MSI Lightning 6970 card, question

[Kanaric]

I have this card in my gaming PC right now but I had it in another computer where we had a "crossfire" type setup. When I started the computer I guess they were too close and the fan blade hit the 2nd card breaking one of the blades off. Now when the graphics card is at full load it just crashes the PC it is in and if the fan speed is set on high it "rumbles" and that bluescreens my computer (why? i dunno, maybe making the card move on the MB?).

To RMA this I have to pay $45 but is there another solution? Can I buy one of these individual fans somewhere I replace it? The fan is held on by these 3 screws and it looks easy enough if I had a replacement.

 

[Ketzer]

Xbit Labs recently did an article on the 6970 Lightning and equivalent of the PowerColor PCS+ (sold under a different brand name and model)

In the article they took apart the Lightning's cooler and detailed the make and model of the fans. You could try searching for them by part number, but my guess is they are custom models manufactured just for MSI (especially given the whole 'propeller blade' thing). Otherwise I guess the only option is the $45. Is that MSI quoting you that to fix the card?

Q for you, did you have them installed in an upright case, i.e. hanging horizontally? Just curious as I have 3 of these on the way to me for an Xfire setup but am planning on using them on a test bench so they'll be standing up vertically. Hoping that will allow them to keep some space between the cards and avoid what you ran into.

 

[Kanaric]

Xbit Labs recently did an article on the 6970 Lightning and equivalent of the PowerColor PCS+ (sold under a different brand name and model)

In the article they took apart the Lightning's cooler and detailed the make and model of the fans. You could try searching for them by part number, but my guess is they are custom models manufactured just for MSI (especially given the whole 'propeller blade' thing). Otherwise I guess the only option is the $45. Is that MSI quoting you that to fix the card?

Q for you, did you have them installed in an upright case, i.e. hanging horizontally? Just curious as I have 3 of these on the way to me for an Xfire setup but am planning on using them on a test bench so they'll be standing up vertically. Hoping that will allow them to keep some space between the cards and avoid what you ran into.

Ya the 45 is what they quoted me.

Also it is upright. I use a spacer afterwards and it worked fine except this card kept overheating after the fan broke.

 

[Ketzer]

The fan blade breaking off most likely screwed up the balance of the fan, so it's probably not working effectively at all. That 'rumbling' noise you hear with it ramped up is probably exactly that, it's the vibrations caused by the fan being out of balance and spinning in an unstable manner. It might also be causing a loss in static pressure so air is not getting forced into the cooler and overheating.

I'll have to keep this in mind for the 3 I want to install. Maybe find some small rubber pads or something to stick in between them to keep good distance and avoid them clipping each other.

 

[Kanaric]

i used, after this broke, the pads that you put on the bottom of kitchen chairs. It works well in the 3 gpu computers that we use with ati stream.

We've tried cardboard as well and that worked too.

 

[xxdmxx]

The same this happened to me. I bought through Amazon and they let me return it after I explained to them what happened. They also quoted me $45 to get it fixed. So if you bought from Amazon, maybe they'll let you return it also.