Sapphire NITRO+ RX VEGA64 Fan Problems Fix

[Shonk]

I Picked up a Sapphire NITRO+ RX VEGA64 from ocuk in November 2018

Ever since it was around a month old it will randomly
get a fan noise (vibration/grating) when its cold / at random
its the far left 92mm fan as can be confirmed by stopping it
as the fans are hot swappable i swapped the far right 92mm fan with the far left 92mmm fan

this seemed to fix it for a few days but it always came back no matter how many times i tried

I contacted Sapphire to try and get a fan replacment in june 2019
they wernt interested in the slightest and told me to goto the retailer
to get one

I e-mailed ocuk support stating below

Summary:Fan Problems
Full Details:Hi the 92mm fan closest to the hdmi/display port on my Sapphire Radeon RX VEGA 64 Nitro+
has an intermittent grinding noise and has done pretty much since i have had it

which is a pain but the last few day it has randomly stopped working intermittently
only a full pc powerdown and power back up fixes it

which makes the gpu temps jump by around 10 degrees due to being a fan down

I contacted sapphire for a replacment fan as they are modular and enduser replacable
but was informed that my retailer has to get a replacment direct from sapphire for myself

tbh if i could find a retailer selling them i would have just picked one up
to save the hastle but people only seem to stock the 95mm rx 580 fans

OCUK reply

Thankyou for your webnote.

I am sorry to hear this. Unfortunately the only option we have with the card is to return it under RMA to be sent away for repair/replacement. Therefore I have raised a RMA returns number on the order and the details of which have been emailed to you. Please check this through to ensure everything is correct and then package the card suitable for transit with your 6 digit returns number clearly labelled on the outside.

A prepaid DPD dropoff label has also been emailed to you to cover the return costs.

OCUK's reply was fine but i didnt want an rma as the card is fine
and just wanted a replacment fan (didnt mind paying for it)
but it seems Vega64 Nitro+ fans are not buyable..


Anyway to cut a long story short

it got worse the far left fan was making that noise more and more
also it started having other problems with that fan it would randomly
spin up at full speed and go into some weird variable speed (around 70%-100% whilst idling)
even though the gpu drivers think the fans where off
i could fix that by triggering a gpu load so it hits 55°
so the radeon software will instruct the hardware fan controller to spin at 1200rpm

then sometimes it would stop working randomly
hardware controller had given up on that fan and shut it off a reboot wouldnt fix it
a suspend to ram or shutdown fixed it

I would notice due to my temps being up around 10° (73° instead of 63°)


The Problem

So i had 2 faults

1) Fan Vibration/Noise on left fan (swapping fan didnt fix it so it wasnt a fan problem)
2) Fan weirdness on the left fan


1) I Suspected the fan shroud was vibrating on the heatsink
2) I Suspected the quick connect contacts where bad on the fan

The Fix

Around 6 weeks ago the random fan spinning at max when the gpu is stone cold and idle
/ hardware controller disabling fan 1 got far more common and it was doing it multiple times a day


So decided to try fixing it

I removed the fan shroud (4 screws)

1) placed 2 squares of 3m vhb tape 6mm x 6mm ish (around 2-3mm thick spongy padding)
below each fan quick connect (See image 1)

there was already 1 central pad fitted by sapphire but this wasnt cutting it


2) Cleaned both sides of the quick connect system with isopropanol with a cottonbud (See Image 2)

this has 100% fixed both problems and havnt had either issue in over 6 weeks



My son's RX 480 Nitro+ OC has had a fan noise problem on one of the fans since 2016
and always put it down to a bad fan but after this i suspect its issue 1 with my Vega64
and will look into fixing it when he gets back from uni


Posting this incase anyone else gets these problems
Its a simple fix and not actually a faulty fan
just bad QA from Sapphire


Sapphire need to be adding 9 pads instead of just 3 to solve fan noise issues

Oh and btw the sapphire fancheck tool lies
when fan 1 is disabled in hardware due to bad contacts
the fancheck tool says all 3 fans are fine and spinning at 3xxx rpm
I suspect they cant monitor single fans with the Vega64 atleast, so are using the rpm of just one of them and just bs'ing it with the other two

3M VHB

 

[EastCoastHandle]

Wow, nice. Thanks for sharing this.

 

[Tetras]

You said that Sapphire have gone back to an old flat contacts design for the 5700, could you describe a little more about this, how to recognise it and know which cards to avoid?

 

[Shonk]

This is an RX 480/580 fan see the contacts are flat

The Rx Vega Fans are different see above

actually scrub that i have just checked again
and navi cards also have the same type of contacts as vega but with argb pins
Navi cards may also have weird fan issues as the contacts oxidize

its not a big problem though you just have to clean both sides of the contacts with isopropanol / contact cleaner if you get issues

but you have to know about the problem to fix it

mine didnt start having fan contact issues until it was about 9 months old
and it was only on one fan maybe i will have to go back in in another 9 months
maybe it was a fluke and the contact was contaminated in the factory
and now i have cleaned it it will be fine who knows

RX 480 / RX580

Navi

 

[Brizzles]

Might try cleaning the contacts on my 5700XT Nitro+ SE, the argb has developed a mind of its own with a random red on 1 fan and a randon green on the middle fan

 

[Tetras]

Thanks for the detailed reply Shonk, very helpful

 

[Shonk]

Might try cleaning the contacts on my 5700XT Nitro+ SE, the argb has developed a mind of its own with a random red on 1 fan and a randon green on the middle fan

When i cleaned the constacts i basically soaked a cotton bud with isopropanol and rubbed it in gently
I think if i had to do it again i would dip a toothbrush in isopropanol
the brush will get in the small area's better

Make sure you give it 10 mins for everything to evaporate before powering up

 

[Shonk]

Thanks for the detailed reply Shonk, very helpful

np

 

[Shonk]

Its been just over 2 months and neither problem has come back yet so looking good

 

[Gerard]

Surprised sapphire weren't fussy about helping, that's the entire reason for those fans to make them easily swappable in case of failure.

 

[Shonk]

Trust me sapphire dont replace fans its all myth and rumor if you actually try getting a replacement they arnt interested
they will only rma it

With an RX 480 / Navi its not a problem as you can buy a replacement but with vega your sol

 

[zophiel]

I had the same from sapphire i wanted a replacement fan for the wifes vega 64, they were nope send the whole thing back.

 

[Shonk]

Still good

 

[Shonk]

It came back about a week ago on one of the fans
so the isopropanol fix seems to last about a year

gona remove the fans and clean the contacts again with isopropanol now