Gigabyte 6800GT Heatpipe Fan Falling Apart

[Ajwhipple]

I have a Gigabyte 6800GT with the heatpipe heatsink and the fan on top. It's always been a noisy setup, but otherwise performs just fine. A week ago I noticed that the noise level increased and changed in pitch.

Today, it suddenly got much louder and sounded like it was about the grind to a halt. I suspected a failed bearing, but after removal and inspection, the plastic fan is actually falling apart. Four of the blades have large cracks that are actually cracked all the way through the plastic material. It also looks like there is a crack all the way across the hub of the fan. It looks like the only thing holding it all together at this point is the Gigabyte sticker on the middle of the fan.

I plan to contact Gigabyte to investigate my replacement options, but I'd be interested to know if there are any after-market replacement options. Especially if someone has found something that is considerable quieter. Any suggestions?

 

[Christobevii3]

Look into zalman vf700 or heatpipe with side fan option. Also the nvsilencers are good and kingwin/thermaltake make decent heatpipes too.

 

[Ajwhipple]

Thanks for the suggestions, but I was hoping to keep the heatsink and just replace the fan. I haven't had any luck finding a replacement that matches the 3 bracket mounting style.

If I have to replace the whole heatsink and fan assembly, I'll just go to liquid cooling.

 

[imported_humey]

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=31&threadid=1570310&enterthread=y

Here 2 conflicting web reviews, but keep eye out for the peeps here when they have results, im to watching.

 

[thelanx]

I have that same card and the heatpipes detached from the core and so I had to get an nvsilencer5. It works fine and temps are much lower.