Radeon 7950 dual fan fail....need aftermarket cooler.

[Batmeat]

What's a good aftermarket cooler? I have a Sapphire 7950 and one fan keeps failing over and over. Sapphire is no help. This is the second card from them that's done this. Bought the card on 4/8/13. Here is the video of the fan in question. Make sure your volume is up.
I'm tempted to sell the thing.

 

[Face2Face]

What's a good aftermarket cooler? I have a Sapphire 7950 and one fan keeps failing over and over. Sapphire is no help. This is the second card from them that's done this. Bought the card on 4/8/13. Here is the video of the fan in question. Make sure your volume is up.
I'm tempted to sell the thing.

Sapphire won't send you a replacement fan or shroud with the fans installed? I would be complaining as much as I could as this card is still very much under warranty and this should be fixed. Suck man... I use this cooler, while it's expensive, it's pretty quiet and allows for some pretty high overclocks to boot.

 

[KingFatty]

I can't tell from the video, but that sure sounds like an easy issue to fix, like maybe something is infringing into the fan space and hitting the blades? As in, the fan motor is fine, it works great, you just have to bend or push the plastic shroud that surrounds the fan blades?

It's somewhat common that you can move stuff and stop the fan blades from rubbing, but I can't tell for sure that you have this particular issue.

 

[Batmeat]

nothing in the shroud is blocking the fan from a visual inspection. After work i'm headed out to get a good screw driver to take it apart and figure out whats going on. remember, this is the 2nd card that has done this to me from Sapphire. The first was within Neweggs replacement coverage so it was easy to send back. This card is within the warranty period by Sapphire, but according to Sapphire policy I have to warranty this card through Newegg, which is no longer under warranty by them. So making Newegg the middleman to warranty this thing is going to be a big hassle.

 

[yacoub]

Sapphire cards are notorious for fan issues. I've had it happen with at least two of them in the past. They're tempting due to price but I'd rather pay a little more and hopefully avoid the annoyance of RMA'ing it to replace a fan and then have the replacement do the very same thing. =\

 

[3DVagabond]

nothing in the shroud is blocking the fan from a visual inspection. After work i'm headed out to get a good screw driver to take it apart and figure out whats going on. remember, this is the 2nd card that has done this to me from Sapphire. The first was within Neweggs replacement coverage so it was easy to send back. This card is within the warranty period by Sapphire, but according to Sapphire policy I have to warranty this card through Newegg, which is no longer under warranty by them. So making Newegg the middleman to warranty this thing is going to be a big hassle.

That is likely the agreement Sapphire has with Newegg. It gets Newegg a cheaper price if they handle the warranty claims. My company does the same thing with whiteware. A washing machine, for example, has a 2 year warranty. We cover the first year and the manufacturer covers the 2nd. We get a break on pricing compared to a company that doesn't do their own service.

 

[Binky]

I have done a video card warranty replacement through newegg a few times and they were very easy to work with. One one occasion, the replacement wasn't available and they sent me a more valuable card in exchange. You should just work with them on the warranty replacement, then ebay the card if you don't trust it.

 

[Stuka87]

Sapphire cards are notorious for fan issues. I've had it happen with at least two of them in the past. They're tempting due to price but I'd rather pay a little more and hopefully avoid the annoyance of RMA'ing it to replace a fan and then have the replacement do the very same thing. =\

Notorious is not the word I would use. Anecdotal evidence should never be stated as fact.

Personally the only GPU fan I have ever had fail was on an EVGA 5700 Ultra. And thats out of a LOT of cards. nVidia and AMF based. Including MANY Sapphires.

OP: It certainly sounds like the fan is rubbing on something. For the fans I have had fail (Both large and small) I have not heard one make that kind of sound when it failed.

 

[bononos]

I wish there was more attention paid to the quality of the fans in reviews. Heavy bitcoin miners would probably have more experience with fans breaking down, I think.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Maybe a gelid icy vision..... or just put a closed loop water cooler on it for the same $$$. I did the red mod on a msi 7950 with a cooler master seidon. Fairly simple. Cool and quiet now.

 

[Face2Face]

Maybe a gelid icy vision..... or just put a closed loop water cooler on it for the same $$$. I did the red mod on a msi 7950 with a cooler master seidon. Fairly simple. Cool and quiet now.

How are you cooling your vrms?

 

[Batmeat]

Maybe a gelid icy vision..... or just put a closed loop water cooler on it for the same $$$. I did the red mod on a msi 7950 with a cooler master seidon. Fairly simple. Cool and quiet now.

What kind of bracket did you use to secure it?

 

[birthdaymonkey]

I had that GPU and the fans started making warbling noises after a couple months of constant high duty cycle, which I didn't appreciate after I quit mining and the card was idling much of the time. I eventually sold the card, but first I tried zip tying fans to the heat sink. The shroud/fan assembly comes off easily enough... the low speed 120mm fans I tried weren't enough to keep the card cool under load, but I imagine two 92mm fans zip tied to the heatsink and running at a decent speed (~2000 RPM) would do the trick. This would be much cheaper than buying a new HSF like AC or Prolimatech.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

How are you cooling your vrms?

I'm not. VRM temps went down approx 20 degrees C from stock config after the water conversion. I used multiple valley runs and 1 hour in game with crysis 2 to test pre and post.

Just for lol's I've got a cheapy china ebay set of stick on vrm/memory coolers coming. I suspect they will raise vrm temps like a warm wooly blanket.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

What kind of bracket did you use to secure it?

no bracket. zip ties. see link above. The 7950 origional gpu cooler holes are a straight shot for the seidon mounting holes so a trip to home depot might allow for small bolts to do the job. I just ran zip ties straight down through the holes and used a second zip tie on back side of card to secure each.

 

[Face2Face]

I'm not. VRM temps went down approx 20 degrees C from stock config after the water conversion. I used multiple valley runs and 1 hour in game with crysis 2 to test pre and post.

Just for lol's I've got a cheapy china ebay set of stick on vrm/memory coolers coming. I suspect they will raise vrm temps like a warm wooly blanket.

So your not running high overclocks I assume?? 79XX series cards are hard to keep the vrms cool with high voltage and clocks.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

So your not running high overclocks I assume?? 79XX series cards are hard to keep the vrms cool with high voltage and clocks.

Depends on what you call high. 1178/1575. Those were the settings for pre and post testing of stock cooling vs water cool. HWmonitor log of VRM's shows around 20C diff.

It was your thread on valley bench that started me thinking about it.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2317696

When I did the runs my temps were around 80-85C for GPU. And it was LOUD. Didn't like that. Water loop bought that way down. The vrm cooling was a bonus.

 

[Face2Face]

Depends on what you call high. 1178/1575. Those were the settings for pre and post testing of stock cooling vs water cool. HWmonitor log of VRM's shows around 20C diff.

It was your thread on valley bench that started me thinking about it.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2317696

When I did the runs my temps were around 80-85C for GPU. And it was LOUD. Didn't like that. Water loop bought that way down. The vrm cooling was a bonus.

Those are some nice clocks. What are your vrm temps running Valley with those clocks? I am shocked that you can run your vrms naked and still get decent temps.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

I'll have to double check my hwmonitor logs when i get home but if I remeber correct they went from 90's to 70's

 

[Face2Face]

I'll have to double check my hwmonitor logs when i get home but if I remeber correct they went from 90's to 70's

Yeah, let me know. VRM temps hold my cards back from gaming at high clocks.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Yeah, let me know. VRM temps hold my cards back from gaming at high clocks.

Stock cooling for this card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127737
at 1178 core overclock, 1575 memory overclock, and 1150 core voltage. At the end of a couple valley benchmark runs that I logged with HWmonitor64 shows highest temps of 85C on GPU diode, 97C on VRM Temp 1 and 93C on VRM temp 2.

After install of water cooler it's 53 on GPU and 74, 74 on both VRM diodes.

Only other variable is the removal of the plastic GPU cover may have had some effect on the VRM cooling. I didn't try a run with stock cooler but shroud off.

 

[Face2Face]

Stock cooling for this card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127737
at 1178 core overclock, 1575 memory overclock, and 1150 core voltage. At the end of a couple valley benchmark runs that I logged with HWmonitor64 shows highest temps of 85C on GPU diode, 97C on VRM Temp 1 and 93C on VRM temp 2.

After install of water cooler it's 53 on GPU and 74, 74 on both VRM diodes.

Only other variable is the removal of the plastic GPU cover may have had some effect on the VRM cooling. I didn't try a run with stock cooler but shroud off.

Very nice! Take a picture of your card when you can.

 

[KingFatty]

Stock cooling for this card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127737
at 1178 core overclock, 1575 memory overclock, and 1150 core voltage. At the end of a couple valley benchmark runs that I logged with HWmonitor64 shows highest temps of 85C on GPU diode, 97C on VRM Temp 1 and 93C on VRM temp 2.

After install of water cooler it's 53 on GPU and 74, 74 on both VRM diodes.

Only other variable is the removal of the plastic GPU cover may have had some effect on the VRM cooling. I didn't try a run with stock cooler but shroud off.

Wait, you have the MSI 7950 with the single fan that you linked above, black and red color, and got it up to 1178 core on air, with bare VRMs? Those numbers are with the air cooler and the plastic shroud removed?

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Very nice! Take a picture of your card when you can.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Wait, you have the MSI 7950 with the single fan that you linked above, black and red color, and got it up to 1178 core on air, with bare VRMs? Those numbers are with the air cooler and the plastic shroud removed?

bone stock for first run, didn't take anything off or do anything other than load afterburner and up the voltage a little. Then took it apart and installed the water cooler. ran it again at same OC profile.

Sorry to OP Batmeat this is starting to feel like threadjack. If you can use this mod though I think you will be happy with it.