r9 290x problem

I have just bought two radeon r9 290x cards for crossfire. They both worked fine when i was installing and just doing none taxing stuff. However when i started to play games, the main card started to generate a very loud and fast clicking noise. I changed the card in the main slot and left the other out and the other one was perfectly fine, there was no clicking at all.

Also i have noticed that the card that clicks tends to run games much slower than the other with a lot of stuttering and slowdown. The only thing i can think of to cause this would be the fan, as i noticed it didn't seem to speed up as much as the other one.

I have tried to put the other bak in on it's own and the clicking is a lot less noticeable but is still there, and as i said runs games much slower, as if it is overheating with the fan not kicking in properly so it's automatically down clocking itself.

Has anybody else had this experience with a card before and is there a fix instead of just an RMA.

Thanks guy's

If you rotate the fan by hand does it still click?

Do you got it set to uber or quiet mode? Heat issues could explain the slowdown and stuttering.

As acanofcoke said: If you rotate it by hand, does it click? I am guessing not.

@acanofcoke: No the first thing i did when i took it out was try it by hand but the clicking isn't there. It only really starts to click bad when put into crossfire with the other, then it gets stupidly loud.

Have a very close look at the clearances of the fan blades. It really only takes a slight knock to put them out of kilter. Make sure nothing is in the fan, obvious I know but it could of been overlooked.

@acanofcoke: I have looked into the fan and there doesn't appear to be anything there. It also moves freely so there can't be anything inside touching it.

Try running single GPU, do a stress test for like 5-15min, replace GPU to your 2nd 290X do the stress again.

Not sure if it's a MOBO problem or one of your GPUs.

http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

Got any dangling wires anywhere that could be hitting the fan?

I can't see any. I have just tried the card gain in crossfire and shire thing the clicking came back, but it also started to have whine to it after about 10 minute's but it was really slowing my computer down.

Probably one of the chokes is knackered on the PCB. RMA it.

I think I'm going to have to. It definitely isn't right I just didn't want to if i didn't have to. Il phone them tomorrow and see what can be done. I don't want it i in the computer any longer than it has to be.

Is it not just coil/cap whine?

I would definitely RMA it. Wouldn't want to mess around with a pricey card like that.

It does scream for water cooling in my hears I must say though...