GPU Fan Failure. Needs replacing?

[Georg Grech]

GPU in question: Sapphire R9 280X Vapor-X Tri-x

 

Hi, a few weeks back my GPU failed while I was playing Black Mesa, crashing the PC often until the GPU wouldn't send a signal. I tried it again a week later, and it turned on, but I found one of the fans wasn't working, so the card must've overheated. (Image below)

Tested a bit with MSI Afterburner and found that the fan would only start working when set to 85%, then keep working until I set it to 80%.

 

What can I do to fix the fan and avoid GPU Failure? Replace it?

This setup is kinda old (almost 5 years), but I don't have the money to upgrade so I'd like to keep using it a bit more.

Thanks! 

[homeap5]

2 of 3 is not that bad. Radiator is the most important part, not additional fan. Three fans are nice looking, but you can live with two of them. Check your temperatures - I bet you'll be fine. You can also change fan curve using MSI Afterburner.

 

[Georg Grech]

Just now, homeap5 said:

2 of 3 is not that bad. Radiator is the most important part, not additional fan. Three fans are nice looking, but you can leave with two of them.

 

I would've thought so, but the card failed on Black Mesa, which isn't extremely intensive. And just a few days ago I tried Minecraft thinking it's safe. It failed as well (but luckily it restarted no problem)

[homeap5]

2 minutes ago, Georg Grech said:

I would've thought so, but the card failed on Black Mesa, which isn't extremely intensive.

It may be funny, but that may be the reason. Older games runs in more FPS, so if you have vertucal sync disabled, it calculates (for example) 500FPS (most of them are generated "in the air"). Turn on vertical sync maybe. Some people notice input lag then, but for others (like me) there is no difference except - a) no tearing, b) better temperatures.

[jaslion]

6 minutes ago, Georg Grech said:

I would've thought so, but the card failed on Black Mesa, which isn't extremely intensive. And just a few days ago I tried Minecraft thinking it's safe. It failed as well (but luckily it restarted no problem)

Monitor your temperatures. Since it's so old the thermal paste may have dried up and that is putting it over the edge as well 2 fans are usually enough. I am currently using a hd7970 (which was later rebranded into a r9 280 and 280x) that is also triple fan with only 1 working fan and it runs hot but alright after a thermal paste change.

 

Replacement fans for this unit are 30$ btw.

[Georg Grech]

18 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Monitor your temperatures. Since it's so old the thermal paste may have dried up and that is putting it over the edge as well 2 fans are usually enough. I am currently using a hd7970 (which was later rebranded into a r9 280 and 280x) that is also triple fan with only 1 working fan and it runs hot but alright after a thermal paste change.

 

Replacement fans for this unit are 30$ btw.

I just tried playing Minecraft with the Afterburner GPU temperature overlay. It didn't take long before another failure. But before it did the card was reaching around 36°~39°C. That doesn't seem awful, does it?

 

20 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

It may be funny, but that may be the reason. Older games runs in more FPS, so if you have vertucal sync disabled, it calculates (for example) 500FPS (most of them are generated "in the air"). Turn on vertical sync maybe. Some people notice input lag then, but for others (like me) there is no difference except - a) no tearing, b) better temperatures.

As for this, I had VSync turned on, but the same thing happened.

[jaslion]

4 minutes ago, Georg Grech said:

I just tried playing Minecraft with the Afterburner GPU temperature overlay. It didn't take long before another failure. But before it did the card was reaching around 36°~39°C. That doesn't seem awful, does it?

 

As for this, I had VSync turned on, but the same thing happened.

I think it's not a temperature issue but a shorting issue. Try disconnecting the broken fan from the gpu.

[Georg Grech]

10 minutes ago, jaslion said:

I think it's not a temperature issue but a shorting issue. Try disconnecting the broken fan from the gpu.

This only occurs when gaming, though. Never randomly during miscellaneous use. Could that really be it? 

[jaslion]

Just now, Georg Grech said:

This only occurs when gaming, though. Never randomly during miscellaneous use. Could that really be it? 

Could very well be it as it tries upping the voltage of the fans, fan doesn't work and starts heating up, reaches a point and shorts itself, gpu quits rinse and repeat.

[Yosuru]

2 hours ago, Georg Grech said:

crashing the PC often

I would just want to say that there may be a possibility of the PSU is already failing, it might even be the reason of the PC crashing eventually causing the fan of the GPU to die.

Although unlikely, it just could be a factor

 

2 hours ago, Georg Grech said:

What can I do to fix the fan and avoid GPU Failure? Replace it?

You can try this: But like they said, 2 fans are ok but the one that's not working may be causing a sort of shortage

What is the capacity of your PSU? and what is it? by the looks of it, it seems pretty good and ok.

 

[Georg Grech]

5 hours ago, jaslion said:

I think it's not a temperature issue but a shorting issue. Try disconnecting the broken fan from the gpu.

Currently trying this but I found something weird and I don't know what to make of it. The fan in question seems directly connected with the PCB's fan connector. How do I separate it?

[jaslion]

59 minutes ago, Georg Grech said:

Currently trying this but I found something weird and I don't know what to make of it. The fan in question seems directly connected with the PCB's fan connector. How do I separate it?

That is rather unfortunate. I looked at a video and on that one the middle one was connected to the cord directly the other's weren't. The cables of the others are too short to reach so I don't think you can do much about it.

[Georg Grech]

37 minutes ago, jaslion said:

That is rather unfortunate. I looked at a video and on that one the middle one was connected to the cord directly the other's weren't. The cables of the others are too short to reach so I don't think you can do much about it.

I realised it isn't even the same type of connector so I can't just move them closer. In another post someone suggested cutting the wires and isolating them. Seems a bit extreme but idk what else to do.

[jaslion]

13 minutes ago, Georg Grech said:

I realised it isn't even the same type of connector so I can't just move them closer. In another post someone suggested cutting the wires and isolating them. Seems a bit extreme but idk what else to do.

That's not a bad idea and not really hard to do.