Graphics card temperature limit?

[Ben97]

I know very little about overclocking so I had to do a bit of research.

I have recently bought a custom built PC and my graphics card is the EVGA GTX 1650.

I wanted to change the fan speed because of what I first thought was an issue. At one stage I almost thought the card was faulty enough to return the build.

Is it really normal that many graphics cards these days have their fans off when under no use? That may seem logical, but the odd thing is that rather than running at a really low RPM when the system is warm ish, it can't run less than 1100RPM (around 33% speed). So instead, it turn off, turns on, off on ever second or so. It sounds like a mechanical hard drive that isn't getting enough power. It should be able to spin slower before powering off or spin the whole time in my opinion.

Here is an example: http://www.wetherby.me/wiki/pub/Sandbox/RandomImages/Graphics_card_fans_720p.mp4

I ended up finding a suitable program for Linux which is the OS I use called GreenWithEnvy that can control the fan speed.

What I have noticed here is that if you set the percentage below 33%, the fan then does that boot up, power off pattern permanently until it requires more input. The fans themselves are so quiet at under 40% that I would rather have them on the whole time. That is quieter than hearing them click on and off all the time.


More onto the temperature of the card now. I have set a custom curve for the temperature so it always runs at at least 34% which has removed the problem of it cutting out all the time. The other issue is that this card is incredibly loud when gaming compared to my old card (GTX 960 mini).

What I would like to know is if this is a reasonable custom adjustment I have made. I haven't seen the temperature go above 70 degrees when gaming. With the default card settings, it would get up to around 60, but generally lower. The problem was, the duty of the fan by default is about 70% when it got close to 60 degrees. While this kept it cool, the card fans were so loud they seemed to resonate my computer case and carinate too much for me to tolerate at times.

Here are the settings I now have:
http://www.wetherby.me/wiki/pub/Sandbox/RandomImages/2021-03-30-231916_1920x1080_scrot.png


As I'm not that knowledgable about this stuff, I don't want to mess around with any of what is on the left. The card implies it critical high point is 88 degrees. What I have done clearly makes it run a lot warmer than it would by default, but not very close to it's limit. Should this be ok in the long term? I haven't noticed a performance difference when gaming, but the noise is significantly lower.

 

[Ben97]

All I worried about was that the sound of the fans is ridiculous at 100% that I almost worried they would cause harm it sounds loud but more controlled at 90%. My whole case resonates and actually goes through the floorboards as my room is upstairs!

Unless I'm missing something, this program by default always goes sets the fans to go up to 100% from whatever your highest custom temperature is set to, even though they will cut out before this. If there is certainly no problem in having the fans running at full speed, then i can certainly see a good reason for putting them higher.

So far from my few days experience with this custom profile, I'm happy with the noise levels and based on what you say, it likely will increase in temperate as the room temperature gets warmer. Today was pretty warm for the UK at this time of year. I think my room temperature will get up to 8 degrees warmer, but very rarely by that much. From a test after further editing the profile I did today after gaming (or at least running it) for a good hour or so, i hooked up another monitor so i could see how the graphics card was doing and it didn't seem to go above 71 degrees as the screenshot shows:
http://www.wetherby.me/wiki/pub/Sandbox/RandomImages/2021-03-31-131923_3840x1080_scrot.png

I did for the sake of it push the detail up in the game a lot higher than I usually would basically to push it a little harder during this test. Wasn't perfectly smooth and playable, so likely will have been close to what it could handle.

Based on what you have said, if I don't think it will reach 80 (or very unlikely) I may as well set the fan speed a lot higher here. I have now increased the bump by a larger margin between 70 - 80 as it likely will need to work harder then when it is warmer. I don't think I will mind the extra bit of noise here on the few occasions it needs it, but when the fan is past 90% it is just too loud. Though I think that could be related to my case being a cheap one that doesn't dampen the vibration enough. I will continue judging this carefully before I confirm what I will use permanently as I won't be looking at the temperature most of the time!

 

[Ben97]

That is the program the company that built my PC (not sure if you can mention them here) suggested. Once I work out what will be suitable in the long term, I'm happy enough not being able to see the information in games.

One other thing that I should have mentioned is that I'd bought a noctua case fan as the stock one in my case (silverstone PS15) is a very cheap fan with a bit of a motor buzz. I bought it based on the information from where I got my PC from, and I did question that it used less power, and unfortunately it does seem to make my system around 5 degrees warmer (Just installed this now), which makes the graphics card fans noise alternate more. My case does allow for quite a few fans, and if I'm wanting to keep the graphics card quieter, I assume I will need to put more money on fans. I will question them again now I have bought it as they did say it "may help improve" airflow. While I didn't expect this myself based on the power rating, I expected to to be more or less equal based on what they said. The power rating is 0.06A at 12v compared to the stock fan at 0.45A. While I have to say it is very efficient as it seems to still draw a fair bit, it certainly doesn't draw as much as the stock fan.

Even holding the cheap stock fan at the front of the case drawing air in soon cools the PC down 2 - 3 degrees so I think if mounted properly and having one in the front and the back, I hopefully will be able to improve my situation. I will just want them to be quiet and consistent fans. this noctua fan is incredibly quiet, but 800rpm doesn't seem enough to be as effective as the stock fan.

 

[Ben97]

Yeah an 800 RPM fan isn't going to move much on its own - you'd likely need a few. Having more case airflow will certainly help the GPU fan not have to work so hard, up to a point where you are getting cool air in and hot air out fast enough to cope with whatever it's generating, there is no benefit going beyond that.

In general to move a certain amount of air per minute more fans spinning at lower speeds will be quieter than a few at higher speeds. Right now I've got four 140mm intake fans, and one 140mm and three 120mm as exhaust (the exhaust fans are on the CPU AIO cooler).

I use Argus Monitor to control the case fans speed based upon the GPU temperature too, turning them off entirely when it's below 45c, as it never reaches that temperature when not gaming.

I recently upgraded to a better monitor and the higher refresh rate of 144Hz meant my graphics card having to work harder than it did for the old 60Hz one, and the case fans were getting pretty loud. I did some testing and found I could reduce the maximum speed I have them set at to only 40% (down from 67% previously) without any increase in GPU temperature - it still peaks at 75c in 24c ambient temperature. They are a lot quieter at that speed.

I really appreciate the advice you have given. I'm not knowledgable in how to control fan speeds and other things like that. Though I would still rather not need to think about it too much. My mind has been a bit too fixed on it the past couple of days! But it obviously is important to look closely if i want to keep the graphics card fan speed pretty low.

http://www.wetherby.me/wiki/pub/Sandbox/RandomImages/P1160080.JPG

Here is a picture of the inside of of my PS15 case. I've added a few things such as some USB 2.0 expansion headers, extra memory and fans, but other than that, I don't know enough to put something together myself from the start. So it certainly helps getting information about the graphics card.

Just in case you are wondering, the foam between the graphics card and CPU fan really helps dampen some vibration from the card. Onto the fan on the CPU cooler (the Be Quiet Dark Rock TF), I'm really impressed with just how quiet those fans are, which is tempting me to go for some of their silent wings 3 series case fans. Some things I don't understand fully is the types of connectors such as some having 4 pins. Something else that I would appreciate is if you could possibly suggest or advise on where positioning fans in the case would be most beneficial. The case has room for one 140mm fan top and front, or two 120mm. The rear can just fit one single 120mm fan.

As I've got it, I would still like to use the Noctua fan as it is very quiet, but can accept a bit more noise, so long as it is consistent. I get pretty good impressions from the be quiet versions I mentioned. In this case, at most I would want one fan on the front, top and rear. Would rather not spend more and fill every available space!

Regarding temperature tests, I've been doing more today based on what you suggested. I did heat up my room somewhat with a fan heater to what it just occasionally may get to in summer in a heat wave (will have been pretty close to 30 degrees, but not the whole time as the heater kept turning off). And while gaming for about an hour, it steadily did rise and with my profile did a few times seem to peak at 78 degrees. But when I let my room cool back down to more normal temperatures, it tended to hang around 75. Then when i let it cool off by leaving the game and rejoining, 70 - 75 seems to be more typical. And this is with setting a fan profile that I'm quite happy with. When it gets to 75 - 80 degrees, I've set an extremely steep bump from 60 - 90. Although you said this is unlikely, I've also set another at 85 and make sure the fan is at maximum several degrees before it gets to critical. So now when the temperature is 85, it is at 100%. But I will certainly know by my ears if it is even close to 80 degrees as it isn't quiet!


As I'm happy with this profile now i know it is rather unlikely to get to 80+ degrees, I would certainly still benefit from adding fans. Including the noctua one I mentioned, if you could suggest where I could put 2 others and where they may be best located and weather I go for 120 or 140mm depending on where they will be put. They are not very cheap so I will need to think carefully before deciding it is worth it. But it does seem like having fans will help. Using an old power supply fan and just sitting it on top of the case seemed to help by around 3 degrees, so I'm hoping I will be able to reduce it by 5 - 10 degrees or so - or allow the fans to go slower still.

 

[Ben97]

To make things a bit more clear, after testing the noctua fan at the back, and finding out it wasn't quite strong enough to replace the stock fan, i am currently using both. So in my case (pun not intended), I am wanting to replace the cheap stock fan, which just leaves me with the single 800rpm, but quiet noctua fan. I have just been experimenting based on the picture i sent as the noctua fan is currently in the front, but being powered externally at the moment so I'm undecided where to put that and wonderwing weather to get 1 or 2 new fans.

The difference between this case and my old bitfenix cube case is that this has no stock front fan. But then it has a grill over the entire front of the case. My bitfenix case had 2 narrow air vents at the side near the front, but the actual front was totally closed. This in a way helped mask the noise somewhat. But I just couldn't find any other cases that were suitable for what i wanted and depth is one of the most important things for me due to limited space (under 400mm).

Regarding the USB 2 expansion, it is pretty important for me. I'm already using 8 ports at the back and without it, I would have 6. Yes, I'm not using the font two, but, I would rather not to keep things tidy. I did actually do some testing before I installed this. Not that thorough, but just listened and felt the airflow and I think it will be compromised very little. The bulk of it isn't over the fans, just the very tip of the strain relief, then the cables i tried to lay as low down as i could. It didn't seem to feel like it disrupted the flow or change the noise level. Even if it makes a slight difference, this is beneficial for me to have. I'm not sure of the reasons behind this, but I've always found USB 2.0 more reliable for many peripherals, especially when wireless like my mouse.

The reason why I thought I may need 3 fans to be a benefit was because the noctua fan alone shifts very little and i intended it to replace the cheap stock fan. I'll just need to work out the best locations for the fans.

Thinking of getting either this one, or the 140mm version: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/be-quiet-silent-wings-3-120mm-pwm-fan-fg-036-bq.html

And also need to think about the PWM versions which seem to be the same price. But I assume I would either need a suitable program to control them or some hardware to control the speed. I possibly prefer the idea of just using a low noise filter if they provide them (or use the noctua one i already have)

From that fan placement information on that page, they make it look like the more important fans are actually 2 exhaust fans at the rear, but not sure if i misunderstood or that would be the same for my case. The CPU fans in the orientation they are may disrupt the airflow in a way that one extracting air from on top will maybe could make things worse - though I'm not sure.

From the test I did a few days back, the single noctua fan as the rear exhaust fan made the card run just a few degrees higher. The graphics card noise levels and temperature that I'm happy with has the noctua fan at the front and the stock fan in the rear. But that stock fan is one that I certainly want to replace. And it is thinking what would be best ones to buy and location to put them in that i'm just a little stuck with. If I can get it to be at the same sort of temperature or lower with quieter fans, then it will be worth getting one or two. Low noise is priority for me.