HD 7970 Fan Replacement Help For A Dummy

[SICO94]

Hello.
I have a Sapphire HD 7970 3gb Vapor-X installed in my rig and I noticed a while back that one of the two fans on the card stopped spinning.

This has lead to a skyrocket in GPU temps especially when trying to play games like "The Witcher 3".
I ordered replacement fans and they arrived today but I have absolutely no idea on how to remove the shroud and gain access to the fans to see if they even need to be replaced or if they just need some other maintenance.

I have not been able to find a guide anywhere on how to remove the plastic shroud so if someone could help me I will give you all the Orens I possess.

Thanks in advance guys.

 

[sharndowg]

You will probably have to take the whole heatsink off the card. But check first by studying all the screws and what they hold together or release. It MAY be possible without a complete dismantling.
If not there should be 4 screws on the underside in a nice square shape. These hold the heatsink assembly onto the card right at the location of the GPU die. But be aware if you remove this you will have to reapply thermal paste to your GPU. But this may also help with your high temps! While you're inside blow as much dust and crap out the heatsink as possible with compressed air or something. In my 7970 the fans were held on with 3 tiny screws so make sure you have a capable screw driver. Take photos of disassembly to help you put it back into one piece. There is nothing worse that not knowing how something went back together!! There is also good online vids for this. check youtube 😀

 

[SICO94]

Thanks "sharndowg". I was really starting to worry that I might have had to a complete disassemble because the fans were just so hard to access but thanks to a guide I found based off a similar card I found that I could get access to the fans by removing a couple of select screws and bending the shroud up a bit.

I will update when I progress a bit more just in case anyone cares or has a similar card.

 

[sharndowg]

Nice! I had thermal problems with my old 7970. I ended up buying a aftermarket cooler (Gelid Icy Vision) and stripping the old one off. It would max out at about 62C That may be your next step if the fan replacement doesn't work.

Let me know how it goes

 

[SICO94]

New fans installed. Was able to give the inside of the card a nice clean out after removing the stock fans. About to plug it back in so hope I haven't completely short-circuited my card haha.

 

[sharndowg]

Great, Any luck then??

 

[SICO94]

I installed the fans and by the grace of Odin they both started spinning when I booted up my computer.
I launched "The Witcher 3" just to test some temps and whereas before my GPU temp would shoot to 90 Degrees Celcius it stayed at 59-60 Degrees now.

 

[sharndowg]

Wow great news, I'm glad it worked. Have fun! 😀 Glad i could help