• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Sapphire Nitro 6650xt heatsink: is it meant to... bend?

eddiew

eddiew

eddiew

Soldato
Joined
26 Jan 2007
Posts
2,541
Location
Leeds
Stupid question time...

On the right side here you can see the heatsink curls up towards the backplate. It is not an optical illusion or perspective, the tip of the heatsink is close to 1 cm nearer the backplate than the middle is. Is it meant to be like this, or is it intended to be straight?

BbLq3w3.jpg


Put it in the PC, works fine. Seems to run a bit warmer than reviews implied... not sure if this might be why? It occurs that the rear fan will not be blowing perpendicular through the fins.

Appreciate advice.
 
That looks damaged to me. When you say it runs warm, which part? Because that part looks responsible for cooling the VRMS, so probably does not affect the core temp much if at all.

However, I would return it for a replacement as it might hurt you if you plan to sell it on in the future.
 
LtMatt said:
That looks damaged to me. When you say it runs warm, which part? Because that part looks responsible for cooling the VRMS, so probably does not affect the core temp much if at all.

However, I would return it for a replacement as it might hurt you if you plan to sell it on in the future.
Click to expand...

I'm just going by the Current Temperature and Junction Temperature in AMD's drivers. Reviews suggested low-mid 60s, the "current" can be 70s, and the junction can exceed 80 (edit: 85).

I'm also getting some weird flickering when using freesync that goes away without it, but I don't know whether that's this card or my old monitor... replacing a 1060 so never had freesync before to tell :(
 
Last edited:
Also just had my 4th complete crash and PC restart... on a machine that goes months between reboots because it has never been unstable before.
 
eddiew said:
I'm just going by the Current Temperature and Junction Temperature in AMD's drivers. Reviews suggested low-mid 60s, the "current" can be 70s, and the junction can exceed 80.

I'm also getting some weird flickering when using freesync that goes away without it, but I don't know whether that's this card or my old monitor... replacing a 1060 so never had freesync before to tell :(
Click to expand...
Those temps are perfectly fine. One thing to remember, reviewers often test in an open case, and they test for short periods of time. It's not like they play for half an hour, or even an hour or more like you probably do so temps would likely be higher over time as heat builds up in your chassis.
 
LtMatt said:
Those temps are perfectly fine. One thing to remember, reviewers often test in an open case, and they test for short periods of time. It's not like they play for half an hour, or even an hour or more like you probably do so temps would likely be higher over time as heat builds up in your chassis.
Click to expand...

They are, but this is supposed to be a premium cool/quiet card. It is not quiet; with the fans at 2500 it is actually quite annoying.

Sargatanas2511 said:
If it came like that then it's 100% a return. I wouldn't mess about trying to sort it or anything just return it and get a replacement.
Click to expand...
A.S.D.I.C. said:
1 cm bend can mean anything m8.
That why warranty is there.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I am starting to feel that. Coupled with the freesync flicker and the random crashes the PC has now, I'm having a real loss of faith in this particular GPU. Might see if I can get a refund (even for store credit) and get a 3060 or 3060ti instead...
 
Last edited:
In Kitguru's review they have side-on pictures of the card, and gamersnexus recently took apart a 6950 nitro (though I assume that has a different cooler design). It might help you to compare. Not sure if there are any reviews with better pictures.
 
Thanks for the thoughts folks. I have opened a return request. Just wanted to know if curved heatsinks was a thing that's ever done on purpose before I made a fool of myself :cry:

Frankly at this point, I'd rather replace it with a 3060. This was my "It's been over a decade since my last AMD card and it was awful, but I hear they're better now" card... kind of regretting that.
 
eddiew said:
Frankly at this point, I'd rather replace it with a 3060. This was my "It's been over a decade since my last AMD card and it was awful, but I hear they're better now" card... kind of regretting that.
Click to expand...
They are truly **** man, please leave the good stuff to us errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I mean go with the brain-dead special :DF
 
Strange logic, GPU is damaged, must be the manufacturer as a while I'll buy the other manufacturers GPU as that will solve the problem. Two thoughts, just get the same card again, obviously not the fact it's AMD causing the problems. When moving between AMD and Nvidia I am very thorough in deleting old drivers, if convenient even going for a fresh Windows install.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom