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Powercolor 4870 512mb PCS+ is rather loud!

Oobie-

Oobie-

Oobie-

Associate
Joined
2 Dec 2008
Posts
22
Hi guys,

Well basically after reading some reviews about it I decided to purchase one over the sapphire toxic (which is about £30~ more) and upon finally plugging it in, the fan makes a god awful racket, as if the ball bearings used are dead (probably not but thats the impression I get)...and on top of that, the fan is apparently running at 7% and its no where near under 27dB.

Now maybe I have a bad cooler, got unlucky and they arent all like this, but it still sucks.
The people that said this is quiet are clearly hearing impaired.

What I want to know is if there's an official BIOS update for this card at all?
(I found this on the comments section http://www.dataland.com.cn/bios/hd4870a.rar - from here but have no info on its legitimacy.

Any direction or info on this would help.

Thanks.
 
If it really is that loud, it might be worth sending OCUK a webnote to inform them of your problem. Something sounds like its not right. Be aware that if it's not a legitimate BIOS update, your warranty is gone, and so are any chances of returning it.
 
Oobie- said:
Hi guys,

Well basically after reading some reviews about it I decided to purchase one over the sapphire toxic (which is about £30~ more) and upon finally plugging it in, the fan makes a god awful racket, as if the ball bearings used are dead (probably not but thats the impression I get)...and on top of that, the fan is apparently running at 7% and its no where near under 27dB.

Now maybe I have a bad cooler, got unlucky and they arent all like this, but it still sucks.
The people that said this is quiet are clearly hearing impaired.

What I want to know is if there's an official BIOS update for this card at all?
(I found this on the comments section http://www.dataland.com.cn/bios/hd4870a.rar - from here but have no info on its legitimacy.

Any direction or info on this would help.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
i remember reading a thread on here about the 4870 pcs making a racket i dont think you are the only one with this problem i just think its the way the card has been made.
 
i agree having just recently bought one its very loud.

Even at startup when it does that whooooooosssssssssssssshhh when booting you wold think you had a hoover on.

This is the first GPU which ive orders an aftermarket cooler and fans for so will see how that helps with the heat and noise :D
 
Yea my x1950xt (which it replaced) made a huge whoosh sound but dampened down on boot...it was quieter than this! and it was a reference cooler!

Im now thinking I should have got a toxic :/

Anywhere to check for BIOS updates that are directly from ATi?
 
I just bought the card and it's extremely quiet compared to my extremely quiet case fans. Honestly, I've left it on 100%, really quiet and only 40c on max load. Plus it plays games on max settings, no porblem and with insane fps.

Yours is probably faulty, or you're very sensitive to sound.
 
Well I have had anything but quiet PC's and I considered my x1950xt to be fairly loud.. but this just takes the biscuit. X1950XT in 2d was pretty much acceptable, you could hear it but not a problem. This card on desktop is as if its running a 3D App!



:confused:

I have yet to try it in a game...
 
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Its a known problem with the PCS ones, the fan speeds to low, you have to speed them up to make them quiet.

EDIT: Tick the Enable Manual Fan Control, and up the speed with the slider. :)
 
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Will do. I called the retailer and they said I can send it back for a refund, and purchase another one to see if theres a difference....Dont know if I should bother though. Take the plunge and buy another or get a sapphire toxic? XD

Quick question which is probably the most obvious thing ever. But cause Im using a 4pin molex to 6pin pci-e adapter for the second ext power connector, am I supposed to connect up both the molex connectors on the adapter?... :/

(man, no matter how I word that it still seems like I know nothing :( )


On a slightly less grim note:
This card rocks the socks off games! L4D in 1600x1200 with everything on full runs at a minimum of 50-60 fps :D oh yeaa
 
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Hey guys,
Just a small Q - The clocks reported in the printscreen above (earlier post) are not what powercolor say it should be running at here

Just wondering if there is a reason for this? is it a fall back for the system or what?
 
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