Graphics card noisy fans problem - ideas?

I have a Gigabyte Windforce R9-270 which has developed a very annoying fan rattle.  It is intermittent but when it starts it is seriously annoying.  Other than that the GPU is fine and I'm not looking to upgrade particularly.

I have taken the fans off and refitted them, ensuring that no wires or anything else are in contact with the blades.  But still the rattle at certain speeds continues, and I can only assume it's the fan bearing itself.  So I want to replace them.  The problem is that they are non-standard low profile fans, with a sort of triangular mounting with 3 tiny screws that hold the fans onto the heatsink.  I've seen similar on eBay but they seem to be very cheap looking no name fans..

I had the idea of bodging on some standard 92mm fans with cable ties, but it really was not possible to secure them to the heatsink, and it looked terrible... So gave up on that idea.

The next idea I had was to use a PCI slot cooler like this - http://gelidsolutions.com/products/index.php?lid=1&cid=13&id=109 and remove the stock fans, leaving on the standard heatsink.  I'm thinking the airflow from those mounted in an adjacent slot should be enough?  Any thoughts on that from anyone?

Or the  last option is just to replace the whole cooler with something like an Arctic Accelero Mono.

Oh, I have already thought about adding grease to the bearing, but it's not accessible, which is a shame.

Thoughts or advice appreciated

Edited by hamluis, 23 March 2016 - 12:46 PM.
Moved from System Building to Internal Hardware - Hamluis.

Hello and good to see you!!

   I am looking at that model right now and scanning the newegg reviews for clues, the shroud isn't very solid.  The three hole pattern is standard for the cooling fans. I had a 70mm coolermaster fan once, it wasn't rattling, it just sounded like it was revolving into interference, i rotated it slightly to check while it was powered off, but the interference only happened while it was spinning 1700 rpms by power.  closest deduction i could get was that the centrifugal force was elongating the polymer material just enough to rub the race. the tighter the outer fan edge to the race, the more effective the air movement (ever seen the inside of a turbo-charger? that is a tight tolerance!!)

are the fans standard mm diameter? I have a problem kind of like this with an old 460. it has a squirrel cage type fan rigged up on it and somehow it keeps it cool, even though it isn't as effective as the direct fan heat dispersment config. I am going to go to the neighborhood PC boneyard to look for the right fan for it.

I have seen photos of rigged up gpu cooling apparatus, it is entertaining and takes up alot of precious space in the case

i will read on , the model has 53 users adding comments!!

ok i see multiple users whining about the fans rattling..judging by the looks of it,  don't expect stellar customer service from the OEM here. that is common though. i think the customer service is farmed out to india or something.

so an aftermarket cooling solution may be applicable in this case.

isn't the Arctic cooling accelero the defacto standard? maybe it was from a few years ago...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186016

I had a pci slot cooler in my old xp unit to pull heat away from my 9800gt. it wasn't very effective. but then again, what would be effective with those 9800s.

much like cpu cooling configurations, you need the direct fan air blowing right onto the heatsink to scatter  the heat concentration, then the secondary airflow to whisk the evil heat away, which the pci slot cooler may very well be good at

Edited by synergy513, 18 March 2016 - 02:08 AM.

Thanks synergy

I don't know about material stretch...  I've tried manual fan control and the noisiest range seems to be 30-50%-ish duty.  At full speed the rattle tends to disappear, but it's just noisy in general then.  As I speak it's barely audible, but other times it's rattling like hell at idle speeds.

Looking around there aren't many makers of after market GPU coolers any more.  So if I'm going to replace it it's likely to be between an Arctic Accelero Mono or Twin Turbo, or Gelid Icy Vision.  All are pretty big, effectively 3 slot coolers, but I'm leaning towards the Mono with one big PWM fan.  If I could get away with the passive Accelero I would, but I think the GPU is a bit too hot for that.

the bearings are probably going bad, you could try to find replacement fans of that size, or a redneck approach, I think if you really wanted to keep the card, I would go aftermarket cooling. However, with how fast hardware is outdated these days, I would go with perhaps a liquid cooler that could be used on a variety of cards, that way if say a year from now you wanted to upgrade the card, you could just take this card out and keep the cooler on the new one-that way your not spending money on a cooling solution for a older card, just to throw it away in a year or 2. just my thoughts.

Something like this should work http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186151 

Newegg actually has quite a selection for aftermarket cooling for VGA cards, both air and liquid cooling, if you dont want something of this nature.

yes, if you are keeping the gpu in 3D high gear clock speed hence the elevated heat, a cooling solution is eminent.  if at certain rpms you are getting the noise and certain rpm range you aren't, the bearings just didn't pass muster apparently as stated above. there are the sleeve type bearings that aren't very desirable for the long haul and you would think that the OEM would shy away from those sleeve type fan bearings to use in their moniker arrangement.

 the arctic accelero is kind of like the coolermaster 212 cpu cooler, it became common because the lower cost offers value for the performance so a substantial proportion of users in that market used them and the interchangeabllity wasn't to be backstaged by any other. i noticed a dual fan  kit from the the arctic site for the accelero.. those fans are 80mm and the fans your card  has look a little larger, maybe 92mm?, so a fan replacement may be an economical alternative to replacing the whole heatsink...the OEM heatsink is already there as are the heatpipes.  judging by the looks of it though, the accelero fans have those annoying rubber insert  type fasteners instead of the screws. the site just states "clip-on" and i can't really get a good look at the fastening arrangement to determine if the fans would fit up to the hardware you already have in place. the fans are PWM also..

https://www.arctic.ac/us_en/turbo-module.html

as patriot noted, the liquid cooling configuration is certainly an option..i would think that kind of thing would be useful if the secondary airflow just wasn't that good in the case. ..but then, the radiator has to be fitted up along the case periphery somewhere..

ok, a little more googling, i see the 100mm fans on the cooling apparatus..  they look kind of proprietary

http://hu.gigabyte.com/media/12964

more search results to ponder,,,

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/air-cooling/coolers/gpu

another concept to mull over is balancing. the fan(s) are mounted on in pitched fashion apparently and it is possible the balance is off.   maybe a dismount, inspection and /or cleaning is in order.

it kind of parallels the lawn mower blade sharpening technique from days gone by. the old nail in the tree and keep filing until the blade doesn't list when hanging by the nail through its center....an unbalanced lawn mower blade can vibrate quite violently  .    apologies, just lots of afterthought going on,,keeping it organized is the key i would believe.

Edited by synergy513, 19 March 2016 - 03:29 AM.

Thanks for the suggestions both.  I've decided to go for an Arctic Accelero S3 Passive as low noise is really something I'm after.  It is significantly larger than the existing heatsink, which is surprisingly small once the fans are removed.  I'll keep an eye on it (I doubt it will keep heat under control for extended 100% load thrashing, but with my use it should be OK) and if needed I'll add a PWM 120mm fan controlled by the motherboard.

hey, as long as your case has good airflow, I see no reason why that cooler wont work, even at 100% load.

It arrived and I've fitted it.  Not the most pleasant of installs I have to say, but no major headaches.  This thing is huge, and the backplate nearly touches my CPU cooler..  I tried it first passive and it was hovering in the 30-40 degree c range idle and going to about 67 c with some light gaming (older game).  Heatsink seemed to be doing it's job though, it was getting very hot to the touch.  I figured it would go a lot higher with a more demanding game so I installed a fan with some cable ties.  It's slow spinning and doesn't make any significant noise.

Some pics here - http://imgur.com/a/2pg60  (it makes the card look tiny, but it's not a low profile card!)

Yes, it certainly won't have to run very fast.

Excellent!!

     No fan, No TIM, No Problem!  although adding a fan makes the cooler reach its full potential apparently.

           It looks like a welcome addition to your ensemble if it is highly functional...

            once your GPU  temperatures are elevated, is the decline back to normal quite rapid? the theory is that is a good indication of how well the two surfaces are interfacing if the decline is swift and steady..

 I use Unigine Valley as a temperature and performance  benchmarking tool for GPUs. it is quite a bit more taxing than the  Unigine Heaven..

Thought I'd update on this as it hasn't entirely gone to plan.  Even with the fan attached I remained unhappy with the cooling performance of the Accelero S3.  I also was not particularly happy with the huge size of it and the fact removing the card needed major dexterity to even reach the PCIe slot release lever.  That would be by the by if it cooled well, but it didn't.  Starting Furmark caused an instant jump to 90 degrees, rapidly rising to 100 before I shut it off.  Not good.  The stock cooler held it under 70 indefinitely in the same conditions.

Furthermore I think the retention mechanism is flawed and also quite delicate (the threads in the actual cooler bracket that holds the heatsink on were tiny and strip very easily, resulting in a loose fit).  Regardless of removing and refitting as per instructions several times, it would never get a good amount of pressure on the GPU.

tldr I RMA'd it and replaced it with an Arctic Accelero Mono which took a half the time to install (including glueing the heatsinks to the RAM and waiting for it to set), cools brilliantly, and is not so oversized.  It's essentially silent with the fan under GPU control.  Good result in the end

excellent!!

 the mono kind of looks like a stock amd cpu cooler. i guess as long as it does its duty then all is good.

 the accelero was kind of standard a few years back, kind of like the coolermaster 212 cpu cooler.  it appeared as though the design had staying power, like the 212.   it looked like it used an expanded surface area to dissipate heat effectively and needed effective case air flow to work..