Arch@ngel

Hey guys,

I've almost finished putting together a new rig for a friend. Having finally gotten all the cables tidy; I just powered it up, and discovered the stock fan on the HD4890 is loose.
It's catching/clipping the plastic enclosure around it. If I apply very slight pressure to the center of the fan, it runs as it should. I turned it off quickly to avoid any damage to the surrounding parts - having reseated the card twice it's still doing the same thing.

I'm debating whether to pray for a quick RMA/replacement or, to order an aftermarket solution (with next-day delivery so I can have the build finished on Friday as planned).

I'm trying to keep the build as quiet as possible, and have come across lots of people referring to the 4890 reference cooler as a jet engine, so replacing it would be a definite pro in that regard.

Having read through what I could find on OCN and Google's offerings, there seem to be potential problems with some aftermarket coolers used, with VRMs and some parts of the card not getting sufficient cooling, leading to their death.

I can't find the Scythe Musashi on sale in the UK yet, and am somewhat ambivilent about the T-Rad2, since the official stance is that the 4890 is not supported. Since time is of the essence (and I'm horribly impatient ), should I:

1. Suck it up, RMA the card and wait for a new one.
2. Order a T-Rad2 (if so, do I need to source additional heatsinks for the VRMs/rear of the card?)
3. Order another 4890, pray it's fine and wait for a refund on the first..
4. Something else I haven't thought of

For ref, the build is:

i7 920 D0 Stepping
Asus P6T Deluxe v2 X58
6GB Corsair Dominator DDR3 1600MHz
WD 640Gb Caviar Black
TRUE + Noctua NF-P12 + OCZ Freeze
Antec 1200
Corsair HX620
Pioneer DVR-216DBK DVDRW
Vista Ultimate x64

and the infuriating working-but-broken XFX HD4890 1GB

I'm itching to get the OS installed and start pushing for 4GHz, but I don't want to risk damaging the card or being refused a replacement.

Opinions highly sought after, 7 hours till I can call to make the RMA or place an order

__________________

procpuarie

buy the t-rad.

__________________

Bitemarks and bloodstains

get the T-rad, you can keep the stock RAM and VRM heatsinks on

__________________
AMD Phenom II 720BE@ 4GHz With 4th core unlocked
British Overclockers Clubs 8 Gigs Of RAM Club
Case Mods
Bruised, 300 Lost Souls The Blood Of 1000 Angels
For Sale
Q6600 + DFI DK P35 + DFI DK P45 4870 with T-Rad2 + IandH Sinks

DUNC4N

Don't buy the t-rad, imho, unless they say it will work with that model. (I had one, and while it worked well, it shorted two of my cards to death, who knows it could have been my fault, but I'm just saying.)

Either rma for another xfx, or get the sapphire, with toxic cooling.

Sapphire cool and quiet.

XFX, best Ati warranty/customer service.

Tough choice, but I'd give the "overnighted Sapphire" a shot, personally.

__________________

Josh81

tighten the screws on the cooler (take the cooler off, flip it over, and tighten the screws that hold the fan down)

__________________

Acoma_Andy

Did you even check the temps of the GPU? If the temps are ok then I don't think it's worthy of an RMA.

And a good aftermarket cooler would be the Scythe Musashi:
Scythe Musashi

__________________

Arch@ngel

I pulled the card apart and tightened the fan screws, it seems to have done the trick. I should've mentioned in my original post Andy, the noise it made as it clipped the housing was unbearably loud/annoying, hence my potential plan to RMA

I haven't been able to check temps yet, as the HD was brand new and I don't currently have another PCI-E machine to test it in. I'm in the middle of installing Vista right now.

Depending what temps I'm getting I may replace the stock TIM with OCZ Freeze. Will post results later.

The autofan kicked it up to what I hope was 100% or close on boot, it sure is loud hehe. I may end up ordering the T-Rad/Musashi if my friend can't stand the noise, otherwise I'm just glad to be getting the build finished

Thanks all for the input/suggestions, +rep

__________________

bluepiglet

musashi is great. im using it on a xfx 4890. the max temp is 60c.

just keep and original heat sink. it will help cool the memery units.

__________________

We Are The Red Tide

Blue's For Sale Thread

wc'ing parts, cosmos s side panel and yate loons wanted!

Josh81

i knew that was the problem because mine did the same thing


definitely replace the stock TIM

i looked at mine and one corner of the die wasn't even covered

__________________

ymetushe

That's a very interesting observation, because I've read somewhere that ATI cards were using "premium" thermal paste already, so I never bothered to replace TIM on my card.

Definitely post up temp results after re-applying TIM on yours, as I'm dying to see them. Thanks!