one of the 3 GPU fans is making a grinding noise, but only when it starts accelerating.

[Kespic]

Hello

I noticed my fan making a grinding noise every couple of seconds, a quick inspection revealed that it was one of the 3 fans of my GPU. and the grinding only occurs when the fans start rotating.

apparently, 0db feature of my Asus Strix has damaged one of my fans by constantly turning it on and off again. as you may know, 0db feature turns on the fans when the temps reach 47c. having a two monitor system pushes the GPU gentle enough to linger at that temps. causing the it to turn the fans on and off again every couple of seconds, thus the periodic grinding noise.

disabling the 0db feature fixed the periodic grinding noise, but i still have fears. here my questions, any advise is appreciated.

please note that i have never used a custom fan-curve or overclocked it or anything. it has always been on its default state.

1. why does it grind only when it starts accelerating? is it the bearings going bad or the motor?

2. should i fear for an imminent fan failure? or another chronic fan defect? it makes absolutely 0 noise when the fans accelerate.

3. it's still under warranty but i don't really mind having 0db turned off. since it has never been on to begin with. i could always wait until the last day of the warranty.

4. can such a fan failure damage my card in anyway(otherthan overheating)


thank you very much for any answers in advance.

 

[SinxarKnights]

Actually the threshold temp is about 60c.

So I have a long story about my 1070 and how Asus has the worst support i've dealt with but i'll spare you.

I have the OC version and it did the same thing where one fan would pulse on and off all the time regardless of temp. Mine had a more severe issue though where it would rev up to absolute max RPM after playing a game and it had already cooled down.

In my case the wiring harness that connects the fans to the board was being pinched and shorted by a screw that holds the shroud on it. Asus refused to honor the warranty for the fan issue so I had to correct it myself.

What i'm getting at is, good luck getting help from Asus. Mine was physically damaged and they refused to help on a brand new card.

Does sound like bad bearings, i mean you can try to talk to them if you like, they are just going to tell you to install GPUTweakII though. If you get an RMA it is at your expense to Taiwan (so about $300 shipping from the US).

 

[Kespic]

Actually the threshold temp is about 60c.

So I have a long story about my 1070 and how Asus has the worst support i've dealt with but i'll spare you.

I have the OC version and it did the same thing where one fan would pulse on and off all the time regardless of temp. Mine had a more severe issue though where it would rev up to absolute max RPM after playing a game and it had already cooled down.

In my case the wiring harness that connects the fans to the board was being pinched and shorted by a screw that holds the shroud on it. Asus refused to honor the warranty for the fan issue so I had to correct it myself.

What i'm getting at is, good luck getting help from Asus. Mine was physically damaged and they refused to help on a brand new card.

Does sound like bad bearings, i mean you can try to talk to them if you like, they are just going to tell you to install GPUTweakII though. If you get an RMA it is at your expense to Taiwan (so about $300 shipping from the US).

good to know you got it figured out at least mate.

My fans start pulsing after they reach 47c+ i always thought it was the 0db threshold, but anyway disabling the 0db feature actually fixes the pulsing. I don't really care about 0db since they barely make any noise.

by the way, do you happen to have a maximums motherboard? i am pretty sure fan expert is the culprit behind the pulsing.

I am planning on holding on to my card for now, unless the grinding noise become chronic. and if they refuse to honor the warranty i would just change it on my own.

 

[SinxarKnights]

Actually the threshold temp is about 60c.

So I have a long story about my 1070 and how Asus has the worst support i've dealt with but i'll spare you.

I have the OC version and it did the same thing where one fan would pulse on and off all the time regardless of temp. Mine had a more severe issue though where it would rev up to absolute max RPM after playing a game and it had already cooled down.

In my case the wiring harness that connects the fans to the board was being pinched and shorted by a screw that holds the shroud on it. Asus refused to honor the warranty for the fan issue so I had to correct it myself.

What i'm getting at is, good luck getting help from Asus. Mine was physically damaged and they refused to help on a brand new card.

Does sound like bad bearings, i mean you can try to talk to them if you like, they are just going to tell you to install GPUTweakII though. If you get an RMA it is at your expense to Taiwan (so about $300 shipping from the US).

good to know you got it figured out at least mate.

My fans start pulsing after they reach 47c+ i always thought it was the 0db threshold, but anyway disabling the 0db feature actually fixes the pulsing. I don't really care about 0db since they barely make any noise.

by the way, do you happen to have a maximums motherboard? i am pretty sure fan expert is the culprit behind the pulsing.

I am planning on holding on to my card for now, unless the grinding noise become chronic. and if they refuse to honor the warranty i would just change it on my own.

nah its the card. there is a ton of post over on the Asus forums about it. I have a Z97-E. Lot of complains with people on MSI boards as well. mine stopped doing that after I fixed the wires though.

 

[Kespic]

Actually the threshold temp is about 60c.

So I have a long story about my 1070 and how Asus has the worst support i've dealt with but i'll spare you.

I have the OC version and it did the same thing where one fan would pulse on and off all the time regardless of temp. Mine had a more severe issue though where it would rev up to absolute max RPM after playing a game and it had already cooled down.

In my case the wiring harness that connects the fans to the board was being pinched and shorted by a screw that holds the shroud on it. Asus refused to honor the warranty for the fan issue so I had to correct it myself.

What i'm getting at is, good luck getting help from Asus. Mine was physically damaged and they refused to help on a brand new card.

Does sound like bad bearings, i mean you can try to talk to them if you like, they are just going to tell you to install GPUTweakII though. If you get an RMA it is at your expense to Taiwan (so about $300 shipping from the US).

good to know you got it figured out at least mate.

My fans start pulsing after they reach 47c+ i always thought it was the 0db threshold, but anyway disabling the 0db feature actually fixes the pulsing. I don't really care about 0db since they barely make any noise.

by the way, do you happen to have a maximums motherboard? i am pretty sure fan expert is the culprit behind the pulsing.

I am planning on holding on to my card for now, unless the grinding noise become chronic. and if they refuse to honor the warranty i would just change it on my own.

nah its the card. there is a ton of post over on the Asus forums about it. I have a Z97-E. Lot of complains with people on MSI boards as well. mine stopped doing that after I fixed the wires though.

i see, if only i knew pulsing was a defect much earlier, i thought it was something ordinary(ish). i would have disabled 0db and saved that fan and me from the paranoia..

btw is it normal to grind only when it starts accelerates? i thought bad bearings make grinding noises intermittently. mine vibrates a little, softly grinds(half a second) then starts functioning flawlessly.

i will now just pray for that fan to not fail on me for a while longer.

 

[Bo Lee]

Sounds to me like the fan is just going out. There are several type of fans but all have some type of smaller mechanisms in it that they spin on and they can go bad. Sometimes there might be a small nick in it from the factory and as it is used that nick grows. Sometimes they just get hung up while spinning and a new nick will form. Sometimes the brushes just go bad. It happens sometimes. You should be able to find replacement fans for your GPU fairly easily.

 

[Kespic]

Sounds to me like the fan is just going out. There are several type of fans but all have some type of smaller mechanisms in it that they spin on and they can go bad. Sometimes there might be a small nick in it from the factory and as it is used that nick grows. Sometimes they just get hung up while spinning and a new nick will form. Sometimes the brushes just go bad. It happens sometimes. You should be able to find replacement fans for your GPU fairly easily.

I want to post my experience, for people to take lessons from; so here comes a late reply

yea that was exactly the problem with the fan, according to the report they sent with the card.

the funny part is that the new fan they installed doesn't make any noise. BUT apparently they installed yet another defective fan, it starts to howl past 57%+ speeds. you can't believe how a single fan be so frustrating.

I can't describe my frustration, thanks god regular usage don't push the temps that high.

I don't want to void the 3years gurantee by replacing the fan by myself, but i also don'T want to wait 2 weeks for a single fan. so yea, i am in purgatory.