new XFX HD6870 very loud :(

hi guys

my gtx460 was artifacting so i bought a new card to replace it,the XFX HD6870 1GB,1 large single black fan on it,bought from ebuyer,

its a lot better framerate than my gtx460 but sounds like a jumbo jet on takeoff lol.

it idles at around 40c with fan at 25% and gets upto 75c while playing bf3 on medium settings with fan running at 85%,does that sound about right?

problem is its so noisy i cant concentrate on the game its so distracting,are there any similar quieter cards than this,my old gtx460 was near silent with twin fans on it.

ta

dave

Is it the one with the Egg shaped HSF? They are usually pritty good.

hi
its a black rectangular shape one with one large black fan in the middle

it seems there are a few models of this card from the same manufacturer,one with an orange fan and one with dual fans.

6870's don't normally put out a lot of heat but it could you need better air flow inside your case. You could try taking the side panel off and see if that helps.

The temperatures from the card seem good, so if the fan speed has to go so high to keep them at this level it sounds like its doing its job. Is it a physical noise? As in, does it sound broken?

no just sounds like a hoover

Try using GPUTool to lower the fan speed. http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads...Preview_1.html

then watch it thermal..

I've got sapphire 6870 in my rig, first thing I did was take the heatsink/fan off it and put an accelero thing on it with the two turbo module fans on it, want to check eBay chap..

may I ask if it's next to another card?

Noise is from turbulence, so it might be tat something is causing it? Or maybe a fan near it going the opposite way and sucking air that card wants away?

hold up

:)

just a thought. Is one (or both) of the fans actually SQUEAKING? ie NOT wind noise... macanical noise.

I got a nearly new one from Agent a while ago, and one fan was deafening. Not his fault. Was probably conensation from the roya mail postage.

The fans:
They come off easily... three tiny screws (use a MAGNETIC screwdriver to keep the screw out of the heatsink) and then, with the fan upside down, sitting on newspaper so you don't spray into the graphics card, squirt WD40 into the fan motor. UNless you can get to the tiny connector that the fan plugs into.. if that comes off easily, oil the fans away from the card.

http://static.scan.co.uk/images/products/1418022-b.jpg
see the screws? turn the fan blades out of the way.. maybe do it UPSIDE down, looking up into it so you drop the screw onto the floor.

I did that on my 6850 and it is now silent.

no its not near anything,the cpu fan and heatsink is the closest and the heatsink is cool to the touch even when playing games.

i did see on another forum somewhere that a person had the same noise as me and he changed the cooler for one of the artic twin cooler things and when he stripped his card down the stock heatsink wasnt touching the chips on the gpu,the thermal paste wasnt even marked,so im wondering if mines the same and hence why the fan is having to work flat out to keep temps reasonable.

took a couple of quick pics,i even removed the spare slot clips on the tower to allow any excess heat out but no difference.

on my tower i have the plastic front dummy covers where your dvd would go,if i removed the top one while playing a game i can slide my fingers into the tower and it doesnt really feel that warm so i cant see it being a heat issue caused by lack of air being drawn in/out.

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/n...e/IMAG0462.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/n...IMAG0459-1.jpg

oh and mine is a single fan card not dual fans :(

tbh then, I'd take it apart and see...

as you say, with badly fitted heatsink and/or no paste, ... if that's even vaguely potential, you can solve it yourself :)

by the way... get the vacuum cleaner out and clean the inside of that case.. it's embarrasing ;)

LOOK at the layer of dust on the bottom. Maybe your card is full of that ;)

no its not full of dust,it looks very dusty but theres hardly any on there when you wipe with finger,the case and cpu heatsink was totally cleaned when i fitted new card and psu couple of weeks back :)