How to adjust fan RPM

Spoom182

I decided to stop hijacking the computer build thread, and make another one. My graphics card (Geforce 8800GTX) is running a bit hot when playing Warhammer (180F, according to Speedfan). I looked around and saw that a lot of people have had problems with the 8800 series regarding its fans, and that they were often fixed by adjusting the speed. Well, I don't want to zap anything in my computer, so I was hoping someone could kind of show me how to adjust GPU fan speeds. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Zilla360

Rivatuner in Windows, nvclock for Linux. Might not work nowadays though, a lot of cards have auto fan control.

Spoom182

So, I set the Fan Speed to a minimum of 2,000 RPMs and right now its at 1685. Looks like I didn't do something right. I need to stress that although I built this computer, I've never tried fiddling around with the speeds of fans or overclocking or anything, so I'm pretty new to this. Also, I noticed that when I was playing Warhammer, the "Fan Duty Cycle %" was at 100. Does that mean it can't be pushed any farther, and this is just a waste of time to try and bump it up?

exoplasm

The 8800 series of GPUs are designed to operate under normal conditions at 70 to 85 C, but are tested up to 145 C.

If you really want to lower the temp you'll need an aftermarket cooler for it.

grrarg

It sounds like the fan is running okay. Did you have any luck checking the card for dust? There could be dust obstructing the airflow over the heatsink. It can be hard to tell on those dualslot coolers without taking the card out of the case and removing the cover.

I had a card start overheating once and thought the fan was dying. When I took the old fan off to replace it, I found dust clogging the heatsink midway down. It was too deep to reach just by blowing compressed air through the exhaust vents or fan.

It's worth a shot to take it apart and check since you'll have to take it apart anyway to install a new cooler.

taliosfalcon

Yeah, that looks completely normal, hell, on 8800GT's the fans don't even kick up to full speed till they hit 100C (212F)

Synthesis

Rivatuner is the way to go. Check under low-level overclocking options, and the fan control, and you can set fan scaling (from say 50% to 100%, rather than the normal 30% to 50%). Or you can use EVGA Precision for a simpler interface, if you want to set the fan to one speed all time.

exoplasm wrote: »

The 8800 series of GPUs are designed to operate under normal conditions at 70 to 85 C, but are tested up to 145 C.

If you really want to lower the temp you'll need an aftermarket cooler for it.

I'm using a pair of 8800GTs from EVGA (with their odd, very flat heatsink design). I notice they start to get jumpy at about 70 to 75 degrees centigrade--basically, the card would occasionally reset itself. This isn't a big problem, since it usually just means the game itself resumes after about a second or two of having the window blacken, but it is unnerving.

EVGA's 8800GTs come overclocked from the store (or at least, they come that way to Voodoo), and I'm running them at 750/950, with 1.1v BIOS flash. If I change the fan settings to 50% to 100% with Rivatuner, the cards never break 70 degrees centigrade (they idle at about 50 degrees centigrade), and do not 'reset'. But I'm personally experimenting (and willing to face the consequences accordingly).

The reason I mention this is because the 8800GT's fans, at their default setting, are very underpowered--they won't even hit 100% at 90 or 100, much less 80 (which just strikes me as being a bad idea). The card might be more stable at 1.05V, or at lower clocks, but even then, I'm pretty sure you'd be running into artifacts and the like well before 100 degrees with normal clocks.

Spoom182

Alright I'll take the card out tonight, I was kinda hoping I wouldn't have to, but if it works thanks for the help.