My card is rattling so I'm worried if i should RMA the fucker
I love this thing
TIL - If you can RMA it, then do it. its not worth dicking around with the card.
I have no idea why my 6970 didnt work after i mounted the new cooler. Ive mounted at least 10 or 20 GPU coolers and this time was no different other then me taking a long time to find out which mounting holes on the cooler fitted the 6970 cuz the bloody instructions didnt tell me.
mounted it with the usual care i take - plugged it back in, powered it up, was never detected by windows again - nothing comes on screen either.
I attached one of my replacement fans that I bought off ebay for a laugh - the fan spins up so i know its not completely dead.
TBH I wouldnt put it past XFX to install some sort of system that prevents the card from booting up if you swap out the stock reference cooler with something else. Ive heard rumours of them doing this - There is something about the stock cooler that it needs to make the card work but i dont know.
Im done messing about with aftermarket coolers anyway - its really not worth the risk, id rather just pay for a card that comes with a decent cooler like a MSI's Twin FrozR and be done with it.
Im still tempted to contact XFX support for a laugh and see if they will RMA but ive already removed the stock cooler and its long out of warranty. I bet they'd send it back as soon as they see its been 'tampered' with, I know they can be right bastards when it comes to RMA's