Radeon 4870 fan rattle - oil or grease?

OnePostWonder · Nov 17, 2012

I have a Radeon 4870 making a fan noise like this:

Radeon blower fan rattle

I've taken the fan completely apart and I'm at the stage of figuring what is best to do. I was able to take a cheap fan apart and figure out how these fans are part together. That was a case fan with a similar rattle, but putting oil down the shaft didn't do much to help it.

I'm able to lightly touch the middle of the fan while it's running, which has the effect of making the noise stop, if only for a moment. Also, turning the case sideways (fan laying horizontal) keeps the noise from happening.

While I'm thinking about it, be mindful of how your fan is put together. I was trying to follow this video:

Blower fan disassembly

On the case fan I practiced on, there was a little rubber cover over where the top of the shaft and plastic washer are. Well, being less-than-prudent, I just followed the guy in this video and got confused as to why my fan wasn't popping with the 3 screwdriver method.

DERP. The fan on my GPU had a rubber cover that allowed me access to the shaft and washer.

Anyway, what do I need to do now? Should I wipe down the shaft and surrounding areas with a lint-free cloth or just leave what's there on there?

Also, should I put in bearing grease or sewing machine oil?

Thanks in advance.

jboydgolfer · Nov 17, 2012

Funny that you mention this problem. I JUST dealt t with the Same issue on my HD 6950. I used Oil for a proffesional Automotive painting gun , but any Clear light weight oil seems to do the trick , IN SMALL QUANTITIES. Also If by chance it is a Powercolor , I contacted Jonathan from their Customer Service , and He Shipped me a new Shroud free of charge, all I had to Do was ask. Try it with your manufacturer , maybe it will work.

P.S. #-1 oil also may do the trick.

jboydgolfer · Nov 17, 2012

Seriously , Contact Sapphire. They Could be VERY helpful. Other than that 3-1, or Sewing machine oil.They Normally have TONS of Shrouds around from RMA's, and if your polite they will help.

and mine is NOT covered by Warranty.

I Really hope it Works out for you.

Best Regards

eidairaman1 · Nov 17, 2012

jboydgolfer said:
Seriously , Contact Sapphire. They Could be VERY helpful. Other than that 3-1, or Sewing machine oil.They Normally have TONS of Shrouds around from RMA's, and if your polite they will help.

and mine is NOT covered by Warranty.

I Really hope it Works out for you.

Best Regards

few years ago they were the fastest for support cases atleast for RMAs

OnePostWonder · Nov 17, 2012

Mine is from Visiontek.

At one point, I was going to contact them and see what they said. I might still do that.

For now though, I'd like to see what all I can accomplish.

stinger608 · Nov 17, 2012

For this I usually use sewing machine oil. Easy to get, as you can go to any sewing shop and get a 1 to 3 oz bottle for less than $3.

Of course like others have mentioned, contact Visiontek and see if they will ship you a new fan or cooler.

OnePostWonder · Nov 19, 2012

Should I be wiping the old oil/grease off the shaft and surrounding parts before applying new oil?

scaminatrix · Nov 19, 2012

Yes wipe the old grease, it may be dirty. Personally, I use the oil from a set of hair clippers as it's very thin and I've always got lots of it here.

Happened to my GTX470 fan, ~~but no amount of oiling could fix it~~ I remember now, Twin Frozr fans are fully enclosed - you can't get them apart enough to get inside them. Contacting MSI didn't hold any luck for me unfortuantely and now my other fan is starting to die.

Question, to help validate a theory - do you use Auto fan speed or do you turn your fan speed up manually when you game? In my experience, turning speed up manually has always made fans get to this point quicker than ones that have been run on Auto.

v12dock · Nov 19, 2012

I use 3 in 1 oil so sewing machine oil

OnePostWonder · Nov 20, 2012

scaminatrix said:
Yes wipe the old grease, it may be dirty. Personally, I use the oil from a set of hair clippers as it's very thin and I've always got lots of it here.

Happened to my GTX470 fan, ~~but no amount of oiling could fix it~~ I remember now, Twin Frozr fans are fully enclosed - you can't get them apart enough to get inside them. Contacting MSI didn't hold any luck for me unfortuantely and now my other fan is starting to die.

Question, to help validate a theory - do you use Auto fan speed or do you turn your fan speed up manually when you game? In my experience, turning speed up manually has always made fans get to this point quicker than ones that have been run on Auto.

You may be on to something. I was using RivaTuner to keep the fan at a quieter noise level.

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Radeon 4870 fan rattle - oil or grease?

OnePostWonder

jboydgolfer

jboydgolfer

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman

OnePostWonder

stinger608

Dedicated TPU Cruncher & Folder

OnePostWonder

scaminatrix

v12dock

Block Caption of Rainey Street

OnePostWonder

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