Graphics Card Fan Issue (GTX 970)

[TRazerK]

I bought a Zotac GTX 970 (standard non-oc version) about 4 months ago. Temps have been very high for the past few days while on heavy load gaming (witcher 3, gta v) -going close to 85C at times. Initially I thought it's due to the heat lately- but only today I realised the true culprit-- that one of the fans is not spinning properly-- and by that I mean it's spinning much slower and at times it seems to be stalling about every 5 seconds.
Is there anything I could do to check what's going on in there by pulling out the card? Or shall I take it straight to the shop to get it checked? I have no idea what caused this, and Google is leading me nowhere with this

[Set]

If you have warranty for the card, my suggestion is straight go to the shop do not bother fixing it yourself by voiding the warranty

[kaziishan]

I bought a Zotac GTX 970 (standard non-oc version) about 4 months ago. Temps have been very high for the past few days while on heavy load gaming (witcher 3, gta v) -going close to 85C at times. Initially I thought it's due to the heat lately- but only today I realised the true culprit-- that one of the fans is not spinning properly-- and by that I mean it's spinning much slower and at times it seems to be stalling about every 5 seconds.
Is there anything I could do to check what's going on in there by pulling out the card? Or shall I take it straight to the shop to get it checked? I have no idea what caused this, and Google is leading me nowhere with this

Take the card back to where you bought it from.

[Fox Mulder]

@vanguard

[TRazerK]

If you have warranty for the card, my suggestion is straight go to the shop do not bother fixing it yourself by voiding the warranty

I bought it on February 1st from UCC - IDB, so yes, I do have much warranty. (2 years from ucc + 3 years from zotac)

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Well, I have taken the card out of the mb slot and I will be taking it to the shop as soon as I can.
But, one crucial thing I noticed: When I give the faulty fan a nudge with my finger, it does not spin freely for a while like it would for the other fan- hence it is definitely somewhat jammed or blocked inside.

[furiousTaher]

I bought a Zotac GTX 970 (standard non-oc version) about 4 months ago. Temps have been very high for the past few days while on heavy load gaming (witcher 3, gta v) -going close to 85C at times. Initially I thought it's due to the heat lately- but only today I realised the true culprit-- that one of the fans is not spinning properly-- and by that I mean it's spinning much slower and at times it seems to be stalling about every 5 seconds.
Is there anything I could do to check what's going on in there by pulling out the card? Or shall I take it straight to the shop to get it checked? I have no idea what caused this, and Google is leading me nowhere with this

did u use msi afterburner or other fan controlling software?

[TRazerK]

did u use msi afterburner or other fan controlling software?

Yes, I used msi afterburner to monitor gpu temp and usage- but always kept fan speed at default auto. Only once I played with the fan speed setting, but setting fan speed anywhere above 70% was too loud for my liking

[Swapnil]

I bought it on February 1st from UCC - IDB, so yes, I do have much warranty. (2 years from ucc + 3 years from zotac)

- - - Updated - - -

Well, I have taken the card out of the mb slot and I will be taking it to the shop as soon as I can.
But, one crucial thing I noticed: When I give the faulty fan a nudge with my finger, it does not spin freely for a while like it would for the other fan- hence it is definitely somewhat jammed or blocked inside.

RMA with eyes closed. Faulty fan bearing.

[TRazerK]

RMA with eyes closed. Faulty fan bearing.

Yep, I will be taking it to the shop soon for RMA. I do hope it gets sorted. I keep wondering whether the fan bearing has been faulty from the very beginning and I never noticed it. It's totally weird for it to go bad within such a short time, right? I never even overclocked the card.
I also wonder what policy UCC holds regarding RMA under warranty for GPUs.

[Sybaris Caesar]

Yep, I will be taking it to the shop soon for RMA. I do hope it gets sorted. I keep wondering whether the fan bearing has been faulty from the very beginning and I never noticed it. It's totally weird for it to go bad within such a short time, right? I never even overclocked the card.
I also wonder what policy UCC holds regarding RMA under warranty for GPUs.

Ask @VANGUARD . He's the VP of UCC

[Trave160]

Well am having the same issue with my 780's second fan, not like I would need it now but trick is adding lubricant inside fan and spinning to loosen rotor. That's my alternative if your primary option doesn't work

[Swapnil]

Yep, I will be taking it to the shop soon for RMA. I do hope it gets sorted. I keep wondering whether the fan bearing has been faulty from the very beginning and I never noticed it. It's totally weird for it to go bad within such a short time, right? I never even overclocked the card.
I also wonder what policy UCC holds regarding RMA under warranty for GPUs.

The bearing must have had some manufacturing defect from the factory, to have failed so soon. Unless you live in a super dusty and corrosive environment.

Well am having the same issue with my 780's second fan, not like I would need it now but trick is adding lubricant inside fan and spinning to loosen rotor. That's my alternative if your primary option doesn't work

Yap, a puff of WD-40 first, then some sewing machine oil should do the trick. But only if you don't have warranty in the first place.

[Fox Mulder]

WD-40 is a bad idea, the sewing machine oil is spot on. Don't think those fans can be oiled, btw. You'll have to buy a spare from Aliexpress or ebay.

[Speed]

The bearing must have had some manufacturing defect from the factory, to have failed so soon. Unless you live in a super dusty and corrosive environment.



Yap, a puff of WD-40 first, then some sewing machine oil should do the trick. But only if you don't have warranty in the first place.

absolutely NO

[Swapnil]

WD-40 is a bad idea, the sewing machine oil is spot on. Don't think those fans can be oiled, btw. You'll have to buy a spare from Aliexpress or ebay.

absolutely NO

Trust me, WD-40 is not that bad. The main problem here is that it is a degreaser, that means it would clean all the existing grease off of the bearing. That's why you would have to follow up with a proper lubricating oil afterwards. And also, I think I wasn't clear about WD-40. Don't use WD-40 to a fan that spins but slower. But you might find some fan that has it's bearing so much corroded and gunked up, you cannot even spin it with your fingers. You'll definitely need WD-40 with that.

[Speed]

Trust me, WD-40 is not that bad. The main problem here is that it is a degreaser, that means it would clean all the existing grease off of the bearing. That's why you would have to follow up with a proper lubricating oil afterwards. And also, I think I wasn't clear about WD-40. Don't use WD-40 to a fan that spins but slower. But you might find some fan that has it's bearing so much corroded and gunked up, you cannot even spin it with your fingers. You'll definitely need WD-40 with that.

lol.i can clearly see u have little idea with WD-40. WD-40 cleans of almost any hard substance. but, the thing is it leaves behind a sticky residue when it gets dried up. which is in normal terms not good for any product that needs constant lubrication.
so, yes WD-40 not = case fan or any fan that need lubrication.

[Swapnil]

lol.i can clearly see u have little idea with WD-40. WD-40 cleans of almost any hard substance. but, the thing is it leaves behind a sticky residue when it gets dried up. which is in normal terms not good for any product that needs constant lubrication.
so, yes WD-40 not = case fan or any fan that need lubrication.

OK. I'll accept that. That sticky residue is supposed to be the leftover lubricant, but I guess it works only for metal-metal contact. Also that is the reason it is not recommended to use WD-40 for electric contacts.

So OP, no WD-40. Just use sewing machine oil, of course only if the RMA fails.

[TRazerK]

So, I finally managed the time to take it to the shop today (UCC service/RMA @Taltola). They took my card and gave me a complain receipt, and told me to call them up on Wednesday with the given invoice number on the receipt. I asked them if they'll be repairing it and they said that no actually they're gonna try their best to give me a full new replacement of the product. So I was like yay ... lol. But yeah, fingers crossed- let's see what happens!
This is probably the first time in my life I'm going thru such an experience of RMA-ing (is that what they call it nowadays? ) anything. Jibone konodin amar kono product warranty period er aage noshto hoy nai- pore noshto hoise always
Only bad thing is, I can't game in the meantime