Are ball bearing fans on GPUs worth it?

[pejx]

For example:
Sapphire Vapor-X on AMD or EVGA ACX on NVidia.

I am buying two new GPUs and have sort of decided that I will only buy from these two ranges of GPUs because their fans will last longer. I assume it is important that ball bearings will wear out less quickly because a worn sleeve bearing will make a lot of noise - right?

Also, are there any other GPU brands/ranges with ball bearings besides the above?

 

[24601]

They do with Sapphire as their RMA process is one of the worst out of all the contenders (At least in the US).

With EVGA it shouldn't matter much since you can RMA it when it fails and their RMA turnaround time is very fast.

 

[Anarchist420]

For example: Sapphire Vapor-X on AMD or EVGA ACX on NVidia. I am buying two new GPUs and have sort of decided that I will only buy from these two ranges of GPUs because their fans will last longer. I assume it is important that ball bearings will wear out less quickly because a worn sleeve bearing will make a lot of noise - right? Also, are there any other GPU brands/ranges with ball bearings besides the above?

nvidia uses ball bearings on their stock coolers or at least they used to.. not all ball bearings are the same

 

[blastingcap]

For example:
Sapphire Vapor-X on AMD or EVGA ACX on NVidia.

I am buying two new GPUs and have sort of decided that I will only buy from these two ranges of GPUs because their fans will last longer. I assume it is important that ball bearings will wear out less quickly because a worn sleeve bearing will make a lot of noise - right?

Also, are there any other GPU brands/ranges with ball bearings besides the above?

Ever wonder why good PSUs use ONLY ball-bearing fans?

The short answer is yes, get ball-bearing, fans will last longer in any orientation due to the lubricant spreading more evenly. Sleeve-bearing fans aren't meant to operate parallel to the ground, where lubricant will wind up pooling due to gravity. Unfortunately,most tower ATX cases hold their cards parallel to the ground.

Noise has little to do with it, sleeve bearing can actually be QUIETER at first, only to seize up and be noisier later, whereas ball-bearing fans tend to be noisier than sleeve bearing but also not deteriorate as much.

Also, where are you getting this info from? Sapphire doesn't use ball-bearing fans AFAIK in Dual-X or Vapor-X, both of which have failed me more than any other fan type. They call them dust repellent fans but give no further information, unlike XFX and ASUS.

P.S. In my experience Sapphire's fan failure rate is waaaaay higher than any other brand I've used, to the point where I refuse to buy any non-reference Sapphire video cards anymore.

 

[pejx]

nvidia uses ball bearings on their stock coolers or at least they used to.. not all ball bearings are the same

Anyone know where I can find out if this is still true? I have had no luck so far trying to confirm if NVidia reference cards have ball bearing fans...

 

[24601]

Anyone know where I can find out if this is still true? I have had no luck so far trying to confirm if NVidia reference cards have ball bearing fans...

R9-290/x reference and all Nvidia reference blower coolers use ball bearing.

 

[pejx]

Ever wonder why good PSUs use ONLY ball-bearing fans?

The short answer is yes, get ball-bearing, fans will last longer in any orientation due to the lubricant spreading more evenly. Sleeve-bearing fans aren't meant to operate parallel to the ground, where lubricant will wind up pooling due to gravity. Unfortunately,most tower ATX cases hold their cards parallel to the ground.

Noise has little to do with it, sleeve bearing can actually be QUIETER at first, only to seize up and be noisier later, whereas ball-bearing fans tend to be noisier than sleeve bearing but also not deteriorate as much.

Also, where are you getting this info from? Sapphire doesn't use ball-bearing fans AFAIK in Dual-X or Vapor-X, both of which have failed me more than any other fan type. They call them dust repellent fans but give no further information, unlike XFX and ASUS.

P.S. In my experience Sapphire's fan failure rate is waaaaay higher than any other brand I've used, to the point where I refuse to buy any non-reference Sapphire video cards anymore.

Thanks for all the info. I got the specs on Sapphire Vapor-X having ball bearings from their website, press releases and a few "independent" reviews. Guess I have to take their word for it. But you have actually had Vapor-X card fans fail, have you? Hmmm, maybe I should go for a reference NVidia even if it has sleeve bearings then. Per your logic, that would be fine in my case since the fans will not be parallel to the ground, and maybe just as good as a ball bearing fan? Or maybe I am worrying unnecessarily? I just want 2 cards, in SLI/CF, that will not produce too much heat, and will last for a long time.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Not sure what Msi uses on their TF3 cards but i had a bearing start to go out less then a year into ownership of a TF3 7850. Guessing they aren't ball bearings if what i hear about MSI and fan troubles is anything to go by.

 

[blastingcap]

Thanks for all the info. I got the specs on Sapphire Vapor-X having ball bearings from their website, press releases and a few "independent" reviews. Guess I have to take their word for it. But you have actually had Vapor-X card fans fail, have you? Hmmm, maybe I should go for a reference NVidia even if it has sleeve bearings then. Per your logic, that would be fine in my case since the fans will not be parallel to the ground, and maybe just as good as a ball bearing fan? Or maybe I am worrying unnecessarily? I just want 2 cards, in SLI/CF, that will not produce too much heat, and will last for a long time.

Reference fans are parallel to the ground too... or another way to say it is that every fan on every video card made today has the fan rotate on an axis perpendicular to the video card PCB. You have to do it this way even with "blower" style fans found on reference AMD cards.

Both reference and sleeve bearing fans are usually mounted on GPUs the same way that stock heatsinkfans are mounted on Intel CPUs. It's not a problem with the CPUs since most tower motherboards are mounted perpendicular to the ground. But video cards are rotated 90 degrees from the motherboard, and parallel to the ground. Until consumers wise up and stop buying crappy sleeve-bearing fans, video card makers will keep making cards with sleeve bearing fans.

Sapphire is responsible for 3 fan RMAs of mine, and for that I will continue to bash them at every opportunity.... VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET!

 

[MongGrel]

..

 

[pejx]

Reference fans are parallel to the ground too... or another way to say it is that every fan on every video card made today has the fan rotate on an axis perpendicular to the video card PCB. You have to do it this way even with "blower" style fans found on reference AMD cards.

Both reference and sleeve bearing fans are usually mounted on GPUs the same way that stock heatsinkfans are mounted on Intel CPUs. It's not a problem with the CPUs since most tower motherboards are mounted perpendicular to the ground. But video cards are rotated 90 degrees from the motherboard, and parallel to the ground. Until consumers wise up and stop buying crappy sleeve-bearing fans, video card makers will keep making cards with sleeve bearing fans.

Sapphire is responsible for 3 fan RMAs of mine, and for that I will continue to bash them at every opportunity.... VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET!

True that. BUT with my case, my GPU fans will be perpendicular to the ground. This is exactly why I chose the Silverstone FT02

 

[24601]

True that. BUT with my case, my GPU fans will be perpendicular to the ground. This is exactly why I chose the Silverstone FT02

If you are using a Silverstone FT02 an open air cooler is going to do horrendously in that specialized case.

Get a Nvidia Reference Blower equipped card.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

Another vote against Sapphire. Owned two in my life. One died just out of warranty (an X1650) and the other (7950 Dual X) developed fan noise after two months. Everything I've read about Sapphire fans says they're best avoided.

 

[pejx]

If you are using a Silverstone FT02 an open air cooler is going to do horrendously in that specialized case.

Get a Nvidia Reference Blower equipped card.

Thanks, that's what I have read in some places, but then also have read of people doing fine with an FT02 and open air coolers... don't know what to do, too many choices... sigh...

 

[24601]

Thanks, that's what I have read in some places, but then also have read of people doing fine with an FT02 and open air coolers... don't know what to do, too many choices... sigh...

The lack of ventilation in the side panel as well as the traditional top of the case make high wattage open air cards recipes for disaster.

You realistically only have one fan exhausting the massive amount of heat dumped into the case by an open air design.

The Silverstone FT02 is just a bad case for anything other than the intended use case.

Use with blower graphics cards.

 

[Denithor]

The lack of ventilation in the side panel as well as the traditional top of the case make high wattage open air cards recipes for disaster.

You realistically only have one fan exhausting the massive amount of heat dumped into the case by an open air design.

The Silverstone FT02 is just a bad case for anything other than the intended use case.

Use with blower graphics cards.

Which happily moves you back to using the reference design cards, something you were intending to do anyway.

Personally, I suggest just buying a card from a reputable vendor with a 3 year (if available) warranty. If the fan fails within that period, you RMA for repair/replacement. If it goes after that time, you needed a new card anyway...

 

[pejx]

Which happily moves you back to using the reference design cards, something you were intending to do anyway.

Personally, I suggest just buying a card from a reputable vendor with a 3 year (if available) warranty. If the fan fails within that period, you RMA for repair/replacement. If it goes after that time, you needed a new card anyway...

Yes, that's right. Thanks everyone for your help. You have prompted me to find and read through a few old forum discussions on the Silverstone FT02 and it indeed seems like "blower" type fans are the way to go with this case.

I have ruled out 290(x) reference cards based on noise/heat. I would get a GTX 780 reference card if one existed with 6GB, but it seems not. Am reluctant to buy a GTX 780 3GB at the moment when it seems 3GB VRAM is just beginning to be a bottleneck for some games (even if only because they are badly designed). Also there is surely going to be a new release soon from NVidia... I can't believe they will just leave the current situation as it stands with the 290(x) so far ahead of the 780 in price/performance terms.

Well, it's summer now and I have waited 25 years (since I sold my Commodore Amiga!) to get back into gaming. I think I'll just wait a bit longer until high-end Maxwell and get the first Reference card released with a blower. Or AMD if they come out with something less hot & noisy with a blower fan.