Broken R9 280 Fan - Repair or Replace?

[Caal]

I ordered a Sapphire Radeon R9 280X Vapor-X OC 3072MB back in November 2013 and I've noticed today that one of the fans isn't working. The card is still operating but its running louder than it used to which is what got my attention.

I've tried taking the fan out but I'm not sure how to as it looks like the whole heat sink needs to be detached to remove the shroud. There is a lot of resistance when moving the fan unlike the one that is working fine.

Does anyone know if its an easy repair job or if replacement fans are available for this model?

Alternatively what would be a good upgrade card for this one - I paid £250 for this one so something around the ball park would be good. Its working alongside an i5 760 on a 1080 monitor so it doesn't need to be high end.

 

[Panos]

I ordered a Sapphire Radeon R9 280X Vapor-X OC 3072MB back in November 2013 and I've noticed today that one of the fans isn't working. The card is still operating but its running louder than it used to which is what got my attention.

I've tried taking the fan out but I'm not sure how to as it looks like the whole heat sink needs to be detached to remove the shroud. There is a lot of resistance when moving the fan unlike the one that is working fine.

Does anyone know if its an easy repair job or if replacement fans are available for this model?

Alternatively what would be a good upgrade card for this one - I paid £250 for this one so something around the ball park would be good. Its working alongside an i5 760 on a 1080 monitor so it doesn't need to be high end.

If it is still in warranty RMA it and see what you get back. Probably an RX470 at best, but you can be lucky to get an RX480.

To put in perspective the RX480 is 50%+ faster than the R9 280X and the RX480 8GB can be had for less than £200 these days.

Alternative remove the fan and screw on the casing another one externally. However if you are in warranty I would RMA it first.

 

[Caal]

Thanks for the response Panos, I've emailed Sapphire to see if its under warranty or if they will suggest anything. I just need to decide if I will repair it or treat myself to something

 

[pandem0nium]

You may be able to use a third party cooler like an arctic accelero or gellid icy vision 2.

 

[pastymuncher]

Sapphire have a 3 year warranty so that will be up by now. If you want to keep using it you have a couple of options. The first is if you don't want to spend much money on it you could whip the cooler off, remove the fan and shroud and just fix a couple of fans to it. The second is to fit a aftermarket cooler but something like the Gelid Icy Vision Rev 2 cost's around £35 and I am not sure I would be wanting to spend that much on it.

 

[Caal]

Cheers for all the responses. That's given me some ideas to go with.

I see the RX 500 series might be out next month so I will hold on and see if it has any impact on prices. Sapphire support have confirmed its out of warranty so no luck there. I've also spotted some dual fans on ebay for £10 but I probably need to get some thermal paste to resit the heat sink once I remove it.