any way to make 3870's fans quieter?

[h2009]

I've got two 3870 XT graphics cards and they are so loud in comparsion to my computer, it really annoying. Is there any program i can use to turn them down.

Also what cooler could i use instead of the stock ones, which will be quieter than 20db?

thanks

 

[Scougar]

The cooler on the 3870 is barely audible until it gets to 90 degrees C, so they only way I see you having loud fans is that you have VERY bad case ventilation, forcing your fans to spin up excessively.

Try manually setting the fan at 60% all the time, as that is not exactly loud. (using Rivatuner as ATI Tool currently isn't stable/reliable on beta 3 or 4).

The other thing I would suggest is that you increase your case airflow, or perhaps position a fan to blow directly at the graphic cards. Is your base unit next to a radiator or in an enclosed area?

Just re-read: 20dB? Do you have ANY case fans? Best thing for you since you seem to be after an uber quiet machine, is either go water cooling, or buy an Accelero S1 and put a very slow spinning 92mm or 120mm fan on it.

So yeah, in conclusion, use Rivatuner to turn them down, but what is the problem that your suffering if your want them turned down to less than 15% of their max? You have problems elsewhere as the fans are not that loud on their default profile. Most complaints are from them not cooling enough as they are spinning fast enough until too late!

Matthew

 

[h2009]

Hi there,
Thanks for your reply

The case is has loads of fans, just all at 20db - since i dont want to hear them.
The graphics card themselves, arent that hot to touch, its just they are all on full whack speed, i dont know why they aren't slowing down.

I'll give rivatuner a go to see how thats comes along.

 

[Scougar]

Hang on.. do you have the powercolour PCS or extreme version? This has the zerotherm cooler on it (copper fan with no cowling), and is on 100% the whole time. You can't control it any other way rather than putting in a resistor/variable resistor onto it I believe. I could be wrong but that is true the last time I read about it.

I'm actually glad I never received the PCS version as it would have been too noisy to have my games machine on whilst my wife slept/reads.

EDIT: I think my original post sounded quite abusive, so I do apologise for that, I just couldn't understand why your fan was so noisy if it was the standard card. Hopefully you took it on the cheek and were not offended

Matthew

 

[h2009]

Hey,

Don't worry about it, i didnt take it abusively.
Could you just take a look at the link below to my cards and let me know if they are the ones you can't control please.
And if they are, i guess i'll have to get another more coolers!

If i do have to go along that route, do you think this will be the best for size? If you look at the rest of my system, the slot space is getting full, so i need a small cooler

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-027-TT&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=787


http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-079-PC

 

[killersheep34]

I have the same card.

The only way you're going to control the fan is if you use a Fan controller of some sort.

The BIOS is written to set the fan to 100% at all times (straight from powercolor, emailed them about it). There is no way of changing this unless someone brings out a BIOS to fix it, but I'm to scared to even tamper with a BIOS on a GPU card personally! hehe.

I intend on getting some fan controllers anyway. I have 7 120mm fans I need to silence, and the GPU one. The GPU fan will have to be modded to fit a 3pin connector. I have to advise against replacing the original cooler as it does a bloody good job! My GPU temp doesn't go over 50degs C on load. I'll just whack the fan up with the fan controller when I'm playing games.

 

[Phil2008]

I have the same card.

The only way you're going to control the fan is if you use a Fan controller of some sort.

The BIOS is written to set the fan to 100% at all times (straight from powercolor, emailed them about it). There is no way of changing this unless someone brings out a BIOS to fix it, but I'm to scared to even tamper with a BIOS on a GPU card personally! hehe.

I intend on getting some fan controllers anyway. I have 7 120mm fans I need to silence, and the GPU one. The GPU fan will have to be modded to fit a 3pin connector. I have to advise against replacing the original cooler as it does a bloody good job! My GPU temp doesn't go over 50degs C on load. I'll just whack the fan up with the fan controller when I'm playing games.

Thats why I never bought a powercolor cos the fans are set to 100% the whole time,, I went for the sapphire 3870 instead.