Melted 9800 Pro 128

P

PacFu

n00b
Joined
Jul 1, 2004
Messages
8
Ok, let me start off my saying I will never EVER buy an ATI product again. With that said, last summer I bought a 9800 Pro 128MB (Built by ATI). Never once have I tried oc'ing it. The other day, my HSF stopped spinning. I figured the fan just went out. I got it started again...until yesterday. My computer locked up, so I figured it was the fan again. I powered down, removed side panel, then took a look. "What the...??!!" No fan. Look 3 slots below, there it is sitting on my audigy. Holy shizz, the fan MELTED OFF the sink. Then everything started to click. The fan stopped working because the plastic connecting it to the HS was beginning to melt, causing the fan to not move, in turn, melting the fan right off. A friend of mine came over and looked at it, realizing that the fan is designed UPSIDEDOWN!!! For EVERYONE who hates nVidia for dual slot cooling solutions, and bitch about how much of a pain they are...well, ATI should take a lesson. What does it say about a company whose cooling solution for a very hot product MELTS OFF. Kudos, ATI, you just lost a customer. I can't wait till tech support hears this one. I'm foreshadowing the conversation to start like this, "Hello, sir, I looked through your FAQs online and it didn't seem to be listed, but what do I do when my fan drips off the heatsink?" Oh, I have pictures too

Look at the blade direction of the Pro
Now look at the direction of the XT
As you can see, the fan is definately designed upsidedown.
 
Did you ever clean your 9800Pro fan? Ever? My card has been o/c'ed 10-15% since Mar. '03. No problems at all. I clean my card once a month or more however.

Funny story. My friend has a Ti4400 that started making funny sounds and overheating while displaying intense games. Looked in his case.......dust city. 4400 fan caked in dust and literally off its rocker.

My point........a clean computer (and hardware) will run and run whilst a dirty computer chokes and dies.
 
ShowMeThe$$$$$$ said:
Did you ever clean your 9800Pro fan? Ever? My card has been o/c'ed 10-15% since Mar. '03. No problems at all. I clean my card once a month or more however.

Funny story. My friend has a Ti4400 that started making funny sounds and overheating while displaying intense games. Looked in his case.......dust city. 4400 fan caked in dust and literally off its rocker.

My point........a clean computer (and hardware) will run and run whilst a dirty computer chokes and dies.
Click to expand...


You are missing the point...I have a FULL ATX tower with much airflow. The point here is that its a 8 month old card that's FAN MELTED OFF. Dust isnt a heat conductor. I do understand your point, well recieved and very correct. But the f*in fan melted off. If you have a 9800 can you look at the direction the fan turns and post?
 
That fan was probably defective. ATI does not make the fans just the cards
 
Format _C: said:
That fan was probably defective. ATI does not make the fans just the cards
Click to expand...
You dont think they quality check the design? The friggin fan is upsidedown.
 
It's not the direction of the blades that important but rather the rotation. Besides, both cards spin counterclockwise and both suck air in thru the top and expel out the sides, so I don't understand what your problem is with the fan direction, the blades are different but then the entire cooler is different. Furthermore, since the card is under warranty (3 years for ATI cards), I'm sure ATI will either replace or repair your card at no charge so what's the big deal? Call them up and see what they say instead of coming here saying you'll never buy their stuff again even though you haven't even tried to contact ATI about it! Things happen and fans die, big deal, ATI or Nvidia or whatever, nobody is immune from this.
 
ShowMeThe$$$$$$ said:
Did you ever clean your 9800Pro fan? Ever? My card has been o/c'ed 10-15% since Mar. '03. No problems at all. I clean my card once a month or more however.

Funny story. My friend has a Ti4400 that started making funny sounds and overheating while displaying intense games. Looked in his case.......dust city. 4400 fan caked in dust and literally off its rocker.

My point........a clean computer (and hardware) will run and run whilst a dirty computer chokes and dies.
Click to expand...


how do you clean your card?
 
Armpit said:
It's not the direction of the blades that important but rather the rotation. Besides, both cards spin counterclockwise and both suck air in thru the top and expel out the sides, so I don't understand what your problem is with the fan direction, the blades are different but then the entire cooler is different. Furthermore, since the card is under warranty (3 years for ATI cards), I'm sure ATI will either replace or repair your card at no charge so what's the big deal? Call them up and see what they say instead of coming here saying you'll never buy their stuff again even though you haven't even tried to contact ATI about it! Things happen and fans die, big deal, ATI or Nvidia or whatever, nobody is immune from this.
Click to expand...

My purpose here is not to bash ATI, but I lose respect for the company whose inneficiency in a design seems to justify $350 for a piece of hardware. I hear alot of people complaining about nvidia's dual slot cooling solutions, but you know what? Think about it, you can't melt plastic in boiling water (100C), so how much higher was it?? You can't tell because there was not temp monitor until the XTs. If a video card gets above 100C, I want to see something that is going to make sure its cool. You say is the direction of rotation not blade? True, but wrong. Take a piece of cardboard, slant it like \\ and move it counterclockwise. You feel resistance. Do the same thing but slant it // again moving counterclockwise. Hardly any resistance, because the direction of blades is cutting through air when slanted like // instead of pushing it when like \\. ATI stole my business away from nVidia (who stole it away from 3dfx) when they released the 9800 series. Shortlived because I won't buy ATI again. Yea, ATI will replace it, but do you honestly think I'm going to put another 9800 Pro in my machine after this? I wasnt home when the fan melted off...what would have happened if the heat fried my motherboard? There was absolutely NO failsafe when it went out...just a lockup, still receiving voltage. To me, thats not safe.
 
dibs on the RMA'ed card?!?! :-D

haha sorry to hear all that m8 but it does happen, and yeah, fan blade is messed up, but what brand was it. regular ati? powercolor? what?


anyways DIBS!
 
shit happens, you had defective card.. if there was a problem with the design, then one of the hundreds of other 9800 owners would have said something... i found a computer at work where the fan for the cpu was sitting in the bottom of the case, broken off the same way as yours... a few dollars for a new fan, and all is good again...

it is just more price effective to have 99% of the stuff go out and work fine, then to test eveything so exhastively that they can decrese it by a fraction of a percentage...
 
well, video cards CANT FORCE the computer to shut down automatically everytime theres a error unless you install their software. I may be wrong but doesnt 9800 Pro's have that built-in temp sensor and must install ATI's CP? or was that Tyan only?


personally, i think only a fool would not power down the computer when it lockup for no reason and have burning plastic smell oozing from the case.

FYI, it is a correct fan design, air IS being pushed onto the heatsink. It DOES turn counterclockwise, and the blades ARE slanted for counterclockwise operation to force air through the heatsink.

but the bottom line is, sometimes products have a defect, deal with it, no hardware damaged besides the video card and ATI agreed to replace it. If the repaired video card performs well, use it. Personally, I think you're just trying to stir up more ATI vs Nvidia discussions. :rolleyes:
 
Yea I agree with what people have said. I mean come on if ATI refused to replace your card you would have a reason to be pissed.

But get a grip, things happen thats what a warranty is for!

O, and hit the return key when you post ... it makes it easier to read ;)
 
FanZ said:
well, video cards CANT FORCE the computer to shut down automatically everytime theres a error unless you install their software. I may be wrong but doesnt 9800 Pro's have that built-in temp sensor and must install ATI's CP? or was that Tyan only?


personally, i think only a fool would not power down the computer when it lockup for no reason and have burning plastic smell oozing from the case.

FYI, it is a correct fan design, air IS being pushed onto the heatsink. It DOES turn counterclockwise, and the blades ARE slanted for counterclockwise operation to force air through the heatsink.

but the bottom line is, sometimes products have a defect, deal with it, no hardware damaged besides the video card and ATI agreed to replace it. If the repaired video card performs well, use it. Personally, I think you're just trying to stir up more ATI vs Nvidia discussions. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

No, only XTs had temp monitors

Of course, if something is burning shut it down...too bad I wasn't home when it happened.

As for defective design, scroll up to my original post and look at the pics of XT and 9800 pro...XT is proper, Pro is not.

Oh, and Knuckles, if you want to buy it you are welcome to. It is an official ATI.
 
for the last time its not how the "FLAT, when-looking-down-at" view that determines which way air goes! As long as it's SLANTED with the higher tip (in respect to the pics) towards the direction of rotation, it'll pull in air to the heatsink.
 
PacFu said:
No, only XTs had temp monitors
Click to expand...

Actually only the XT drivers have temp monitors, the Pro and the XT x800 both have the temp probe.
 
Don't take it all out on ATi. ATi doesn't even build their own branded cards any more. Instead, they've subcontracted out the actual board manufacturing to other companies. And it is that actual Far East-based board manufacturing plant that occasionally f***s up on their QC.
 
So? I had my GeF3 fan fail on me not once, but TWICE, in a 15-month period. I RMA'd the first time because the card was in bad shape, the second time I slapped on a crystal orb and never had a problem again. I also have a 9800 Pro - which I've had for almost 15 months - and I used the stock cooling for the first half of its life. Your fan orientation looks identical to my original one, and it worked fine. In fact, I ran it overclocked 24/7 with it and never had any problems. These things happen, go out and buy a $8 crystal orb. :D
 
PacFu said:
..Take a piece of cardboard, slant it like \\ and move it counterclockwise. You feel resistance. Do the same thing but slant it // again moving counterclockwise. Hardly any resistance, because the direction of blades is cutting through air when slanted like // instead of pushing it when like \\.
Click to expand...

Too bad the fins are slanted the same direction on the PRO and the XT.
The higher tip is toward the direction of airflow in both cases; the difference is that one is concave and one is convex.

They both have airflow in the correct direction for the respective cooling mechanisms.

Your card was defective, RMA it. Trying to blame it on a design flaw doesn't work when there have been thousands sold and thousands currently operating overclocked just fine.
 
Nvidia sometimes screws up too, someone has a thread about their BRAND NEW 6800u frying from a missing screw

its on both sides of the fence
 
My Geforce 4 Ti 4600's fan died within a week of me owning it. Did I complain and refuse to buy another pruduct from Nvidia again? No, I simply went out and picked up a 6$ cooler for it. Now currently on a 9800 pro and its been great for months (nicely overclocked too). Also, very shortly ill probably upgrade to a 6800 ultra. Mistakes happen, thats just the way it goes.
 
mtbaird said:
how do you clean your card?
Click to expand...

Ok I'll tell you...but this by no means a 'hey! clean your video card like this!' statement. You (and I) do this at your own risk.

I unplug it. Take it out of the AGP port. Grasp it on the edges to not make contact with anything but bare pcb. Grab my big ass can of 'Air Duster' and hose down the heatsink blasting all the dust bunnys the hell outta dodge. Then (and here's the part where you might cost yourself some money) I air off the fan itself. This spins it rather fast if you lay on it so be careful. I stop it with my finger to get between individual blades. If the dust don't come all the way off the fan, I use a slightly moistened Q-tip to clean between the blades. Done. And I have done this at least 15 times since Mar. '03. Card looks and still performs like new. It's worth the risk to clean her off.

O and since you got the case open and the card out, might as well clean all the other fans and junk. ;)
 
what happened with your video card was that the fan stoped turning and then it preceded to melt. I do agree with the rest if you had cleaned it, it would still be running probably.
 
Listen, for all you talking about dusting and cleaning with a q-tip and such...just because all of you are freaks about your hardware (well, I kindof am too :-\) it should never be required to do so...they got the coolers almost right with XTs and x800s, all they need is a dual slot and its perfect.

I dont want to turn this into a ATI vs nVidia thread, because I honestly will buy the best card out there, no matter the brand.

My cards have gone like this

---4MB ATI rage 3d pro
with Voodoo2
---Voodoo Banshee
---Voodoo 3
---geForce 2 mx (6 hours)
---Voodoo 4 (replaced above)
---geForce 4 ti4600
---ATI 9800 Pro
---geForce 6800 GT (in a few weeks)

now if you can see, thos are the best cards of their cycles ( I think IMO). I can't say I'll never buy another ATI, but for now, I wont.

Plus the RMA shipped to friggin Canada....is that international shipping costs? Bitches.
 
I bought the Visiontek GF4 Ti4600 the day it hit the shelves. I got it home and it was dead. Did I cry like a little bitch and say "OMG!!11oneone!!!eleven!! T3H NV1D14 H45 D351GN FL4W!!!!oneone!1eleven!!"


Not at all, I took the card back and got another one. The new one worked flawless.:)
 
mtbaird said:
how do you clean your card?
Click to expand...

Compressed Air? Canned Air? Air in a Can?:p Or you can take it out once every couple of months and give it a good wipe down since this is probably your most expensive piece of equipment.

And yes, that much dust does act like a blanket on top of a card that gets better than 55C without all that dust on it. Look how its wrapped around in the heatsink. Good airlflow just proves the point of how much dust builds on a card, not to mention pictures. :D

Would it have killed you to buy a can of compressed air for $2 and sprayed the inside of your case out? No. And if ATI gets that card back witht that dust on it, I doubt they will honor the warranty since that really is neglect on your part.
 
PacFu said:
Plus the RMA shipped to friggin Canada....is that international shipping costs? Bitches.
Click to expand...

So? It's a Canadian company. Every Canadian has to ship their RMA stuff to the States (except ATI, and a few others). Get over it, it's not a big deal.

I'm sure the core would have been severely toast before the plastic fan melted off. Was there any thermal paste between the core and the heatsink? Was the shim too tall for the core to make proper contact with good thermal paste?

I think it's really weird that the fan fell off, but this is an isolated incident. This is why there's a warranty. Kind of like when my new pressure plate exploded in my car, although the warranty was for parts only, not the time I spent fixing everything that got damaged. Isolated incident. It was a top name brand of clutch/plate too, and I got a new set. Been pushing more power through it than with the last one, and there wasn't any wear when I pulled everything apart last month (flywheel decided to blow up that time, but that was my fault for lightening it too much).
 
bah you call that melted? Heh youve not seen melted till you seen the heat sink fan from my old k6-2 300 when it jammed up it was um liquafied lol. Seriously though just rma it and be done with it it can happen to any fan on any heat sink at nvidia amd intel after market it dont matter. Ive powered on computers that were just built by my own hands every thing installed and put in properly and had a puff of blue smoke from various parts over the years. Fans are a very common part to fail. It dont matter if a fan is built by hand they are prone to die for no ligical reason. Yours looks like the wires came out of their spot in the heat sink and hit the blades stalling the fan and causeing the motor to heat up along with the heat from the gpu this was enoguh to melt the fan loose. Typical fan voltage on a video card is 12 volts and i beleive .11 ma to .22 ma on ati cards thats a good bit of juice and apms going in to the fan and can put out a good deal of heat.
 
Jerry1978 said:
i clean my computer with one of these bad boys

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004R9P8/002-7891359-2107260?v=glance

hurricane force winds.

when i blew the dust out of my old Athlon 2400 system i saw this big dust cloud and then it was all clean in a few seconds. q-tips need not apply here.
Click to expand...
um you beleive in over kill dont you lol.
A freakign leaf blower arnt you a bit afraid of blowing off capacitors and um various other little parts :p
That will get the job done thats for sure.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
PacFu said:
My cards have gone like this

---4MB ATI rage 3d pro
with Voodoo2
---Voodoo Banshee
---Voodoo 3
---geForce 2 mx (6 hours)
---Voodoo 4 (replaced above)
---geForce 4 ti4600
---ATI 9800 Pro
---geForce 6800 GT (in a few weeks)
Click to expand...
Must ask i noticed you had a gf2 mx as well and also returned it shortly after i had the same card and same problem and replaced with a v5 5500. Im just wondering with your card in 3d apps games and such did you get like a huge spike in frame rate then have your computer auto reboot?
I never could figure out why but in active worlds 3d chat i would be sittign there at a confortable 35 fps then all the suddent jump to 200 fps and a secound later screen would go black and id reboot
 
novaflare said:
Must ask i noticed you had a gf2 mx as well and also returned it shortly after i had the same card and same problem and replaced with a v5 5500. Im just wondering with your card in 3d apps games and such did you get like a huge spike in frame rate then have your computer auto reboot?
I never could figure out why but in active worlds 3d chat i would be sittign there at a confortable 35 fps then all the suddent jump to 200 fps and a secound later screen would go black and id reboot
Click to expand...

If I remember right I couldn't even play ogl games with that card...plus at the time I hated the lighting and colors on nvidia cards...I always love 3dfx's brilliance in colors and their vibrance. Reason I didnt get the V4 off the bat is because they had just gone out of business, so I was weary getting a discontinued card.
 
My friends Geforce 3's fan fell off... Nvidia Sucks! They should BURN! BLAH BLAH BLAH!

Cards defect... When an item is made in mass production there are a few lemons... deal with it... Hell I bought a PCI Wireless card just a few weeks ago and it didn't work from the start... I just sent it back and they sent me another... ooh so hard to do...

I had a Radeon 9800 128MB Pro and it had worked from the day I got it to the day I got my x800 XT.
 
PacFu said:
Listen, for all you talking about dusting and cleaning with a q-tip and such...just because all of you are freaks about your hardware (well, I kindof am too :-\) it should never be required to do so...they got the coolers almost right with XTs and x800s, all they need is a dual slot and its perfect.

I dont want to turn this into a ATI vs nVidia thread, because I honestly will buy the best card out there, no matter the brand.
Click to expand...
So you don't think that it's your responsibility to clean out your case every once and awhile? :rolleyes: I'd really hate to see where you live then if you think that it's too bothersome to maintain a properly cleaned system. Gees it takes like 5 minutes once a month to clean it out.

Bitch all you want I guess but it's just stupid and it's your own fault. :rolleyes:

Judging from the posts this seems to be a everyone vs. one idiot thread ;)
 
CrimandEvil said:
Judging from the posts this seems to be a everyone vs. one idiot thread ;)
Click to expand...

Yep, and he's posting the same crap over at Anandtech.
 
A friend of mine's GeForce 2 fan stopped spinning..

Card worked for a year after until he realized it. :D
 
Drakensoul said:
A friend of mine's GeForce 2 fan stopped spinning..

Card worked for a year after until he realized it. :D
Click to expand...
Rofl sounds bout like my old k6 it ran for days after the loss of its fan. Id never have known except i decided to tare it all down for cleaning like i did once a month. Well it would seem that the last time i cleaned it little less than month previously i accidently un did my cpu fan. It had been running for close to a month with no fan at all the fan melted and drooped on the heat sink. That cpu should have been dead but i guess do to my duct work i made for my case was enough air flow to keep it just at the brink of burnign up.

Heh this thread is so getting derailed its going to become the offical unoffical fan failign horror story thread :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top