GPU rattle

[Joel]

I've had my GPU (XFX Radeon HD 6870) for almost a year, now.
Today, it's started making a very quiet rattling noise... It sounds kind of like when text is being printed out in a video game: a little "t" sound.
It's extremely annoying and I'm about to cave and buy a new card. It's a noisy bastard, anyway, even without the rattle.

Any suggestions as to what I can do about the rattle - and not have to spend ~£250?

[Angrboda]

I've had my GPU (XFX Radeon HD 6870) for almost a year, now.
Today, it's started making a very quiet rattling noise... It sounds kind of like when text is being printed out in a video game: a little "t" sound.
It's extremely annoying and I'm about to cave and buy a new card. It's a noisy bastard, anyway, even without the rattle.

Any suggestions as to what I can do about the rattle - and not have to spend ~£250?

It's very card specific. Sometimes, the fan has a stock fan replacement and you can just do that. My impression is that this is getting less and less common. You may also look to see if somebody sells replacement fans for that card, or email the manufacturer to see if they sell the part. Or you can determine which cards from that manufacturer use that same fan and/or cooler design, and look for somebody selling a card for parts.

I haven't kept up with the tech, but for a while there was a standard configuration of holes for mounting an aftermarket cooler on graphics cards. Given the need to integrate cooling of the ram, this option may have gone the way of the dodo bird. If it's a really expensive card and you're feeling adventurous, they sell a thermal interface material that is essentially a glue, and you would just remove all the old heatsink & fan, and glue an aftermarket cooler of some sort on it (perhaps using separate ones for the GPU and RAM). You can use regular thermal paste and super-glue, which I've done, but it's probably not most people's first choice. If the current cooler is bonded to the chip, put it in the freezer overnight, and once cold, pry it to "crack" the bond of the adhesive.


If I think of anything else, I'll add it later.

(ETA: Looking at the performance figures for that card, the logical replacement would be a 7790. I haven't seen 7790's on sale much here in the U.S., but the slightly slower 7770 is relatively frequently found on sale. For example, Amazon.co.uk has the 1 GB Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 for £85. [The specs for the new series of Radeon cores is less than on your card; you'll have to decide if that's relevant or material.] I've noticed sales on GTX 650 / 660's as well, which, depending, is ballpark.)

[Joel]

Yeah, I considered an aftermarket cooler; but I wasn't sure if it was actually worth it, considering the price relative to just waiting and buying a new, better card.

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(ETA: Looking at the performance figures for that card, the logical replacement would be a 7790. I haven't seen 7790's on sale much here in the U.S., but the slightly slower 7770 is relatively frequently found on sale. For example, Amazon.co.uk has the 1 GB Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 for £85. [The specs for the new series of Radeon cores is less than on your card; you'll have to decide if that's relevant or material.] I've noticed sales on GTX 650 / 660's as well, which, depending, is ballpark.)

The 7790 seems like a small upgrade over the 6870, too. (I appreciate the UK Amazon link: that was a nice touch) Though I think I may wait and go for a large upgrade. I'd rather not spend ~$170 just to find I want to spend double that later this year.

If I may ask: what's your system like, spec wise?

[Angrboda]

If I may ask: what's your system like, spec wise?

Since I don't game, my system's basically unimpressive. I'm currently using a P4 celeron as a thin client for an e7400 core 2 duo box, and I'm in the process of building an i3 box to replace both.

[Joel]

If I may ask: what's your system like, spec wise?

Since I don't game, my system's basically unimpressive. I'm currently using a P4 celeron as a thin client for an e7400 core 2 duo box, and I'm in the process of building an i3 box to replace both.

Oh alright! Well, I'd say your knowledge is impressive enough to far outweigh your 'unimpressive' system.

[Dragonetti]

I need to start using my vmworkstation again. But, I have been lazy.