Ideas on what to do about an HIS HD 6850 with a defective fan

adarryladarryl No Man Stands So Tall As When He Stoops To Help a Child. Icrontian
in Hardware
I bought this video card a little over a year ago: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161384&Tpk=14-161-384

However, I did not know at the time that the card had a history of cooling fan failure and sure enough, mine just started squalling. I opened the card to see what I could do to quiet it down (dumb, I know that probably voided my warranty, but since HIS has a hit-and-miss reputation on warranty service, I tried anyway) I removed the fan and peeled the sticker off its center hub to look for lubrication points. There weren't any. Since I found nothing I could service, I reassembled it and put it on the shelf. I Googled fan replacement for the HIS HD 6850 and found a youtube video about this problem from a general user. It was his belief that if you had a blue HIS fan, you were dog meat if it failed. If you had the red fan, you were golden. Okay, so I am officially dog meat.

Anyway, I have not been very successful in finding an aftermarket fan for this video card. Since I have a sound card directly below the video card there really isn't room to strap on a standard case fan to get by (because of its thickness). Any creative ideas? Anyone!

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited January 2013
    I hypothesize that you can get at the fan hub if you remove the heatsink assembly and go in from the underside. This is just a guess. There are likely screws securing the fan to the sink, which can undo to free the entire fan, revealing the hub on the bottom.
  • adarryladarryl No Man Stands So Tall As When He Stoops To Help a Child. Icrontian
    edited January 2013
    Nope, that would make sense but this doesn't. The sink contact point with the gpu is on the non-fan side. The sink's cooling fins wrap around to the top side forming a doughnut hole wherein the fan resides via a small 3-point bracket. Removing that 3-point bracket allowed me to pull the fan completely off only to discover it is permanently sealed top and bottom. BTW, I went back to Newegg and this looks like my setup: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119132 It has the same type of 3-point mount and both a 2 and 3-pin connector.
    The HIS card has at 2-pin connector. I am debating ordering it. For $8.00, I don't think I can get stung too badly.

  • MiracleManSMiracleManS Chambersburg, PA Icrontian
    I have the exact same card with a fan problem...if you figure out what to do, please share!
  • adarryladarryl No Man Stands So Tall As When He Stoops To Help a Child. Icrontian
    Sorry about my convoluted explanation in my last post. Essentially, the heat sink sits on top of the gpu die just like on any other and the fan is nested in a doughnut hole amidst the cooling fins. Like I said, neither side appears to have any user serviceable (access) cover or ports for lubrication. So, I ordered the Evercool hsf I linked to at NewEgg. I will do an update on whether that is a fix when it gets in. Oh, @MiracleManS, sorry you have the same bug. I would say 'misery loves company,' but misery is miserable no matter whether its alone or together. I would suggest you check back here in about 4 days and maybe that Evercool hsf will be the fix. Stay tuned.
  • adarryladarryl No Man Stands So Tall As When He Stoops To Help a Child. Icrontian
    Red fan/Blue fan..............here's the video I referred to in my original post and it is amusing too (to me anyway):

    Right now, I am not prepared to spend $40.00 more on a $144.00 video card if the $8.00 Evercool fan doesn't solve the problem. I'd rather put money on a new card than put more $ into the old one. We'll see.
  • adarryladarryl No Man Stands So Tall As When He Stoops To Help a Child. Icrontian
    Okay, the Evercool fan I ordered from NewEgg (linked above) will work but not without some customization. The fan is a 70mm and the one originally in the 6850 was an 80mm so it is a little smaller. Even though the new fan is a 3-point mount like on the OEM, the mount is a little smaller than the original so I had to drill new holes to accommodate. That really isn't a problem as the plate the mount is screwed to is actually screwed to the heatsink so it is removable to do the drilling. I reused the OEM screws which are very tiny. The bigger issue was the fan pigtail. Though it is a 2-pin connector "like" the original, it is too fat to fit the card's female connector so I cut the original 2-pin connector off the dying fan and soldered it to the new fan's tails matching red to red and black to black (obviously). I then went gaming with Far Cry 3 and everything worked as it should.

    While this fix is not a straight swap out, it is cheap and works. For $8.00 delivered from NewEgg, I could replace the fan 3 more times before spending as much as I would if I ordered the aftermarket cooler featured in the video above. If I only get a year out of this new fan, and replace it 3 more times, I would easily get the most bang for the buck within the lifetime of the card itself. @MiracleManS, something to think about.
    Tushonmertesn
  • MiracleManSMiracleManS Chambersburg, PA Icrontian
    I'll have to consider this. Thanks for keeping me posted. It'd be nice to have a card to swap out for my wife's (aging but still good) 4900 series card. She doesn't use the power it produces and it's a huge wattage hog.
  • adarryladarryl No Man Stands So Tall As When He Stoops To Help a Child. Icrontian
    FWIW, I did find an Evercool 80mm frameless fan: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119133&Tpk=VC-EC8010M12C-B and http://www.coolerguys.com/840556094357.html

    However, I suspect it would require the same type of modifications that I made with the 70mm.
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