Let me start off my saying I will never EVER buy an ATI product again. With that said, last summer I bought a 9800 Pro 128MB (Built by ATI). Never once have I tried oc'ing it. The other day, my HSF stopped spinning. I figured the fan just went out. I got it started again...until yesterday. My computer locked up, so I figured it was the fan again. I powered down, removed side panel, then took a look. "What the...??!!" No fan. Look 3 slots below, there it is sitting on my audigy. Holy shizz, the fan MELTED OFF the sink. Then everything started to click. The fan stopped working because the plastic connecting it to the HS was beginning to melt, causing the fan to not move, in turn, melting the fan right off. A friend of mine, Jeff (Jeff7181 on these forums) came over and looked at it, realizing that the fan is designed UPSIDEDOWN!!! For EVERYONE who hates nVidia for dual slot cooling solutions, and bitch about how much of a pain they are...well, ATI should take a lesson. What does it say about a company whose cooling solution for a very hot product MELTS OFF. Kudos, ATI, you just lost a customer. I can't wait till tech support hears this one. Oh, I have pictures too.
Melted 9800 Pro HSF
- Thread starter PacFu
- Start date
lmao ive never heard of this happening before, maybe you were just extremely unlucky.
The pics would be a laugh if you want to host them
The pics would be a laugh if you want to host them
as sooon as I can find somewhere to host them, I'll get them up.. They are quite large so you can see detail.
Jeff7181
Lifer
- Aug 21, 2002
- 18,368
- 11
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Fan Label 1
Fan Label 2
Fan... uhhh... motor and circuit board?
On that last picture... notice the dust built up on the leading edge of the fan blades... and look how the fan blades are shaped. They look backwards to me... doesn't the concave side normally face in the direction of airflow? I wonder if ATI did this to reduce the noise generated by the fan?
And on the first two, notice the plastic sticker is bubbled like plastic tends to do when you get it hot.
Fan Label 2
Fan... uhhh... motor and circuit board?
On that last picture... notice the dust built up on the leading edge of the fan blades... and look how the fan blades are shaped. They look backwards to me... doesn't the concave side normally face in the direction of airflow? I wonder if ATI did this to reduce the noise generated by the fan?
And on the first two, notice the plastic sticker is bubbled like plastic tends to do when you get it hot.
Jeff you used the dark ones...the light ones actually show more detail. Let me send you the ones I want you to post...
Wow...I can't believe that! I can't imagine how hot the heatsink had to be to melt it's own fan off. I seriously suggest investing in an artic cooling VGA silencer if you've had this bad of an experience.
I'm also going to call tech support and record the conversation, which hopefully I can post tomorrow. I'm going to try and squeeze a x800 out of them.
And to reply to above, my artic cooler rev.3 is ordered as of yesterday afternoon cause I knew the fan was dying. Then got home, and you know the rest.
And to reply to above, my artic cooler rev.3 is ordered as of yesterday afternoon cause I knew the fan was dying. Then got home, and you know the rest.
Hmm, I just took a look at my HSF from my radeon 9800 pro and I think you are right... it does look like it's blowing away from the heatsink.
Jeff7181
Lifer
- Aug 21, 2002
- 18,368
- 11
- 81
Hey I came up with a new theory...
When the fan stopped spinning, current kept running through the motor, and without the EMF to increase the resistance of the windings in the motor, current flows through as if you just shorted it out... so THAT's probably what melted the fan... not actually heat from the GPU.
Either way... I'm kinda surprised the card still works.
*EDIT* If the other pictures aren't any more clear than these, I can bring my camera over and take some good closeups... the macro mode on mine works very well in conjunction with the optical zoom.
When the fan stopped spinning, current kept running through the motor, and without the EMF to increase the resistance of the windings in the motor, current flows through as if you just shorted it out... so THAT's probably what melted the fan... not actually heat from the GPU.
Either way... I'm kinda surprised the card still works.
*EDIT* If the other pictures aren't any more clear than these, I can bring my camera over and take some good closeups... the macro mode on mine works very well in conjunction with the optical zoom.
Ok, look at the 9800 XT. Notice the angle of the fan blades...they push down.
9800 XT
Now look at the 9800 Pro...the fan is upsidedown...
9800 Pro
Here are better quality of my pics
Fan Dropzone
Empty HeatSink
Fan & Circuit Board
Fan Label
9800 XT
Now look at the 9800 Pro...the fan is upsidedown...
9800 Pro
Here are better quality of my pics
Fan Dropzone
Empty HeatSink
Fan & Circuit Board
Fan Label
Jeff7181
Lifer
- Aug 21, 2002
- 18,368
- 11
- 81
Uh oh... no remote linking
Oh... and I think I may have figured out the reason the for 9800 Pro fan being designed that way. I believe that type of fan actually draws air in the middle and blows it more outward... since the heatsink has fins all around the fan, I'm assuming that's how they designed it. The 9800 XT fan still looks more efficient though.
Oh... and I think I may have figured out the reason the for 9800 Pro fan being designed that way. I believe that type of fan actually draws air in the middle and blows it more outward... since the heatsink has fins all around the fan, I'm assuming that's how they designed it. The 9800 XT fan still looks more efficient though.
I think what happened is poor design of the fan, obviously. Instead of pushing down and out/away from the GPU, it's pulling in and up, drawing heat from the HS and bringing it to the center point in which it is supposed to be cooling.
Jeff7181
Lifer
- Aug 21, 2002
- 18,368
- 11
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The question is which direction does the fan spin... someone with a fan still attatched to their heatsink will have to answer that... but from the buildup of dust on your fan, it looks like it was spinning so that it took air in the center of the fan, and exhausted it outward on the fins. See how dust is built up on the leading edge, but only toward the center of the blades? Not at the ends. If it was a normal fan, the concave side would face in the direction of airflow, and dust would be built up evenly across the fan blades.
BTW... you'll have to e-mail them to me because I can't get to them... it's just a small picture that says no remote linking.
there....look for a 1 MB email, not a 10 lol.
I would like to have someone with a 9800 Pro look at the fan's spin direction...please post someone
As for the fan spinning backwords....take a thin piece of cardboard. Move it through the air angled into it...eg...clockwise //....now angle it \\ and move it the same way. There is no resistance because you are cutting through the air, not resisting it. Whichever way you look at it, HORRIBLE design.
I would like to have someone with a 9800 Pro look at the fan's spin direction...please post someone
As for the fan spinning backwords....take a thin piece of cardboard. Move it through the air angled into it...eg...clockwise //....now angle it \\ and move it the same way. There is no resistance because you are cutting through the air, not resisting it. Whichever way you look at it, HORRIBLE design.
how about we make this easy, jeff and pac. free uploading
much easier =). Sorry to hear about your experience... ive also had problems with my 9700 pro overheating and im pretty much sick of the overheating caused by the R300+ cores. I just dont think they made a good enough design, or big enough. the 9x00XT was probably the only card with a good hsf on it
much easier =). Sorry to hear about your experience... ive also had problems with my 9700 pro overheating and im pretty much sick of the overheating caused by the R300+ cores. I just dont think they made a good enough design, or big enough. the 9x00XT was probably the only card with a good hsf on it
Jeff7181
Lifer
- Aug 21, 2002
- 18,368
- 11
- 81
apoppin
Lifer
they vary from one manufacturer to another.
the ATI Radeon Pro 256/256 had a decent HS . .. the Sapphire one is crap.
I'd also like to hear ati's reply. . .. doubt your gonna get anything but what you had . . . in about 10 days so so (they are slow unless you live in Canada).
Jeeeeezus....yeah, that thing is c00ked. They best replace it free, or yes, it's definitely NV time.
6800GT sounding really good right now. If I can get, say, a 9800 XT, I could sell that for a GT. I'm telling the tech guy on the phone that I will never put a 9800 pro in my machine again, due to this faulty design, so if you want to keep me as a customer, then give me something safer. I dont want to have to sue ATI for burning my house down
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