X1950 Pro Fan Issue

Thrasher888

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Sep 10, 2008
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Was working on my brothers computer here, and noticed the fan on his video card wasn't spinning at all. I checked the power to the 3pin connector to the fan on the backside of the card, and getting 12v to the two outside pins. I 'manually' gave the card 12v to the fan, and the fan spun up no problem. I further checked the voltage at the connector to the fan - 12v again, but no fan spinning. Only way I can get fan to spin up is to pull 12v off of a molex connector. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?
 

harrycat88

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Jun 18, 2008
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X1950PRO's and 3850's are bad for that. The card will be running at 140 degrees F and the fan won't spin until it reaches 150 degrees or more.
There is two ways to fix the problem. #1 is to download ATi Tool or Riva tuner and set the fan speed manually for a given temperature but you have to do this every time you boot up.
#2 is just replace the heatsink/fan with a Zerotherm 810 or 815 and forget about it.
With my Zerotherm cooler installed, the 3850 GPU runs at 35C idle and max's out at 52C under full load. My X1950PRO ides at 42c and max's out at 58C under full load.
 

Zorg

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Either ATITool or RivaTuner will work to raise the minimum fan speed which may or may not solve your problem. Neither need to be set each time you boot. The fan profile can be set and the program started in the boot sequence. I use ATITool, if you need help setting it up let me know.

If they don't work you will probably need to get an aftermarket cooler or use the 12V from a molex. It's possible that the fan is going bad and wont spin up at the lower speeds, only you will be able to tell if this is the problem and how bad it is.
 

Thrasher888

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Sep 10, 2008
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Thanks for the replies. I tried both programs; ATITool wouldn't let me change fan speed... card probably not supported. I manually changed it in RivaTuner, the monitor shows it runnin at my setting, but fan still doesn't spin...So there is some other issue here. Now when i put 12v on it, its not spinning, oh well. For the mean time, I just zip-tied another small fan on the bottom side of the card, blowing into where the current fan is, and that seems to be working pretty well, idle temp is ~37.50c. Since I'm cheap, i'll probably just keep this ghetto setup until/unless problem gets worse.