7800GT 100% fan speed issue - XFX's position

[Angilion]

I'm one of the many people with a 7800GT that has the fan at 100% speed all the time. On the plus side, the GPU is cool. ~42C under load, ~35C idle. But it's so damn loud.

RivaTuner doesn't work, which seems to always be the case when the fan speed doesn't automatically vary as it should. I've looked at more than a dozen forums on various websites. Lots of people with the problem, no-one with a real solution that keeps your guarantee.

I phoned XFX UK tech support today. 60p/min, but maybe they have some answers. Maybe they do, but they aren't answering the phone. It rang unanswered for so long that BT terminated the attempted call. Twice.

Next stop, a search of the XFX forums.

It appears that XFX aren't just ignoring the issue. Some people report being told, by retailers and some card manufacturers, that 100% fan speed all the time is normal and as intended.

XFX appear to be offering a replacement card. This is a quote from a representative of XFX on XFX's own forums:

Yes they [XFX's R&D department] are in the process of trying to replicate the issue but have not been able to duplicate it. What I would like to do is arrange a replacement for the afflicted boards and get these cards in the hands of our R&D team. When you have a chance please call 800-880-3225, dial 1 for support and one of our reps will arrange the replacement.

Please note: If your outside North America please e-mail [email protected], include your contact information, reference this thread and we will have the appropriate regional support department contact you.

Link to the thread

 

[Angilion]

Right-click on the NVIDIA settings icon that's in the "tray" on the task bar. Select NVIDIA display and click on the monitor you're using (If you have two, it probably won't matter which one you click on). A window appears with a secondary window to the left of it. One of the options in that second window is 'Temperature settings'. Click on that and your GPU temp appears in the main window.

 

[Angilion]

As suggested by RyanXFX, from XFX, I contacted XFX support. Bear in mind that RyanXFX was explicitly offering an RMA and card exchange. XFX support replied:

"Sorry to hear you are having a problem with the fan, we are unsure of the exact cause, but does appear to be a configuration or driver installation issue, and we have confirmation that in at least one instance, a clean windows installation did solve the issue. But if this is option is difficult for you, ensure you remove any previous graphic card installations, ensure you have up-to-date mainboard drivers installed, you are logged on as administrator and close background applications be fore re-installing."



Which boils down to "We don't know what the problem is. Try a clean installation of Windows - that worked for one person."

I'm not satisfied. I paid a lot for this card and it does not work as specified.

 

[Angilion]

The problem is that many 7800GTs do not reduce the fan speed after Windows and the drivers have loaded. The ones that seem to be particularly prone to this are the newer ones that vary the fan speed according to the GPU temperature rather than what is being run (e.g. 2D/3D). It's a good idea...if it works.

 

[Angilion]

Over at XFX's forum, someone with access to a lot of hardware for testing has some interesting results pointing to a hardware issue. The "fix" is to earth a specific component on the card through yourself. This, apparently, works on the 4 or 5 faulty cards they tested in 3 different PCs. It has to be done each boot. It isn't a real fix, but maybe card manufacturers will use the information to make a fix.

Link to the thread. The relevant posts are from Percster on page 3.

Try it at your own risk, of course.

 

[Angilion]

Well if thats the case surely they are falsly advertising the card saying it has a "silent fan"

Yes, which makes their advertising illegal. You could inform Trading Standards.

The likeliest explanation is that the person who sent you that email either lied or is ignorant. If they lied then either they are stupid or the person who told them to do it is stupid, as there is evidence of their lie. So I'm going with ignorance.

 

[Angilion]

Hi (first post!)

I have just purchased a load of kit from OCUK including a XFX 7800GT Extreme which also has a fan running at 100%. Although the card performs fantastically it makes my system too noisy overall. The fan never changes its speed throughout the boot process.

Am I within my rights to RMA it back to OCUK as it is still within 7 days of delivery? Or is there a fix that has been found yet - maybe a BIOS update for the card?

Thanks

I think you need an RMA from XFX, though I am not sure. Try phoning OcUK first, but I'm basing this on the entries for XFX cards that appear on OcUK pages:

2 Years Manufacturer Warranty - Call XFX UK on 09068354400 for technical support and RMA services.

Good luck if you try that. They fobbed me off with the old "reinstall Windows" line. Which doesn't fix the problem for me, or several other people who tried it, but you might get lucky. Ditto for XFX support by email.

There is a known issue with the fans on the XFX 7800GT cards containing "UDE" in their model code (UDE3, UDE7 and UDER). I have seen only one report of the UDF7 model with this problem. This is a known issue affecting many people. It is not a couple of malcontents who don't know what they're doing talking crap. One of the many people talking about the issue on XFX's forums has access to a shop and has tried multiple combinations of PCs and different 7800GT cards. The cards with the problem have it in each PC, which have different hardware and different drivers.

It appears to be possible to get an RMA from XFX due to this issue in the USA. Two XFX employees have stated this on XFX's forums (Pan and RyanXFX). Support elsewhere seems to be behind the curve.

It also affects some cards from other manufacturers, notably BFG.

The issue appears to stem from coolers that don't follow the standard nvidia spec, plus some unknown factor(s), but it does seem to be a fault with the cards themselves, at least in some cases. One person has reported a fix, but it involves earthing yourself and then touching a specific transistor on the card while your PC is on. I don't fancy trying it myself, especially since you have to do it every boot. If you do fancy trying it, see the 1st post from Percster on page 3 of this thread

Check out the threads that another poster has provided links for. There are hundreds of posts in a dozen or so threads, just on XFX's forums. There are many more elsewhere on the net.

 

[Angilion]

Can anyone tell me if I install riva tuner will it actually tell me the fan speed in rpm? I have an xfx7800gt Extreme led edition and its fairly loud but I used to have an x800pro and that was loud too so I dont really notice the difference. Basicaly I'm not sure if it running at 100% or not?
I suppose while I'm here are gpu coolers like the zalman and the artic cooler one hard to fit and which is better
Cheers

If you have the same 100% fan speed problems as so many others, you are screwed. Nothing will change the fan speed.

RivaTuner will not tell you the fan speed. I don't think that fan speed monitoring is possible from software with these cards.

The easy way to tell if it's running at 100% all the time is to listen to it.

What should happen is that it runs at 100% while the machine is booting, loading Windows and loading the graphics driver. It should then drop to a far lower level, around 25%. This causes a dramatic reduction in noise. When you run software marked as being 3D (AFAIK, the driver checks to see if OpenGL or Direct3D is being used), the fan should spin up to about 50%. An alternative is for the fain speed to be linked to the GPU temperature.

Either way, you should get a dramatic reduction in noise from the card when the graphics driver loads. If you don't, your fan is running at 100% all the time.

EDIT: The coolers aren't hard to fit, just a bit fiddley. I've read that the cloth pads covering the AC one for the memory chips can become displaced during fitting and that it's easier to remove them from the cooler, stick them on the memory chips and then fit the cooler. I haven't fitted either because I want a guarantee on a card that has proven to have at least one serious flaw and fitting a cooler voids the guarantee except on EVGA's cards. Personally, I prefer the AC cooler because it exhausts the heat straight out the back of the PC. I have one on my old 9800 Pro.

 

[Angilion]

So it looks like BFG are even worse than XFX. Both have a big problem with their current 7800 cards, but at least XFX sort of admit there's a problem.

This is the first time I've had advice from OcUK that turned out to be completely wrong.

Incidentally, does anyone have a UDER version XFX 7800GT Extreme that works properly? I find it hard to believe that every single one completely lacks fan speed control, but all I can find is people with ones that don't work properly.