Dia on 12/4/2013 at 00:04
Hey guys; the fan on my Radeon HD6850 is bogging down on me, making the most God-awful grinding-sometimes-screeching noises and then eventually a final thunk and the monitor will go black even though the CPU is still running. When that happens it sounds like the fan kicks into overdrive and I end up having to do a hard reboot.
My question is, do I just go ahead and order a new graphics card and try to switch them out myself, or do I take my CPU to a PC repair place and have them attempt to just install a new fan on (under) the graphics card? I'm fairly confident that I could switch the old card for a new one myself - it doesn't look that complicated, but if just the fan needs to be replaced, then I'd definitely be out of my element.
Your input would be greatly appreciated.
Azaran on 12/4/2013 at 01:19
I'll throw a probable guess that getting the fan repaired might cost you more than getting a new card. How old is it?
Dia on 12/4/2013 at 01:48
It's only a year & a half old (same as the CPU). I live in a very old, very dusty house and I'm afraid I didn't realize that I should have been cleaning the fans on a more regular basis.
I tend to agree that it would probably cost more to have the fan replaced; the PC repair services here charge anywhere from $60 an hour on up. Guess I should order a new graphics card then, right?
Azaran on 12/4/2013 at 05:29
Quote Posted by Dia
I tend to agree that it would probably cost more to have the fan replaced; the PC repair services here charge anywhere from $60 an hour on up. Guess I should order a new graphics card then, right?
Yeah you're probably better off. I'd still look into different places' repair costs before getting a new one (in the unlikely event that you might get a good deal), but I'm pretty sure most places will still charge you some ridiculous amount per hour.
voodoo47 on 12/4/2013 at 07:27
year and half? the warranty should still cover it, and the store where you have bought it should get it fixed with no charge (do blow off the dust a bit before trying to RMA it). if not, buying a new fan and replacing it yourself is actually pretty cheap, but there is a bit of work involved.
bikerdude on 12/4/2013 at 08:02
Quote Posted by voodoo47
year and half? the warranty should still cover it, and the store where you have bought it should get it fixed with no charge (do blow off the dust a bit before trying to RMA it). if not, buying a new fan and replacing it yourself is actually pretty cheap.
+1 on that, but in case you need to replace the fan we need to know the make and model of the gfx card so we can recommend which fan/cooler to get etc.
voodoo47 on 12/4/2013 at 09:24
unless she has an extremely customized pcb (not too likely), ARCTIC Accelero L2 Plus should be a safe bet. there are a ton of how-to guides on youtube.
Dia on 12/4/2013 at 12:02
The details for the card on the sales order are: PCI Express Video Card: Radeon HD6850 775M 1GB. Have no idea what make/model the fan itself is - it's under the card and very difficult to get a good look at.
I'd already looked up how to clean/replace the fan on a graphics card and it seemed a little too involved for me. I'd called around town and the cheapest labor rate was $60/hr. but even that seems a little high especially considering from what I've read, it looks like replacing the fan is rather involved. CPU Solutions (they built the PC for me) have already said it's no longer under warranty (1 yr. only - figures), and if they weren't located about a two-hour drive away, I'd have taken it in to them. Really don't want to ship the darned thing; don't want to be without the PC that long & don't trust anything else not to get banged up during shipping. They also already said 'same-day service' couldn't be guaranteed, so that's that.
Seems like a shame to let the card itself go to waste; paid $179 for it and as far as I can tell, it's only the card's fan that's gone wonky. CPU did suggest I order an upgrade: a Radeon HD7750 that's on sale for about $109. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like all I have to do is unplug & unscrew the old card, pop it out, then screw in & plug in the new one, right? If it's more involved than that I'll probably just end up taking it to the repair service with the lowest labor rate.
voodoo47 on 12/4/2013 at 12:52
looks like a XFX card. and yeah, replacing the old card with a new one should be easy (but do watch out for the pci-e safety lock). not sure whether the 7750 qualifies as an upgrade though, not exactly the fastest card around.
and yeah, replacing the old fan requires a bit of work (removing a bunch of screws, popping off the old cooler, cleaning the card up, attaching the new cooler), and there is always a risk of breaking something (on the card) in the process - but as I see it, the card is pretty much dead weight anyway unless the cooler is replaced, so I would attempt it if I were you - you will either end up with a fixed card, or, in case of a failure, at least gain some experience so you will be able to do better next time. the hardest part is the cooler removal, if you can manage that without damaging the card then you should be good, as attaching the new one is much easier.
best thing would be to find a hardware junkie in the neighborhood, he would fix the card up in 3 minutes for a pop-tart (I know I would).
Dia on 12/4/2013 at 13:13
Thanks voodoo; first good laugh I've had today. I'm going to call around (again), now that I know for sure what the problem is, and then weigh my options. Also thanks for the info about the pci-e safety lock, never heard of it before and sounds sinister. I really don't like messing around with the innards of a PC - one of those cases where I know I'll be so nervous & overly careful about borking something that I'll just end up borking something. I just don't have the experience or patience; I figure that's why God invented tech guys.
Any suggestions about an gfx upgrade? I want to stick with Radeon because so far their cards have always been reliable and have given me no complaints but I'm not sure what my PC can handle. Here are my PC specs:
PRODUCT 3.2Ghz Custom PC Gamer System
PRICE $1.00
Case: Cooler Master Elite 310 Chassis Mid-tower - 11 Bays
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts EA650 ATX12V & EPS12V Power Supply 650W
AMD Motherboard Options: ASUS M4A87TD EVO Desktop Motherboard
AMD CPU Options: AMD Phenom II X4 Quad-core 955 3.2GHz Processor 3.2GHz - 4000MHz HT - 2MB L2 -
6MB L3 - Socket AM3
DDR3 Memory: Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 RAM Module DDR3- 8 GB (2 x 4 GB)
PCI Express Video Card: RADEON HD6850 775M 1GB DDR5 HD
SATA Hard Disk: Western Digital SATA3/16MB -
WD500GB 7200rpm WD5000AAKX Caviar Blue SATA 6Gb/s
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS50 24x DVD±RW Super Multi
Drive
OS: WINDOWS 7 Home Prem 64 Bit 1PK License
Thanks guys. There's a reason I always ask advice here before anywhere else, ya know. ;)
