Diamond MM Radeon HD 6950 grinding fan noise

Deaks2

Member
Oct 6, 2006
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0
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Hi all,

I have a less than 1 year old Diamond MM 6950 that has started making a grinding noise from the fan closest to the VGA ports. My card looks like this:

609341.jpg


I tried cleaning it, and removed any dust from the HSF. It still makes noise. Any suggestions?
 

Rvenger

Elite Member <br> Super Moderator <br> Video Cards
Apr 6, 2004
6,283
5
81
RMA if you can. Otherwise you can go on ebay to find a replacement fan (look up the p/n on the failed fan) or replace it with an Arctic Cooling twin turbo.
 

Deaks2

Member
Oct 6, 2006
93
0
66
I'd rather not RMA the card as it unlocked to full 6970 shaders ;) I can only seem to find SOPs for lubing the blower style fans from the 58xx and early 69xx cards. Anyone have any experience with the card I have?
 

ViRGE

Elite Member, Moderator Emeritus
Oct 9, 1999
31,516
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Have you removed the fan stickers at all? There may be oil plugs under there depending on the fan type.
 

T_Yamamoto

Lifer
Jul 6, 2011
15,007
795
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You could buy a nice Arctic cooler for your card. Brings the temps down by at least 10c
 

Rvenger

Elite Member <br> Super Moderator <br> Video Cards
Apr 6, 2004
6,283
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I would contact Diamond, and I bet they will just send you a replacement fan.
 

MrK6

Diamond Member
Aug 9, 2004
4,458
4
81
Have you removed the fan stickers at all? There may be oil plugs under there depending on the fan type.
+1. Get some 3-in-1 and check the under hub sticker (which looks to be in the underside of the cooler near the PCB) for a fan shaft.

The other thing to consider is that a horizontally mounted axial fan, if sleeve bearing, can fail more easily than a ball bearing fan. I'm assuming typical ATX orientation here. Sometimes manufacturers choose sleeve bearing fans for low noise/low cost reasons, but it isn't always the best choice. Thankfully, oiling can work wonders.
 

Deaks2

Member
Oct 6, 2006
93
0
66
Diamond won't send me a fan, they say I need to send in the card for repair or replacement. I am going to look closer at how it is assembled tonight to figure out how to access the fan shaft(s).
 

Deaks2

Member
Oct 6, 2006
93
0
66
Took my VC apart, lubed up the fans, however, I noticed the noisy one seems to have a slightly out of round shaft. Put it all back together, it still makes noise, but now I don't hear it above the sound of the PSU or CPU HSF. You only hear it when you get right down on the floor next to the case.

Thanks for the advice.