GPU fan controller

Valentia

I got a new machine last week. Too lazy myself so Komplett built it. It has a Radeon HD 3850 512 graphics card. The rest of the system is really quiet but the fan in the Radeon isn't. I'll be using it mainly for Photoshop, not gaming, so it will rarely get stressed. Is there any way I can slow the fan down through software?

Most of the spec is:

Case: Gigabyte Triton 180 Black
PS: Antec Neo 550w PSU,
MB: Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4, P35, Socket-775,
Proc: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
Mem: OCZ Gold XTC DDR2 PC6400 4096MB

Plenty of HDD and Vista Ultimate (don't know why I bothered with that. Home Premium or XP Pro would have been just as good .

uglyjohn

seriously? are you sure its your 3850? i have one of these and i found it very quiet.
i actually adjusted the fan settings last week to turn them up for a bit of overclocking. it was very easy and you should be able to use a similar method to turn them down.
i used a program called rivatuner to set a series of fan settings corrisponding to different gpu temps.

what is the temperature of your gpu normally you can check this in catalyst.

Valentia

Yep, it's the HD 3850. I'm not at home now and will try that prog later. Thanks.

It seems to be running really cool (32-24C) but the fan is racing away regardles. I tried the ATI Auto Adjust ( I think) and it went up tp 49C.

uglyjohn

mine stays at 39 when im not stressing it (internet, windows etc). the fan is completely silent at this temp.
before i changed it myself the temperature would get to 80 while gaming but the fan was still always silent.

if you have any trouble with rivatuner there are plenty of people here who would be happy to talk you through it.

Valentia

uglyjohn wrote: »

mine stays at 39 when im not stressing it (internet, windows etc). the fan is completely silent at this temp.
before i changed it myself the temperature would get to 80 while gaming but the fan was still always silent.

if you have any trouble with rivatuner there are plenty of people here who would be happy to talk you through it.

Thanks . I'll have a lash tonight.

TerrorFirmer

AtiTool is an alternative, simpler interface. Though as said, are you sure it's the card and not the cpu fan - when I had my 3870, it was very quiet @ stock idle speeds.

uglyjohn

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

AtiTool is an alternative, simpler interface. Though as said, are you sure it's the card and not the cpu fan - when I had my 3870, it was very quiet @ stock idle speeds.

i had a very good guide for rivatner in a magazine, thats why i never used ati tuner. call me paranoid/old fashioned but sometimes i put more weight on something i read printed than on the internet

how did you find the 3870 performance? i like my 3850 but i kinda regret not having gotten a 3870 (that why i overclocked it)

TerrorFirmer

I said alternative; not better...AtiTool has a simpler interface so if it's just fan control you're doing, you might prefer it. I use Rivatuner myself though.

I liked the 3870...it was a huge step up from the card I had been using for a few months, x1800xt, and better then the 320mb GTS I used to have....but overall I changed it pretty quickly for the new 512mb GTS, couldn't quite keep up with Call of Duty 4 at 1680x1050 max with AA. Which I'm a stickler for...But without the AA it was more then capable of playing at max settings at that resolution.

uglyjohn

it really shows the difference the resolution makes. im not 100% positive (i may not have had the AA on full, might have been 1 below full) but i think i had everything on max with my 3850 and the demo was running insanely well at 1280x1024.

Valentia

Before this thread wanders too much

That ATITools thing seems to be having a bit of an arguement with Vista....

I have adjusted the fan settings in rivatuner but she keeps flying away. It is the GPU fan and not the CPU fan BTW. The fan seems to be connected by wires directly to the graphics card and must be getting its power from there. I wonder is that why? Maybe there is a way of connecting it to the motherboard?

TerrorFirmer

The fan on video cards is always powered via the card. Alternatively, you could put a third party passive cooler on your card for total silence, or further it again (in case you don't like the inevitably higher temps) but placing a near-silent 80mm fan over the passive cooler and connecting it to the motherboard.

What do you mean 'flying away'? It is not responding to Rivatuner?

Valentia

After intensive!! research and a splitting headache I have discovered that there are two serious problems with the HD 3850 and 3870 cards. They either run at 25% all the time or 100% all the time. There are many pissed off people all over the net. Someone has released a tweaked bios for the 70 but no cure that I can see for a 100% running 50. I should have checked a bit more before I bought it. Damn and blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TerrorFirmer

Really? I've never heard of it or encountered it...and I've owned 2 3870's...

Valentia

Lucky you by the sounds of it. Stick "Radeon fan speed help" into google. There is even a petition on the Radeon ATI forum.

uglyjohn

with the hardware monitoring in rivatuner can you see any change in fan speed based on gpu load/temp? is it just 100% the whole time? if so i can imagine how annoying it must get, 100% fan is a pretty loud.

Valentia

rivatuner makes no difference. There is a version of ATITools specially for the 38XX cards but only seems to work on the 70 and not the 50.

When I stop the fan manually I have a really quiet rig. That makes it even more frustrating. Especially as I will hardly ever be putting it under any real stress.

Anyway I'll keep looking. ATI have been aware of the problem for over six months so it doesn't look like they will ever bother sorting it out. I think Ill just RMA it for something else or maybe I'll just disconnect the fan!!

Is it easy to install a passive jobbie on these things??

Valentia

I've ordered one of these. It should quieten things down.