ATI Radeon 4870's fan makes slight rattling noise

[jjahshik32]

Hey guys, recently I noticed a slight rattling noise coming from my Mac Pro. I opened it up and found out the noise was from the ATI Radeon 4870 fan.

Are there any after market fans for this radeon? I remember I replaced a fan for a ati x1900 a long time ago with an accelero. Is it possible for this one as well? And if so, anyone have any success?

 

[Transporteur]

It might help to clean the fan with compressed air.
If not, the Accelero Twin Turbo fits on to the 4870 as well.

I've got this exact cooler lying around here since I've got my Pro, but my 4870 is so quiet, that there wasn't really a need for it, yet.

 

[jjahshik32]

It might help to clean the fan with compressed air.
If not, the Accelero Twin Turbo fits on to the 4870 as well.

I've got this exact cooler lying around here since I've got my Pro, but my 4870 is so quiet, that there wasn't really a need for it, yet.

Thanks for the advice. I just ran out of the compressed air in a can.. I guess I'll hit up walmart tonight.

 

[Dragonforce]

Got my 4870 2 times exchanged because of that noise.
No big deal for Apple Care, they understood the problem and sent out a new card. If its still covered by AC I wouldn't customize it with a 3rd party cooler, if it completely breaks sometime you won't get it repaired. It has the full 3 year warranty like your Pro (if you bought AC)

 

[WardC]

I've had my Mac Pro for about 3 weeks now and I notice that my Radeon 4870's fan is making this light rattling noise. It's only noticeable when the room is almost silent and it comes and goes. I have determined that the sound is coming from the fan on the Radeon 4870 card, it's like a very light rattle-type noise. Kind of annoying though. I don't have AppleCare on this refurb unit, and I don't really want to pay $200-$300 to replace the card just because it is making this slight bit of noise every once in awhile. Just thought I would mention it and see if anybody else has this noise on their card.

 

[Zerozal]

Yep, mine does the same thing. It's very intermittent and not annoying to the point that I feel like I have to do something about it. At some point I'll upgrade to the 5870 and that will take care of the problem.

 

[WardC]

Yep, it's not loud and barely noticeable, but still a little bit annoying, it's kind of a little sputter every 30 seconds or so, a little bitty sputter sound, when the room is quiet. I just got my Mac Pro refurb and I lucked out and didn't order the Radeon 4870 in the unit, and it came with it....so I dunno. I might upgrade to the GTX285 at some point, but I really don't see the need. I don't do 3D and I don't game. But the sound is the only thing keeping me back from a perfect system :-\

 

[WardC]

Just today, it seems like my rattling noise is getting louder and more frequent. It's really annoying :-(