GeForce 9600GT loud fan always at 100%

[xelanoimis]

Hi,

I have a problem with a Gigabyte GeForce 9600GT (GV-NX96T512 I think) with a Zalman cooler that is very loud because it always stays at 100%.
At least that is what I think - same noice when PC boots, in WinXP, in game and so says NiBiTor. Temperatures are pretty low (like 22-30).

I looked into nVidia NTune and RivaTuner but the fan dialog tab is disabled. With the latest drivers too.

I know there are other people with this issue, but I can't seem to find a solution. Is this a solvable problem or should I return the card?

Alex

 

[UberGenocide]

Hi,

I have a problem with a Gigabyte GeForce 9600GT (GV-NX96T512 I think) with a Zalman cooler that is very loud because it always stays at 100%.
At least that is what I think - same noice when PC boots, in WinXP, in game and so says NiBiTor. Temperatures are pretty low (like 22-30).

I looked into nVidia NTune and RivaTuner but the fan dialog tab is disabled. With the latest drivers too.

I know there are other people with this issue, but I can't seem to find a solution. Is this a solvable problem or should I return the card?

Alex

Have you tried the stock drivers?

Is the Zalman cooler an aftermarket cooler? If it is, it may need software for it(im not familiar with aftermarket GPU coolers)

Respond please

Uber

 

[xelanoimis]

I tried drivers from cd (177 or so) and latest drivers from nvidia (19x or so). With the nvidia drivers I had the fan tab in RivaTuner but only one slider out of 3 was movable between 20 and 35% and did nothing anyway. Not sure what stock drivers mean.

The cooler was original on the board - this is how it's sold.

 

[xelanoimis]

I checked the card and there are only 2 wires to the cooler and the connector on the board has only 2 pins. So no control for the speed fan, I suppose.
I'm not sure if this means only that software like rivatuner can't control it's speed or maybe not even overwriting bios settings won't help it.

One idea is to connect it to a 5v wire from the power source to make it spin slower.

 

[UberGenocide]

I checked the card and there are only 2 wires to the cooler and the connector on the board has only 2 pins. So no control for the speed fan, I suppose.
I'm not sure if this means only that software like rivatuner can't control it's speed or maybe not even overwriting bios settings won't help it.

One idea is to connect it to a 5v wire from the power source to make it spin slower.

Sorry about the long wait for a response.

If it only has 2 wires for the cooler, then it is not possible to control the fan speed. It is probably and Auto Speed feature as it reads temperature.

Im not sure about the 5v wire...do not know if that would harm the card or the fan

Uber

 

[xelanoimis]

The procedure of wiring to 5 or 7v looks popular and well documented.
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/printpage/496
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article6-page1.html
And I suppose it's safe as long as the card is cooled enough at this lower fan speed.

But, not being my video card I can't abuse it

 

[xelanoimis]

OK, I fixed the problem!

I bought a Zalman splitter Molex - 4 x 3 pin cooler - ZM-MC1. This connects into a PSU molex and has 4 jacksfor fans, 2 with 12v and 2 with 5v. I connected the GPU cooler (2 pins cable) to 5v and that was it! The GPU cooler is almost silent, even when listened very close.

Here are some temperatures:

before (with 12v):
system cpu gpu (rivatuner/furmark)
35 24 45 idle at startup
38 28 68/75 furmark
37 28 58 3dmark 2006 demo

after (with 5v):
gpu(rivatuner/furmark)
46 idle at startup
80/84 furmark
65 3dmark 2006 demo

home temperature is 23-24 C
temperatures were read after test
I run furmark a few times until temperature reached maximum and stabilized (this software seems to burn like hell).

I am very pleased with this solution and I can sleep with the pc running now.

Worth to mention that this cable (zalman 5v) may not work with every cooler (more power consuming coolers).