ASUS 4850, Time to RMA?

[hotdogchef]

I was wondering if anyone could offer some advice about my ASUS EAH 4850 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16814121253). It has been working great so far despite all of the fan problems I've been hearing about but wonder if mine is on the way out from heat.
My Rig:
ASUS EAH4850
4G mushkin ram
Q6600 G0
more than adequate power supply

What I do:
Lots of Company of Heroes with the occasional game of Call of Duty 4.

Problem:
When the fan changes between 'fast' and 'fastest', either way, on the Smart Doctor during games of CoH there is a 'beep' that happens at the same time. (possibly fan bushing? or card beep?, not sure). It has also recently started freezing up when I play a longer session (more than a couple of hours). It crashes maybe once a week or so.

My question is is the videocard on its way out or is that just something acceptable. Also on the same note is there any to RMA and get the newer version that has a decent cooler (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...14-121-272-_-Homepage)

Thanks

 

[Hauk]

I haven't ran Asus monitoring software in a while, but do recall an option where it will trigger a beep when a temp hits the predetermined high threshold. Does your case have a speaker? Beep coming from it or system speakers?

Check the software for what temp beep is enabled. If it's under 75c, you're likely hitting the threshold during gaming. If the fan is spinning up to control gpu temp than all is normal and you need to raise the threshold to 80 or so. Again, not sure about the software but if fan control is possible, you should also increase to bring temps down.

Most people prolly wouldn't use the Asus software, instead use ATI's CCC to adjust fan speed via profile method. In any case, it sounds like a software enabled beep and the card is operating normally. As you've been reading, increasing fan speed is highly desired. Catalyst 8.10 will feature fan speed adjustment without messing with profiles. Recommend uninstalling Asus sofware and running 8.10 upon release.

Other variables, case, how's the exaust?