cards in CF or SLI will run hotter than the other, If you run the "Faulty" card on its own is it still +10C hotter at idle than it should be?

A whirring fan may not be enough to RMA it, maybe make a video of the problem, post a link to E-Bi-er and see what they say?

The whirring noise is definitely the cards fan? Your sure its not coil whine?

Its definitely the fan as if I stop it with my finger for a second the whirring stops. Both cards were always 34C on idle, its only since the whirring the older reference card 5850 idles at 44C.... its the faulty fan causing this

elrasho · 6 Oct 2011 at 17:45

UPDATE: The whirring is pretty much constant now so I'm sending the card back to E-bier. I've bought a 5850 from OCUK so I'll now have two of the same. Here's a video I made of the noise: