After reports of high-pitched noises emanating from the cooler pump on initial batches, it appears that a follow-up now features a revised Cooler Master design.
After reports of high-pitched noises emanating from the cooler pump on initial batches, it appears that a follow-up now features a revised Cooler Master design.
The lion’s share of AMD Radeon R9 Fury X reviews are in and one repeated criticism (performance level aside) has been pronounced and sustained high-pitched noise from the reference closed loop liquid cooler. Separate from ‘coil whine’ (an electrical noise that crops up frequently on high performance an overclocked cards), the source was narrowed down to a pump which appeared to be running near flat out even under minimal load. Thankfully it’s not as disastrous as the reference R9 290X of yesteryear, but significant enough to prompt commentary from a wide range of reviewers.
The R9 Fury X, complete with old model pump
Feedback has nudged AMD into revising the pump, but this flaw wasn’t caught before the less optimal models made it in to consumer hands. Reports vary – some state that the noise is mild, others have found it unbearable – so it’s not clear just how widespread the issues are or indeed if they’re generally negligible when installed in a chassis. The only recourse appears to be returning the card, and thankfully that’s not too difficult in the UK and EU (even if replacement stock is few and far between).
An allegedly revised R9 Fury X with new Cooler Master pump model
According to reports on AnandTech’s forums it seems that the revised pump design is making it into retail channels, with RMA’d cards being replaced by the new version. One visual indicator of a revised pump appears to be a ‘holographic’ multicolour Cooler Master sticker, whilst older pumps have a ‘flatter’ white green and black sticker. It’s a quick turn around time for AMD and may indicate that they had some advanced knowledge of the issue but chose to launch anyway.
Hopefully the problem will be a minor blip for AMD’s new flagship.
SOURCE: Anandtech.com
