Anyone using an ASUS ATI 4870?

knobshine

knobshine

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Just want to get some feedback about this card from other users...

I got my first one around october last year and was very happy with its performance. Then after about 3 months the fan packed up, it just stopped spinning, so my card would over heat and shut my system down. Otherwise the card worked fine, just the fan wouldn't work.

So I RMAed it. Now my 2nd one lasted about 2 months before the exact same thing happened, the fan died but the card otherwise still worked. So I've sent it back to the supplier but am scared to get it replaced as I'm afraid the fan will die on me again in a couple months and I'll have to do the whole thing again.

So my question to other owners of the ASUS 4870: Have you also had issues with the fan on this card?

I went to the ASUS forums and it seems many others have experienced my problem and ASUS is doing F-all about it, just telling people to RMA them (some people have gone through 4 cards it seems).

I really want to stick with ATI as the performance of this card (when the fan works) is great imo. I've always liked ATI and now that their cards are rivaling nvidia again I want to support them. But these ASUS ones are pissing me off.

My choices are either a Sapphire or XFX if I stay with ATI it seems.
So I'd also like to know if anyone here has had any experience with those brands?
 
SharkBait said:
4870 is a 4870 is a 4870, it's just the sticker at the end of the day that changes...

My 2c.
Click to expand...

With the standard cards yes. When it comes to after market coolers and pre overclocked cards then no.

Sapphire is the EVGA of the Ati world.
 
SharkBait said:
4870 is a 4870 is a 4870, it's just the sticker at the end of the day that changes...

My 2c.
Click to expand...

Yes but it seems the ASUS versions come with really bad fans hence my wanting to know about the other brands and if they have any 'Achilles heels' like ASUS and their dodgy fans.
 
I fitted a Thermalright HR-03GT and a Zalman 85mm low speed fan to my 4870. Cool and quiet as hell. Always ditch the stock cooling on a nice GPU in my opinion.
 
knobshine said:
Yes but it seems the ASUS versions come with really bad fans hence my wanting to know about the other brands and if they have any 'Achilles heels' like ASUS and their dodgy fans.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but how much petrol have you wasted to take the card in... Could have just got the arctic cooler and you would have been better of. Well, that is what I would have done.
 
SharkBait said:
Yeah, but how much petrol have you wasted to take the card in... Could have just got the arctic cooler and you would have been better of. Well, that is what I would have done.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's why I'm looking at other options now and not just replacing it again. Do I void my warranty if I put on an aftermarket fan or cooler?
 
knobshine said:
Yeah, that's why I'm looking at other options now and not just replacing it again. Do I void my warranty if I put on an aftermarket fan or cooler?
Click to expand...

Yeah. :( But if your card is running cooler, then why would it fail you again? :D From what you have said, it's only the cooler that broke, so I think it's safe to do it.
 
I have the asus 4870 with the round golden cooler. Is that the one you're talking about?

From hours of labourious research i found that this cooler is in fact better at keeping the GPU at a lower tempreture but the fan is allegedly prone to failure.

Also another problem which I found on the internet is that they've lowered the GPU voltage by a little bit presumably because the rest of the card gets hotter because of the cooler and they had to find a way to compensate.

Hmmmm i am happy with it so far though, dontr eally have another 4870 to compare it to
 
dekana said:
I have the asus 4870 with the round golden cooler. Is that the one you're talking about?
Click to expand...

That's the one. I'm a bit scared to void warranty but yeah, if it's just the fan that's giving my problems it shouldn't matter. Murphys law says something else will go wrong with the card if I change it though :p.

I can get credit for my card so depending on the price difference I'll probably go for the XFX as I'd rather keep my warranty just to be safe. (Not sure what sapphires are like but one guy I heard from had an issue with his one, was blue screening his pc, but that could have just been driver issues)
 
Most of the 4870's are the same. The sapphire one that you mention is just the stock 4870. This asus card as im led to believe has a better power circuitry on it too. Thats the plus side.. Obv the downside is the fan is prone to failure.... What I did want to do is ask ASUS south africa if my warranty will be void if I change the fan.

The card apparently is better than the other 4870's when u rectify the GPU voltage issue and put on an aftermarket cooler..... apparently.
 
dekana said:
The card apparently is better than the other 4870's when u rectify the GPU voltage issue and put on an aftermarket cooler..... apparently.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I don't trust myself enough to do this. Since I've never done it before I'd rather do it to an older, cheaper card first to make sure I don't screw it up :rolleyes:
 
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