Asus 4870 Faulty?

[r3tr0x]

Hey guys!

Been buying from OC for a number of years but never posted before, apologies in advance for the mini wall of text!

I purchased an Asus HD4870 1GB around a year ago for use with a new build. I didn't have any problems with the card during the first couple of months (in fact I was delighted) but after this 'grace period' noticed the card behaving strangely. It seems these cards are notorious for getting very hot. I'm now struggling to play intensive games for longer than half an hour before the machine locks up (sound repeating lock up). When this happens two red LEDs on the back of the graphics card are lit up. Further investigation reveals that these represent critical temperature fault and (curiously, despite having an OCZ 600W PSU) critial power failure. I have to then forcefully restart the machine.

Monitoring the temperatures whilst playing doesn't tell me any more than I already suspected. The card can reach the mid 80c's so it could simply be a case of the card overheating. It idles at around 55c. I'm using an Antec P160 case with 2 x mounted 120mm front and back fans, cabling is neat so airflow shouldn't be an issue. To further add to the problems I've noticed the card's fan to be much louder than it was when initially purchased, even when running at a low fan speed.

I'm wondering what the best course of action would be for this. I understand that all Asus graphics cards have a warranty period of 3 years? Despite some posts on here regarding Asus' customer services I've always found them to be pretty good. I own an Asus laptop which needed to go back for repair last year, was only without it for 2 days before it arrived back in the office good as new

Should I just RMA this card as faulty and see what they can do about it. I'm hoping that they won't supply the same card. Compared to similar products from other manufacturers the cooling solution appears to be of a very poor standard. There is no VRM cooling either which I imagine is making things worse.

I've thought about purchasing a third party GFX cooler but don't see why I should need to, the cooling on the card should be doing it's job, especially as I'm running at stock speed.

Any help / suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Would also be useful to know if anyone else has had issues with these cards / know someone who has.

Thanks all!

Mark

 

[Scougar]

Check it's not clogged with dust, your case filters (if you have any) are not clogged, and that ALL your fan's are still spinning freely.

If it's still in warranty I wouldn't consider checking the thermal paste etc is ok, I'd just RMA the card if all of the above didn't work. Obviously you may have a host of other options to think about i.e. it might be the power supply on the way out for example, and not the card.

 

[Freddie1980]

Mid 80's doesn't seem that high TBH, most high end cards from that period run at that sort tempreture but do as Scougar says and give everything a good clean.

 

[Tealc]

Yep. My HD4890 ran fine for a good few months before gradually getting hotter and hotter until it was topping out in the 90s with 90% fan speed. A quick removal of heatsink cover and dusting with small brush and temps are down in the 70s with 70% fan speed.

There was a load of dust all clogged up in the fins of the heatsink, which would have prevented cooler air reaching those locations, reducing the area for heat dissipation.

 

[r3tr0x]

Hey guys,

Sorry for the delayed response back but I've been busy with work.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give those a try this week I think. I'd be very annoyed if the PSU was on it's way out, it was purchased at the same time as the card (just over a year ago) and it was the worst part for me in terms of research lol. Took me a while to finally decide on the OCZ ModXstream 600W - this one http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-031-OC. I've never had a PSU fail on me because I'd like to think I've always bought decent brands. Not sure what the warranty is on that but I guess if worst comes to worst further down the line (i.e. replacement card doesn't resolve the issues with heat etc) that's something else I would have to think about RMA'ing.

Anyway back to the card, a good clean sounds like a plan. I'll give it a blitz on the weekend and see how often (if at all) the system locks up and the card lights up like a Christmas tree

Going slightly off on a tangent, has anyone here had any good / bad experiences with third party coolers? I've seen quite a few that would fit the 4870 and was wondering whether it was worth trying one (despite me saying in my original post that I shouldn't need to). I think I was looking at these:

Akasa Freedom Force - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-057-AK&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=787

Gelid Icy Vision - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-002-GD&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=787

I also have a friend who recently purchased an Akasa Vortex cooler (cheap one) but cannot get it to work with this 4850. I may be able to 'borrow' this and run a few tests to see if the temps are lower with this fitted.

Thanks again guys

Mark