EVGA Nvidia GTS 450 Fan Noise Help

Dekabal

So i just bought an EVGA Nvidia GTS 450 graphics card to replace my dead Nvidia GT 8800 and I noticed that the fan is always on, and audible, even when the computer is just idleing. Is this normal or is there anyway to fix it so it isn't always on when it isn't needed. The fan in my old 8800 GT would only come on when I was playing a game.

Wulf

There is an option in the Control Panel that allows you to set your card into different modes, I believe it's Adaptive or Maximum Performance are the two options. Also, if you are using the Coolbits thing (not even sure if that is still a thing :shrug: ) I think there is an option to set your fan speeds for different temps. It could also be a bad bearing if you are hearing a loud fan noise, but when you look at it, the fan isn't really going fast enough to justify the volume. I had that happen to me one time, but thankfully the RMA was quick from where I purchased it.

Dekabal

Yeh, right now its just constantly running. I tried changing what speeds it runs at but even with changing it, it never lets me go below 30% in EVGA Precision.

Javen

I'm not sure if this is your problem, but if you just bought the card, you probably have the most recent driver, 280.26. This driver apparently causes the cards to run at a higher temp than they used to, and your fan may be turning faster to compensate. Apparently clocking speeds is supposed to increase faster when graphical demands become higher, and decrease faster when they're not, but a lot of people have just been saying that their cards are running much hotter than before.

It's not definite, but if you do have that driver version, try rolling back to a previous driver and see if it helps.

EDIT: There's also the possibility that the card is just louder. Video cards are a lot bigger, beefier and louder than they were even a few years ago. It's possible you're just noticing the sound because it's such a big upgrade.

Wulf

Javen wrote:

I'm not sure if this is your problem, but if you just bought the card, you probably have the most recent driver, 280.26. This driver apparently causes the cards to run at a higher temp than they used to, and your fan may be turning faster to compensate. Apparently clocking speeds is supposed to increase faster when graphical demands become higher, and decrease faster when they're not, but a lot of people have just been saying that their cards are running much hotter than before.

It's not definite, but if you do have that driver version, try rolling back to a previous driver and see if it helps.

EDIT: There's also the possibility that the card is just louder. Video cards are a lot bigger, beefier and louder than they were even a few years ago. It's possible you're just noticing the sound because it's such a big upgrade.

Well, having moved from an 8800 not to long ago myself, that was a goddamn honker of a fan noise when it got going. I've found my 480 to be quieter on the whole than that shrieker.