Good idea to adjust graphic card fans?

[byron_hinson]

Just got a 7970 and noticed that the graphics card was getting to around 70c before the fans started to kick in. Is it a good idea to use an app such as HIS's iTurbo to adjust the fans to start up sooner or is 70c normal for a single card

 

[Gregster]

If you use Afterburner, you should set a fan profile for different temps.

10c = 10%
20c = 20%
30c = 30%

etc etc (I stole that idea from another thread )

This will make sure your fans are working at optimum.

 

[SkodaMart]

The way I do it is to run something like MSi Kombustor, FurMark or you can just game and see how high the temps get.

Say you get to 80c in FurMark, you want the fan at 100% at this point so set your graph
something like this:



This will give best cooling performance as the fan will be at 100% when it is at full load.

It may be noisey however.

 

[weehamish]

Shouldnt 50% fan speed be enough to keep that card under 60c?

I mean on a MIS TF or Gigabyte WF btw not a standard cooler.

 

[SkodaMart]

Shouldnt 50% fan speed be enough to keep that card under 60c?

I mean on a MIS TF or Gigabyte WF btw not a standard cooler.

Maybe, set the fan, run a test and see how warm it gets it isn't difficult. It all depends on the card and the cooler, case airflow etc.
My 8800GTX SLi setup used to get rather toasty!!

I'm partially deaf so unless it sounds like a vacuum cleaner I would hardly tell anyhow.

 

[SkodaMart]

The graph I posted above is optimum cooling based on a card that gets to around 80c under heavy load.

 

[byron_hinson]

Thanks guys - will set up the fans on afterburner tonight then. Noise doesn't really bother me as I play with headphones on anyway, might annoy the wife, but then what doesn't!

 

[Yaayuh!]

The way I do it is to run something like MSi Kombustor, FurMark or you can just game and see how high the temps get.

Say you get to 80c in FurMark, you want the fan at 100% at this point so set your graph
something like this:



This will give best cooling performance as the fan will be at 100% when it is at full load.

It may be noisey however.

This is exactly how I try and set up graphics card fan profiles.
30% flat to 45c then as constant as possible up to 100% fan at the highest temperature you're comfortable with, usually 80c.

 

[LtMatt]

Just got a 7970 and noticed that the graphics card was getting to around 70c before the fans started to kick in. Is it a good idea to use an app such as HIS's iTurbo to adjust the fans to start up sooner or is 70c normal for a single card

The fan you have will provide better cooling and be more efficient than the reference fan i have.

In light of that take a look at a thread i created a few days ago in which i drew up several different fan profiles mixing silence and performance.

7970's at stock are built to operate in the mid 80's so its not unusual to see this behavior as the default fan profile is a bit lazy.

Using one of these should keep your temps well below that though.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18454664