Video card making weird noise

Jerry_03 · Post by **Jerry_03** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:30 am

So about a week ago my brother's rig start making a weird noise. initially this noise only happen when the system first turns on and only lasts from about 5 - 10 minutes at first i thought it was the hard drive because it made the same sound my hard drive did just before it failed. but upon opening up the case and listening carefully, i realized it was not the hard drive but the video card, a NVIDIA 8800GS 384mb making the noise.

so first thing i did was remove the video card and boot up the system without it to confirm that was the video card. sure enough the system was quiet without the video card.

i put the video card back in and then lowered the fan speed of the video card to the default setting, 30% in riva tuner. i had it running at 80% since i put the video card in because the rig has bad airflow. after restarting the system with the default fan speed, i thought it was fixed, as i didnt hear the noise, but a couple minutes after that it started acting up again.

so this time i took out the video card and cleaned the fan, thinking the fan on the video card was making the noise. put it back in and same thing. so i took it out again and cleaned it more. took off the face plate and cleaned the fan more. removed the heat sink and cleaned off the thermal paste/pads, replacing it with fresh thermal paste. put the video card back in and to my dismay, still made the same sound. however this time instead of only lasting for 5 - 10 minutes like it usually does it lasted a lot longer. plus now when playing games the sound starts up. prior to this it didnt make any sound when playing games only when booting up.

im thinking its not the fan on the video card but the video card it self.
i got the video card from newegg and the RMA for a replacement is still good til February 09. but id first like to hear if theres any advice on fixing it without having to replace it.

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:54 am

Umm... the only moving thing to make noise on the card is the fan.... do the RMA.

Jerry_03 · Post by **Jerry_03** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:43 pm

ill take your advice and RMA it then, thanks.

terrancelam · Post by **terrancelam** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:24 pm

FYI: Most companies will send you a replacement fan if you let them know that the problem. It varies some company to company (XFX & BFG have sent replacement fans instead of asking for the card to be sent back).

Jerry_03 · Post by **Jerry_03** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 4:14 am

terrancelam wrote:FYI: Most companies will send you a replacement fan if you let them know that the problem. It varies some company to company (XFX & BFG have sent replacement fans instead of asking for the card to be sent back).

the card is a XFX.

but i think its the transistors/capacitors or coils on the video card rather than the fan.

and if i do replace it it will be a RMA to newegg, the vendor i bought it from, not to XFX

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 7:27 am

Sometimes due to the environment that the PC is in...the fan gets a bit clogged up with dust, a good blast with a can of compressed air can clear it out. Other times it's the bearings on the little fan..in which case replacement of the fan is desired. Can replace it yourself with an aftermarket GPU heat sink fan, or try to RMA it if still under warranty. 3rd party GPU HSFs are relatively inexpensive, if you feel you can perform it, this approach leaves you with little downtime. An RMA could require a bit of time.

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 8:29 am

I would do the RMA...with the fan failing or pretty near gone there may be other issues now with the card I'd rather solve all at once than have to worry about it again. They will replace the parts that are bad or replace the card...takes 2 weeks usually so what ya got to lose?

terrancelam · Post by **terrancelam** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:03 pm

If you are still within the vendor RMA period, just make sure they send you a new card and not a refurb. As for why you should just RMA the fan (if that is the issue), like YeOldeStonecat said, downtime ; - ; Also just a tib bit of info, when you get your next card, register with xfx's online site, their tech support is pretty amazing~

BTW how do you know it's the transistors? Can you hear a humming or high pitch noise? If you do, I would take it out asap, when those things explode, they are like gun shots~

Jerry_03 wrote:the card is a XFX.

but i think its the transistors/capacitors or coils on the video card rather than the fan.

and if i do replace it it will be a RMA to newegg, the vendor i bought it from, not to XFX

Jerry_03 · Post by **Jerry_03** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 11:13 pm

im not sure its the transistors but others have suggested it might on other forums i posted on. however they never told me they explode like gun shots....

yeah the RMA is still good til Feb next year, though i just realized the video card is now listed as a deactivated item on newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150276

if i do RMA it, they better send me a new one and not refurbished one....

terrancelam · Post by **terrancelam** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 9:13 pm

Its most likely not the transistors. The best way to test if they are making noise it to unplug the fan for a short period (like 10 seconds) and power on the system to see if you hear the noise. And yes they are quite dangerous if they explode. As for the RMA, like I said earlier, it is just a fan issue, get XFX to send you a replacement fan and that should solve the problem without too much downtime and gaurantees that you don't get a refurb.

Cheers,

Jerry_03 wrote:im not sure its the transistors but others have suggested it might on other forums i posted on. however they never told me they explode like gun shots....

yeah the RMA is still good til Feb next year, though i just realized the video card is now listed as a deactivated item on newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150276

if i do RMA it, they better send me a new one and not refurbished one....