Broken fans on MSI R9 290X - what options do I have

[-RV-]

I've had the MSI R9 290X GAMING 4G LE since last February and was happy with it.

In the last couple of months or so I've begun to hear the fans more and more, even though I'm only doing the same things as before.

It got to the point over the last week or so where its so noisey its getting annoying. I looked in Afterburner and can see the temperatures were getting up to 90C when not much was going on.
Last night the whole PC began to vibrate and rattle. So I turned it off.

Now, I've taken a look and I see that there are two blades snapped off on one fan and one blade snapped off on another. Not good really :/

I've read up and it looks like I've not got many options. Anyone with any advice?
I don't have a spare card so an RMA with long turnaround is not good.

I may consider an aftermarket cooler, but no idea which one would fit. Really all I want is MSI to send a replacement fan but their forums are full of people in my position and they won't help them.

 

[kiel367]

couple of options really, you could get a kraken g10 gpu adapter or equivelant and put an all in one wc unit on it, this does require some small heatsinks for the card if you go for the g10 or you could go for something like the icy vision cooler, im sure there are other compatible ones, i have the refrence 290 and went with the first option

 

[sieze2]

You can get replacement fans on an auction site from china as well search for "95mm Dual Fan for MSI 290X"

 

[-RV-]

couple of options really, you could get a kraken g10 gpu adapter or equivelant and put an all in one wc unit on it, this does require some small heatsinks for the card if you go for the g10 or you could go for something like the icy vision cooler, im sure there are other compatible ones, i have the refrence 290 and went with the first option

Thanks, will look into that too. I do have the space for the aio but was planning on using that for the cpu and not gpu. Saying that though, the cpu runs at a good temperature..

You can get replacement fans on an auction site from china as well search for "95mm Dual Fan for MSI 290X"

I hadn't realised that, gotta be worth a punt

 

[thebennyboy]

Could see if MSI will send you new fans? Take some pictures and send them to MSI, they may be able to send some to you.

 

[pandem0nium]

Something like a gelid icy vision 2 if you don't want to break the bank with an aftermarket cooler.

 

[-RV-]

Well, I went for the cheaper option and ordered some replacement fans from China. Only took 9 days to arrive so I was pleasantly surprised. Just ordered some Thermal Grizzly too since I have to reseat the heatsink anyway, so aiming to replace them this week. Fingers crossed

 

[Dave2150]

I've had the MSI R9 290X GAMING 4G LE since last February and was happy with it.

In the last couple of months or so I've begun to hear the fans more and more, even though I'm only doing the same things as before.

It got to the point over the last week or so where its so noisey its getting annoying. I looked in Afterburner and can see the temperatures were getting up to 90C when not much was going on.
Last night the whole PC began to vibrate and rattle. So I turned it off.

Now, I've taken a look and I see that there are two blades snapped off on one fan and one blade snapped off on another. Not good really :/

I've read up and it looks like I've not got many options. Anyone with any advice?
I don't have a spare card so an RMA with long turnaround is not good.

I may consider an aftermarket cooler, but no idea which one would fit. Really all I want is MSI to send a replacement fan but their forums are full of people in my position and they won't help them.

Did the snapped off fan blades simply drop to the bottom of the case, or did they damage your case side panel, or anything else?

 

[-RV-]

Did the snapped off fan blades simply drop to the bottom of the case, or did they damage your case side panel, or anything else?

Couldn't see any damage and found them lying at the bottom of the case. No idea when it happened though.

 

[Sparx]

Let us know what your temps are like with the new fan and Grizzly paste on.

 

[Dave2150]

Couldn't see any damage and found them lying at the bottom of the case. No idea when it happened though.

Thanks for the reply. Glad it didn't damage any other component when it flew off.

I've read a few reports of MSI fan blades snapping off. Hopefully MSI are aware of it and have fixed it already, or in future incarnations of their twin frozr coolers.

 

[-RV-]

Well, I finally got around to fitting the new fans and things are looking a whole lot better.

I used the Grizzly paste but wish I'd also bought some Grizzly pads aswell so I could replace the existing ones. Anyway, no real issues doing it, but getting one of the fan cables to fit was tricky, just had to bend it a little.

The outcome -- First of all, no more rattling/vibrating at all thankfully as it was driving me crazy. Also the temperatures are now back to normal with no crazy fan noise when it was cranking up to full speed.

Hard to quantify the improvement with thermal Grizzly, since I had two fans with one blade missing on each, but certainly I feel happier replacing the gunk on there with decent stuff.

If anyone has the same issue, I can point them to the fans I bought, which too me look exactly the same as the originals.

Game on !