Correct move on replacing fan on sapphire dual-x r9-280x ?

[dwma]

So I have this video card and the fan started clicking and losing RPMs.  The card ran too hot so I took it out of my miner and decide to look into replacing the fan via RMA.  After looking into the process, I have the following concerns.

So once I get an RMA #, it appears that I will receive a different card.  The problem is that unless the warranty card I receive also had a fan problem, I am likely to be stuck with a card that may have some other intermittent issue.  All manufacturers send back refurbs but often refurbs have some small defect that the manufacturer chooses to ignore.  In electronics such defects can be critical.  In addition I pay shipping.

So this leaves me stuck trying to decide... Do I take my chances on an RMA + pay shipping or do I order a fan myself ?  Does anyone have a good suggestion on a source for the fan?  I think I will end up reselling this card on Ebay shortly, or perhaps keeping it for myself.  

PS.  How do I make a voting poll on this site?  

[dwma]

No one has any opinions on this ? 


I am thinking I will just replace the fan manually.  No reason to take my chances and get a likely defective card in return.  My understanding is the screws have no way to tell they were removed, so I should be able to keep the original defective fan to put back in place if I ever want warranty work.

Now I just need to find the right source of a fan ...

[Handofmidas]

Have a look at Arctic Cooling.

http://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/accelero-xtreme-iv-280-x.html

[MTJ151]

I had a dodgy fan one one of my 280x's.

I decided it was a good idea to oil it. It worked... for a while. But then one day the fan stoped spinning and the card overheated meaning I had to RMA anyway.

Replacement fan would be ok if you can find one though i guess.

Be very carful removing the fan. I snapped of a fin the 1st tine I done it and had to superglue it back on for rma :/

[LeetPoolsOP]

Ive warrantied 3 cards for fans shitting the bed. I got a brand new 280x from 1 of the 7950s I sent in that also fried. Forget trying to fix it yourself and possibly voiding the possibility of warranty work, if they send back a dogshit card and it breaks, you can send it back.

[dwma]

I decided to keep it.  I think the problem is that I am too likely to be sent someone else's card that is slightly broken.  So instead of a having a card with a fan that I could have fixed, I end up with a card where I can't fix it and have to do another RMA and possibly fight sapphire over it.  meh.

[ALToids]

Sapphire builds nice cards, but their RMA process is a pain and like you said you might end with a crappier card.  Just spend the shipping money on the fan and change it yourself.

[gilad215]

i have 5 of those sapphire 280xs. 2 of them now have bad fans the make bad noises. i played with them and cleaned them a bit and theyre fine now but still they dont sit well.
try cleaning with air dryer and play with them

[BrewCrewFan]

Does the fan not spin "freely"? as in with the finger you spin it and there is resistance compared to other cards? If so, this trick could save you 100 bucks.

I had a few early revision XFX 270x cards.... the versions where they came with the silver metal shroud on them with dual fans.

My understanding the fans they used on those revisions have a tendency to "break" after a while.... being that not only did they not have the fans available to buy from XFX ( talked to the rep and they said they were out of stock, so if I did send it back who knows how long it would be to replace, that or they would just send a new card....of course that most likely means a few weeks of down time )...


So I did some asking, and the fellows in I believe in the the deticatedpool chat in IRC, told me of a little trick... easy to do. I decided to do this. Takes only about 20 minutes to do.

You should try the hole in back trick with some 3 in 1 oil. Works really well to be honest. Yes, I might have to re lube every month, but our cards run hot and are running 24/7 and should be part of the upkeep. Once the hole is drilled, future applications of oil go quicker.... about 10 minutes per.

[Gumbork]

I have a few bad fan also and I decided not to RMA any more after taking whole 3 months long to RMA. What did was buying a giant fan and blow the heat off.