ATI 2900 XT Fan Noise

[djbarty]

I've just upgraded from an ATI 1900XT to a 2900XT. I'm very pleased with the performance of the card, but there is one thing that has be throwing a fit:

The GPU fan on the 2900XT fires up the RPMs every minute or two for 20-30 seconds. During this time, it's clearly running at very high speed, and sounds like a leaf blower. It's SUPER loud. Whenever it's not running at 100%, it's actually very quiet.

How do I go about changing the temp/timing of when it runs at 100% so that it doesn't kick in so often?

 

[Hatman]

It kicks in when the card gets too hot, hows your airflow?

What case and case fans are you using? Air flow is v. important to all cooling so the 2900xt sucks in cooler rather then hotter air.

 

[blade85]

ati try tools

rivatuner

try one of those. Ati tray tools worked great for me.

you can set what temps you want to fan to go to what % of the total speed.

eg: you can tell it that at upto 60 degrees it should run at 40% and at 70 degrees it should go to 50% speed etc etc.

 

[techgeek]

The 2900XT isn't supported in ATI Tray Tools, ATITool on the other hand does. I couldn't change my fan speeds in RivaTuner either, although I like it's monitoring better.

@OP, your card should not be spinning up to full under any circumstances. That is unless it is seriously overheating. In fact I found that my fan didn't spin up soon enough to keep my card as cool as I like (under load of course). So I used ATITool to adjust the different temperature thresholds with a higher fan duty cycle. Now my 2900XT never sees 70C (tops out around 67). Of course I have to put up with a little more noise. I think at that temp my fan runs at 50% rather than 38%.

 

[michiganteddybear]

you can always adjust the fan speed thresholds, as previously mentioned..


assuming all else is well in the case (adequate and proper air flow), that is sometimes the price you pay for being an early adopter of new graphics cards.. usually the later releases of the same cards have better/more effecient heat sinks, and even improvements to the silicon itself to make them cooler

 

[djbarty]

Using ATITool (0.27), it appears that the fan kicks in when the card gets too hot. Once the card reaches about 70.8 degrees c, the fan kicks in until the GPU core temp lowers to about 64 degrees c. The GPU core temp stays < 70 degrees c, but not for too long before the fan kicks in once again after the temp starts to rise.

I'm using an Antec P180 case, and all of the fans are on auto (per BIOS settings). Interestingly enough, my E6600, o/c to 3GHz is running at only 40 degrees c (according to TAT). So, I don't think I have a case/cooling issue. I think this card just happens to run hot.

Looks like I have two options: get the ambient temp inside the case lower, or raise the thresholds. I think I'm going to try to lower than temp inside the case rather than change the temp at which the fan kicks in.

Damn, this GPU runs hot.

Thanks for the posts.

 

[honestjohn_]

It may not be that your case system temp is too hot, it could be that your air circulation around the card is disrupting the efficiency of the fan on the 2900XT. I use to have an X1950 Pro that would run hotter if I used the fan on the side of my case, left it unplugged and temps decreased by 3c. Either that, or possibly your card's heatsink isn't attached properly. I have average case cooling, and I have never had to play with the fan settings. Although as an experiment I jacked-up the fan speed once, just once. I let the cards BIOS handle it after I engaged the Hoover. The Fans on these things are obviously not meant to run full tilt.

Also are you saying you're temps are at 70c during idle or under load? If so, they really shouldn't be any warmer than 60c at idle. Ever since Catalyst 7.7 there has been a driver bug or feature which has raised everyones idle temps 5-10c.

Almost forgot, what kind of power supply are you using? If the card isn't getting adequate juice it could also create the condition you're describing.

 

[Rabidpeanut]

Dude your airflow must be terrible cause i have never even heard mine. Try installing fans in places where a space is provided in your case, check your manual (if you got one) for which way which fan must blow else you will be causing hot spots and incorrect currents in your case. I have a whole bunch of quiet fans in my case and it keeps everything nice and cold, but obviously if you put an IN fan in a spot for OUT then you will mess things up, try getting catalyst 7.10. Honestly i have never had a problem with temperature, oblivion gets my room nice and warm but the inside of my case stays cool as does the gpu.

 

[djbarty]

Air circulation around the card is definitely a problem, but I don't know if that's THE problem. I have set all of my fan settings on my EVGA i680 mobo to 100%, and opened the front door on the case. All I seem to have accomplished is to delay the onset of the fan running on higher RPMs. I'm using 7.10 catalyst drivers, and a Thermaltake Toughpower 850W power supply.

With the case fans set to 100% RPMs, TAT now reports my CPU (both cores) running at 36 degrees c. I can get the GPU fan to stop kicking into high gear, but only if I take the case fan off.

 

[pchoi04]

Air circulation around the card is definitely a problem, but I don't know if that's THE problem. I have set all of my fan settings on my EVGA i680 mobo to 100%, and opened the front door on the case. All I seem to have accomplished is to delay the onset of the fan running on higher RPMs. I'm using 7.10 catalyst drivers, and a Thermaltake Toughpower 850W power supply.

With the case fans set to 100% RPMs, TAT now reports my CPU (both cores) running at 36 degrees c. I can get the GPU fan to stop kicking into high gear, but only if I take the case fan off.

If you feel that airflow around the card is a problem it can only help to make it better or at least try. If that doesnt work I would look at aftermarket cooling.

It looks like the Thermalright HR-03 / R600 VGA Cooler might be a good option. This is just the Heat Sink but paired up with a good quality fan can reduce your temps and help your PC running quieter.