Sapphire 5850 Fan Dead | Bitcointalksearch.org

mrbubl3s

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Professional Ameteur

Quote from: computerparts on June 17, 2011, 05:31:50 PM

The bearings are gone. That card is useless unless you get another heatsink/fan. Chalk it up as a loss and learn a lesson. NEVER run a fan over 50% 24/7

I've been running the fan on my 4850 at 100% 24/7 for the last 4 months. Cheesy

EDIT: Holy crap this thread is old.

testerx

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Didn't have my mobil1 handy but I did have transmission fluid so I put some on the metal pole after popping off the hub and it's running fine again now. FYI, you can pop the hub off using a plastic pry tool...I used the kind you use on cars, like this http://www.harborfreight.com/5-piece-auto-trim-and-molding-tool-set-67021.html though I used a slightly less cheap one, it really helps with leverage in prying it apart (I tried by hand and it's definitely pretty damned hard to pull off by hand without breaking the fan).

So if you have a buncha car tools and lubricants lying around it should be pretty trivial to fix this without drilling holes in the fan. I cleaned out the original lubricant first though, it had basically dried out entirely and was more powder than grease. Not sure if you could get away with using a dry lubricant like molybdenum or something...I actually have a bunch lying around in powdered form (long story), maybe when the other fan goes I'll give it a shot lol.

5850Guy

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Quote from: Inaba on February 21, 2012, 04:33:56 PM

When my 5850 (and 5870) fans fail, I just pop off the cowling, strap an 80mm casefan to the HSF unit with zip ties and fire it up. Keeps the cards cooler than stock fan, looks ghetto as hell, but works great and its' cheap/easy to replace if/when the fan fails again.

Woot, thanks for the tip!

Buckwheet

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Thanks.

Inaba

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Kind of a crappy picture, but here you go:

Buckwheet

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Quote from: Inaba on February 22, 2012, 12:29:30 PM

I will take a picture tonight, but yes, at least one of them is an XFX, I'm not sure about the other that I'm thinking about off the top of my head. Actually, on the XFX one, there is a bit of an offset, it's not flush... I think same on the Sapphire (I believe), but not sure... I do know the fins are enclosed as in your picture, though.

Any chance you can post that picture? Just had a couple 5850s fail and I bought replacement Accelero's for them. But a cheap 80mm fan would be the ticket. I have a couple 5870s needing fans as well.

5850Guy

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My 5850 fan died this same way too :-(

abracadabra

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Quote from: Tim the Magician on March 14, 2012, 10:22:14 PM

Quote from: Tim the Magician on February 19, 2012, 01:58:00 PM

12 hours and still going strong. It looks like the Tri-Flow did the trick. I plan to reapply at the 24 hour mark as abracadabra suggested.

Just an update for anyone who finds this thread..

It's been about a month and both fans are still doing great. I'm really glad I decided to fix these myself.

Good job! All mine are running fine. I think it's been over 6 weeks now for the first one I did. No problems whatsoever.

Tim the Magician

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Quote from: Tim the Magician on February 19, 2012, 01:58:00 PM

12 hours and still going strong. It looks like the Tri-Flow did the trick. I plan to reapply at the 24 hour mark as abracadabra suggested.

Just an update for anyone who finds this thread..

It's been about a month and both fans are still doing great. I'm really glad I decided to fix these myself.

Inaba

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I will take a picture tonight, but yes, at least one of them is an XFX, I'm not sure about the other that I'm thinking about off the top of my head. Actually, on the XFX one, there is a bit of an offset, it's not flush... I think same on the Sapphire (I believe), but not sure... I do know the fins are enclosed as in your picture, though.

P4man

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Are you sure you have the same kind of heatsink? If you strap fans to that heatsink without offset, you would get zero CFM... its almost airtight, its like gluing a case fan to a wall? Even with offset, you are only using ~30% of the surface of the cooler, if that, since you dont use the vertical fins and you get close to zero airflow over the heatpipes.

If you put them in the place where the original cooler was, I cant imagine a lot of airflow going through the heatsink either. Not without a shroud forcing the air that way, rather than going up and down with no resistance.

Oh well, if it works for you, so much the better. But I cant see how lol. I suspect you have a different heatsink where air can travel through freely, unlike this XFX one.

Inaba

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Yeah, those are the ones I'm talking about. The case fan cools better than the stock fan with a shroud. No joke, I have several running like that and they run cooler than they did new.

I think maybe the increased CFM from a case fan makes up for the loss of a shroud, and the closed design acts as a quasi-shroud anyway, providing better overall cooling at the expense of a bit of extra space (irrelevant in an open case with extenders) making it a 2.5 slot design, and it looks totally Road Warrior awesome... fans and shit strapped on for POWER! I need a VTEC sticker.

P4man

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Quote from: Inaba on February 22, 2012, 09:44:43 AM

Hmm... can you point to some pics of the two different kinds you're talking about? The ones I've put case fans on seem to be the 'closed' type you are describing, and I've actually gotten better cooling with the case fan and no cowling. But perhaps I've not seen the closed type you're talking about. The two cards abracadabra posted are the type I'm talking about - I've replaced those and had good luck with that.

The fans I've replaced are flat blade type, basically just like a case fan. Are you talking about the turbine type that are shaped more like barrel, such as the reference 5970/6990 fans? If so, then yes, I agree, replacing those with case fans would not be a good idea.

Here is a pic of my XFX 5870 cooler:

Only the most right heatpipe is in an "open" section of the cooler

Just slapping a case fan on there without shroud isnt going to work IMO.
Even with shroud it took me 3 fans stacked together blowing into where the original fan was, to keep temps acceptable:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/bitcoin-contraption-of-the-week-62325

Inaba

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Hmm... can you point to some pics of the two different kinds you're talking about? The ones I've put case fans on seem to be the 'closed' type you are describing, and I've actually gotten better cooling with the case fan and no cowling. But perhaps I've not seen the closed type you're talking about. The two cards abracadabra posted are the type I'm talking about - I've replaced those and had good luck with that.

The fans I've replaced are flat blade type, basically just like a case fan. Are you talking about the turbine type that are shaped more like barrel, such as the reference 5970/6990 fans? If so, then yes, I agree, replacing those with case fans would not be a good idea.

P4man

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Quote from: Inaba on February 21, 2012, 04:33:56 PM

When my 5850 (and 5870) fans fail, I just pop off the cowling, strap an 80mm casefan to the HSF unit with zip ties and fire it up. Keeps the cards cooler than stock fan, looks ghetto as hell, but works great and its' cheap/easy to replace if/when the fan fails again.

Not sure thats a good idea with all cards. Some have a "closed heatsink". If you look at the card as you normally would when its laying flat on a table, underneath the shroud you basically see a solid metal sheet with just a hole for the fan. The fan forces the air through the vents that you cant see from the top. Blowing on to that sheet is probably rather pointless. non reference XFX cards are like that. I had to put 3 case fans in series to keep a dead fan 5870 from melting. If Im not mistaken 5850 and 5870 reference coolers, while different are also mostly closed on the top.

Other cards have an "open heatsink" where the plastic shroud is actually needed to force the air through the vents of the HSF. In that case Im sure strapping on some case fans would work great and probably better than stock in an open rig.

Photon939

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Quote from: abracadabra on February 22, 2012, 12:50:12 AM

We are discussing a non-reference fan.

Sincerely,

The Gorilla.

This process works for both the Sapphire 5850 extremes as well as the reference designs. I have done it on both types in my mining rigs.

abracadabra

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Quote from: despoiler on February 21, 2012, 01:47:44 PM

Quote from: Tim the Magician on February 18, 2012, 10:55:03 PM

Quote from: Photon939 on February 18, 2012, 08:18:55 PM

All you have to do is pop up the fan hub and apply oil directly to the fan shaft

I did apply some force to attempt to pop the hub off but it got to the point where it felt like it would break and I went the hole drilling path.. Can you give a little more detail? I have 9 of these cards so I expect I'll be doing this again at some point.

Thanks,
Tim

I posted a video how on the previous page.

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.685005

Quote from: abracadabra on February 19, 2012, 06:38:59 AM

I would not try to "pop up the fan hub" as Photon939 says. I tried and broke the fan. You are trying to get lubricant to the shaft. That's the reason for drilling 2-3mm off center. I beleive at 8mm you are way too far from the shaft and you now risk drilling into the armature of the motor. If you nick an armature wire, motor is done. I showed Tri-Flow but I believe any teflon based aerosol spray will do the trick. I wasn't worried about the spray being "too energetic" I want some lubricant getting in there. After running them overnight, hit them with another couple short bursts. Forget about trying to reinstall the same sticker. It'll eventually fall off unless you clean off the fan hub nicely and apply new adhesive.

You are a gorilla then. I did this with no issues following the video's instructions.

We are discussing a non-reference fan.

Sincerely,

The Gorilla.

SlaveInDebt

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Your Minion

Quote from: despoiler on February 21, 2012, 01:47:44 PM

Quote from: Tim the Magician on February 18, 2012, 10:55:03 PM

Quote from: Photon939 on February 18, 2012, 08:18:55 PM

All you have to do is pop up the fan hub and apply oil directly to the fan shaft

snip

I posted a video how on the previous page.

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.685005

Quote from: abracadabra on February 19, 2012, 06:38:59 AM

snip

You are a gorilla then. I did this with no issues following the video's instructions.

Different fan from what we are discussing.

Inaba

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When my 5850 (and 5870) fans fail, I just pop off the cowling, strap an 80mm casefan to the HSF unit with zip ties and fire it up. Keeps the cards cooler than stock fan, looks ghetto as hell, but works great and its' cheap/easy to replace if/when the fan fails again.

despoiler

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Quote from: Tim the Magician on February 18, 2012, 10:55:03 PM

Quote from: Photon939 on February 18, 2012, 08:18:55 PM

All you have to do is pop up the fan hub and apply oil directly to the fan shaft

I did apply some force to attempt to pop the hub off but it got to the point where it felt like it would break and I went the hole drilling path.. Can you give a little more detail? I have 9 of these cards so I expect I'll be doing this again at some point.

Thanks,
Tim

I posted a video how on the previous page.

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.685005

Quote from: abracadabra on February 19, 2012, 06:38:59 AM

I would not try to "pop up the fan hub" as Photon939 says. I tried and broke the fan. You are trying to get lubricant to the shaft. That's the reason for drilling 2-3mm off center. I beleive at 8mm you are way too far from the shaft and you now risk drilling into the armature of the motor. If you nick an armature wire, motor is done. I showed Tri-Flow but I believe any teflon based aerosol spray will do the trick. I wasn't worried about the spray being "too energetic" I want some lubricant getting in there. After running them overnight, hit them with another couple short bursts. Forget about trying to reinstall the same sticker. It'll eventually fall off unless you clean off the fan hub nicely and apply new adhesive.

You are a gorilla then. I did this with no issues following the video's instructions.

Topic: Sapphire 5850 Fan Dead (Read 24941 times)