Sapphire Radeon 7870 2nd fan not spinning.

[xjusan]

My sapphire 7870's 2nd fan not spinning. When I boot up my pc both fans will spin but the 2nd fan will only spin momentarily and will stop unless If i set my fan speed manually to 80% the 2nd fan will start to kick in. I just noticed this and I don't know if it has something to do with the recent 14.12 omega update. My idle temp is 33° Celsius but I am worried when i play games the 2nd fan is still not spinning even if the temp hit 60° Celsius Maximum temp is 64° even if only 1 fan is spinning. Is there something wrong with my graphic card?

 

[emdea22]

When you turn on your PC enter BIOS and stay there for about 5 mins. Check if the 2nd fan spins continuously while in BIOS. If it does then its a software issue - could be drivers, 3rd party software, windows registry conflicts etc - if it doesn't then its most likely a dying fan, unless its a vga bios problem and its always been like this.

On some boards with 3 fans, the 3rd fan only starts when reaching a certain temperature or when VRMs heat up but i never heard of that on a dual fan card.

 

[xjusan]

It doesn't spin on bios I guess it is a dying fan since It is almost 2 years old. Is there any fix for this? Also is it ok if I keep the fan speed to at least 80%?

 

[emdea22]

You can replace the fan...

What would be best is an identical fan
Next option is a fan that runs on the same voltage and is of compatible size.

You could try to fix the fan - open up the fan carefully (there are videos on YT) and use a lubricant to see if it comes back to life.
Also after doing the above its best to keep the fan operating at a higher RPM. Use any software you like to change the rpm curve so it starts higher like minimum 55-60%

 

[xjusan]

Thank you!

 

[Buzzind99]

I've got the exact same problem with my 2 years old Sapphire HD 7870 XT. It was exactly like what you experienced, and even worst it has caused couple of graphic issues and system failure due to high temp. And my room temp is often hit 34C at noon so it's really not ideal for this card to run.

And also I suspect it has something to do with the omega update. I'll try to reinstall the older driver to see if it's any better

 

[djanthony93]

Same issue here, I tried to open the fan but you can't access to the fan bearing because under the stick there is a piece of plastic that won't let you, please help

 

[p08kast]

Exact same issue here. Noticed that 2nd fan was not spinning after finishing some cable management I "had" to do.

Both fans start spinning at startup but the 2nd one immediately stops. If I manually set fan speed at 86% through CCC the second fan kicks in and keeps spinning normally. Checked cable connections, checked for dust, removed and re-placed GPU on PCI slot, switched 6pin power supply cables. Nothing seems to work, second fan does not spin.

It shouldn't be a software issue (since it doesn't spin even when in BIOS)
It shouldn't be a PSU issue (PSU is 2 months old, never had any issues and switching cables did not make any difference)
If it's a hardware issue, how do you explain the 86% thing?

 

[djanthony93]

We should put some lubricant/oil in the bearing fan I guess but there is no rubber plug in so you need to cut it...

 

[p08kast]

Going to test the GPU on another PC, just to make sure it's not a short-circuit/bad power supply issue (I doubt it is, 7870s seem to be prone to fan failure).

If it's not, it's RMA time I guess, not going to start hacking it into pieces as long as it's still in warranty 😛

 

[drarkayl]

you guys found any solutions for this?

I have the exact same issue, 1 fan works only after above 80% on ccc.

I really don't get this...the fan does technically work so what is the issue.

The biggest issue is i dont even know when this problem started for me i just happened to notice this by chance the other day.

 

[djanthony93]

you guys found any solutions for this?

I have the exact same issue, 1 fan works only after above 80% on ccc.

I really don't get this...the fan does technically work so what is the issue.

The biggest issue is i dont even know when this problem started for me i just happened to notice this by chance the other day.

Unfortunally is an hardware issue but playing like this for 2 months I can say that the card can handle, just set fans speed

 

[drarkayl]

you guys found any solutions for this?

I have the exact same issue, 1 fan works only after above 80% on ccc.

I really don't get this...the fan does technically work so what is the issue.

The biggest issue is i dont even know when this problem started for me i just happened to notice this by chance the other day.

Unfortunally is an hardware issue but playing like this for 2 months I can say that the card can handle, just set fans speed

yeah I also continue playing with this issue (been playing for idk how long)

it was better when i didn't know Lol , now I keep worrying about my card temps while playing .

but the card does seem to handle itself(maybe the dualx design keeps it extra cool, one fan is enough to hold it)

I want to know what can cause this issue, is it the card itself or the fan dying out? fans can be easily replaced cards not so much.

 

[djanthony93]

you guys found any solutions for this?

I have the exact same issue, 1 fan works only after above 80% on ccc.

I really don't get this...the fan does technically work so what is the issue.

The biggest issue is i dont even know when this problem started for me i just happened to notice this by chance the other day.

Unfortunally is an hardware issue but playing like this for 2 months I can say that the card can handle, just set fans speed

yeah I also continue playing with this issue (been playing for idk how long)

it was better when i didn't know Lol , now I keep worrying about my card temps while playing .

but the card does seem to handle itself(maybe the dualx design keeps it extra cool, one fan is enough to hold it)

I want to know what can cause this issue, is it the card itself or the fan dying out? fans can be easily replaced cards not so much.

I don't know causes. How can you replace a single fan? I tried but you need to replace both

 

[drarkayl]

you guys found any solutions for this?

I have the exact same issue, 1 fan works only after above 80% on ccc.

I really don't get this...the fan does technically work so what is the issue.

The biggest issue is i dont even know when this problem started for me i just happened to notice this by chance the other day.

Unfortunally is an hardware issue but playing like this for 2 months I can say that the card can handle, just set fans speed

yeah I also continue playing with this issue (been playing for idk how long)

it was better when i didn't know Lol , now I keep worrying about my card temps while playing .

but the card does seem to handle itself(maybe the dualx design keeps it extra cool, one fan is enough to hold it)

I want to know what can cause this issue, is it the card itself or the fan dying out? fans can be easily replaced cards not so much.

I don't know causes. How can you replace a single fan? I tried but you need to replace both

yeah you have to replace both fans since they seat into a single power supply wire.

the fans cost 20$ on amazon but might be even cheaper on eBay.

but I would only go for this once I know what causes this.

my opinion is that our fans are dying but idk if there's a deeper issue.

 

[djanthony93]

you guys found any solutions for this?

I have the exact same issue, 1 fan works only after above 80% on ccc.

I really don't get this...the fan does technically work so what is the issue.

The biggest issue is i dont even know when this problem started for me i just happened to notice this by chance the other day.

Unfortunally is an hardware issue but playing like this for 2 months I can say that the card can handle, just set fans speed

yeah I also continue playing with this issue (been playing for idk how long)

it was better when i didn't know Lol , now I keep worrying about my card temps while playing .

but the card does seem to handle itself(maybe the dualx design keeps it extra cool, one fan is enough to hold it)

I want to know what can cause this issue, is it the card itself or the fan dying out? fans can be easily replaced cards not so much.

I don't know causes. How can you replace a single fan? I tried but you need to replace both

yeah you have to replace both fans since they seat into a single power supply wire.

the fans cost 20$ on amazon but might be even cheaper on eBay.

but I would only go for this once I know what causes this.

my opinion is that our fans are dying but idk if there's a deeper issue.

can you tell me what fans are you going to buy?

 

[drarkayl]

http://www.amazon.com/Eathtek-Video-Dual-X-Sapphire-Radeon/dp/B00MVL4T0I

^ thats on a quick google search, im sure there are many more on amazon and ebay