SPCR

Well, after having my Radeon 9100 for a month, the fan is making too much noise.

What are my options?
-Replace the fan with ....
-TermarTake Crytal Orb ($18)
-Zalman ZM-17cu ($30)
-Zalman XM80A ($45)
-Vantec Iceberg A4C ($30) -> too loud?

I'd like it to be quiet, but don't see the need to pay $45. Almost half the price of the card.

Suggestions?

Does your 9100 have holes for the heatsinks you mentioned? I remember seeing a 9100 that didn't have holes. If it does have the appropriate holes the $30 Zalman is probably the best choice.

Just checked, it doesn't so no Zalman XM-80(A).

You recommend the AM-17?

I disconnected the fan, and setup an undervolted panaflo to blow air over the card..

others have just disconnected the fan and don't bother with a fan..

do a search, the 9100 is the same as a 8500, which should get you more results.

From what I have seen is most of the ATI fans are pretty quiet so with any of these other fans you will see probably more noise. That is unless you got a crappy fan on your video card.

My fan got crappy after one month. The store where I got it from said that that's not covered by warranty. It wasn't making so much noise when I first got it.

How would you set the panaflow? The zalman bracket will blow air down, not from the side.. can you bend it?

You can always mount it up with some simple "L" brackets from a harware store. Just make the angle you want to see.

Great idea, thanks. I'll give that a try, sound simpler than replaying the fan.

Ex22 wrote:My fan got crappy after one month. The store where I got it from said that that's not covered by warranty. It wasn't making so much noise when I first got it.

How would you set the panaflow? The zalman bracket will blow air down, not from the side.. can you bend it?

there's a picture of MikeC's "poor man's Zalman-style fan bracket" if you scroll down here: http://www.silentpcreview.com/modules.p ... =14&page=1

it doesn't really matter which direction the air blows, as long as it moves hot air off the heatsink, and you have some airflow through the case

I have a Sapphire Radeon 9000 Pro and it too got very loud all of a sudden.

It's only about 2 months old.

Cheap fans.. I'm going to try to rig a panaflo and see how that works. It seems to be very hard to find a 50mm fan at stores...

Dr.CrackEnHore wrote:ATI fans are pretty quiet

So you think, but we ATI fans are NOT quiet.

Sorry I couldn't resist.

the fan on my sapphire radeon 9000 pro is the loudest thing in my PC.

it's not just regular fan noise. it rattles and vibrates. it sounds horrible..

I don't understand the design of the AGP card. isn't the ATX form always have the AGP port on top of the PCI ports?

if that's the case, why don't they design a card that has the chips on the other side, so that it will allow heat to disperse better?

Found this little fan that would do the trick:
http://www.quietpc.ca/casefans.html
Though the cost of shipping doesn't make it worth it. They do have a US/UK stores as well

I'm wondering if it means returning the video card.

I'd like to know if this fan failure is a common experience...

I think it's happens, I was on a ATI forum where a few people had fan failures. Depending on the company, (ATI, Sapphire, etc..) they handle this prolem differently. They might ship you the a new fan or ask for the card to be sent back. That's where I'm at, I have to RMA and send it back. So no card for a while.. so I'm going to try something else instead.

the fan on the sapphire comes off real easy. two small jeweler screws and it pops right out of it's heat sink.

there's a label over the top of the heatsink/fan assembly which hides a screw that allows you to really get at the fan.

I didn't lift the sticker/label because I don't want to void my warranty...