News
News Categories

Here’s why you should hold off on buying a liquid-cooled AMD Fury X graphics card

By Wong Chung Wee - on 3 Jul 2015, 10:43am

Here’s why you should hold off on buying a liquid-cooled AMD Fury X graphics card

(Image source: AMD)

While reviewing AMD’s latest flagship graphics card, the Radeon R9 Fury X, PC Perspective noticed “the unique sound” the card was producing while in operation. They commented on the “high-pitched whine” that emanated from the pump of the closed-loop water cooling system of the card. The system was designed by Cooler Master and the sound was evident once their test system was powered on. PC Perspective wrote to AMD and the following excerpt was the company's initial response, prior to the official launch of the card.

With regard to the “pump whine”, AMD received feedback that during open bench testing some cards emit a mild “whining” noise.  This is normal for most high speed liquid cooling pumps; usually the end user cannot hear the noise as the pumps are installed in the chassis, and the radiator fan is louder than the pump.  Since the AMD Radeon R9 Fury X radiator fan is near silent, this pump noise is more noticeable.

The issue is limited to a very small batch of initial production samples and we have worked with the manufacturer to improve the acoustic profile of the pump.  This problem has been resolved and a fix added to production parts and is not an issue.

The current batch of AMD Fury X cards that feature the "old" water pump. Take note of the teal and white Cooler Master decal. (Image source: PC Perspective)

Despite assurances from AMD, PC Perspective pressed ahead and conducted an in-depth investigation of this noise issue. In a nutshell, they concluded the current batch of AMD Radeon R9 Fury X cards will most likely exhibit this acoustic issue. Subsequently, they commented the new batch of Fury X cards have a different water pump implementation that purportedly reduces the noise-level of the high-pitched whine.

The Fury X card and its "updated" water pump. (Image source: PC Perspective)

Unfortunately, it isn’t easy to distinguish between the early batch and the later one. The only way is to unbox the card, take it apart to reveal its cooler pump. According to information gleaned by PC Perspective, the first batch of cards houses a pump with a “teal and white” Cooler Master decal, while the second batch houses a different pump that has a reflective embossed Cooler Master logo. So far, they claim that there isn’t further response from AMD. Therefore, they stand by their findings and caution would-be buyers to hold off on their planned purchases.

(Source: PC Perspective (1), (2))

Join HWZ's Telegram channel here and catch all the latest tech news!
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.