MSI Lightning GTX780 help needed

[IndyColtsFan]

I doubt they will do a cross shipment, I have had two MSI cards die, and both times resolution took about two weeks. Once receiving a refurbished card, the second time a refund of the purchase price via snail mail check.

Yeah, they may not. I read that many have gotten them to cross ship if they had the part in stock.

Regardless, I guess I'll just have to send it in unless they have any other fix. It is just too loud for me and I'll just put my 6870 back in while I wait. Grrrrrrrr. If it weren't for the delay caused by my Seasonic RMA, I would've been able to return this to Newegg for an exchange.

 

[Face2Face]

Maybe a bad sensor or something like that, but the NVidia driver is definitely triggering it. Like I said, I don't believe the fan readings I'm getting given how loud it is. I opened a case with MSI and if they want me to RMA it, I am hoping they'll cross-ship a replacement or I'm liable to just say screw it and disconnect the center fan from the header on the board.

I was also thinking the fan controller could be faulty. The middle fan is on it's own fan controller, so it just could be defective?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I was also thinking the fan controller could be faulty. The middle fan is on it's own fan controller, so it just could be defective?

That's what I am thinking and I'm thinking it isn't reporting back the correct fan RPM.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

UPDATE: MSI's response:

"For fan noise usually first thing is to clean the fan with a can of compressed air. If it still continues that usually indicates a problem with the fan and an rma will need to be issued so the card can come in for service."

I replied back asking if I RMAed this card, would I get the same card back after fan replacement or would I get a refurbished unit? I also asked if they cross shipped.

Honestly, unless they will give me a new card or guarantee my old one back, I am not sure I want to take a chance on an RMA based on people getting defective cards back and also, many people seem to have this issue and when they RMAed, they got a card back that was noisy too. This card also has the Hynix RAM instead of the elpida (or whoever the other manufacturer was). If they tell me I'd get a refurb back, I think I'll 1) test the LN2 BIOS to see if that alleviates the issue at all and 2) if that doesn't work, I'll just unplug the middle fan from the board. Not sure if I could get a new fan easily and replace it myself or not.

Thoughts? The middle fan appears to be over the PWM.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Another thought -- do any of you guys have an original MSI Lightning GTX780 cooler you'd be willing to sell? I know some of you guys are replacing them with aftermarket coolers so if you have the original and the middle fan is quiet, PM me and maybe we can work something out. I don't think it would be hard for me to swap the fans.

 

[cmkeddy]

Yeah I was told that this was a quiet card. I don't believe the fan readings I'm getting. The card is whisper quiet until I load the NVidia driver and then it is loud. The fan doesn't sound like there is anything mechanically wrong; it is the sound I would expect if the GPU is hot and the fans ramped up to cool it. The GPU and case are not hot, leading me to believe there is something screwing with the NVidia driver.

If I get time tonight, I'll throw in my other SSD and do a quick load of Windows 8.1 with the NVidia driver and see if it is still loud. If it isn't, that tells me something in my Windows 7 load is hosing it up.

I may not have mentioned it before, but it is definitely the center fan. If I open fan controller and adjust the side fan speeds, there is no discernible difference in sound. If I adjust the center fan, you can definitely hear the difference. This mirrors what I read on another forum, where a guy said his noise came from the center fan and he was considering disabling it. I don't see a way in software to do that -- you'd have to unplug it on the video board, and I'm not prepared to do that yet.

Same fan Problem, but I think you may have it backwards. I think the outside fan controller is faulty and stuck at max because nothing happens when you change the outside speed. When you change the middle speed you notice it gets louder.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Same fan Problem, but I think you may have it backwards. I think the outside fan controller is faulty and stuck at max because nothing happens when you change the outside speed. When you change the middle speed you notice it gets louder.

I just got time to take the system apart today and fixed the issue. What was happening was that I had a USB port bracket next to the graphic card and the back of the ports were long enough (and the card was wide enough) for it to come into hard contact with one side fan, meaning that fan would never spin up and the fan controller was trying to compensate. Once I moved it, the card is whisper quiet.

I feel like an idiot, but I'd rather feel like an idiot now rather than RMAing the card that nothing was wrong with.

 

[cmkeddy]

I just got time to take the system apart today and fixed the issue. What was happening was that I had a USB port bracket next to the graphic card and the back of the ports were long enough (and the card was wide enough) for it to come into hard contact with one side fan, meaning that fan would never spin up and the fan controller was trying to compensate. Once I moved it, the card is whisper quiet.

I feel like an idiot, but I'd rather feel like an idiot now rather than RMAing the card that nothing was wrong with.

Guess I should check for that, I also have a USB bracket next to my GPU.