Trouble controlling GPU fan speeds

[JuggarJones]

The temperatures are fine, a maximum of 55*C on a maxed out, modded Skyrim with shader mods. My friend has the same settings, but gets a temperature of around 65*C, although his graphics card is much quieter. His GPU keeps to around 2000rpm, while mine goes insane at 4500rpm. I wouldn't mind slowing down the fan, making it quieter, if it means I go into the 60s in temperature.

So far I have tried numerous programs, such as AMD Catalyst to set a manual speed, and also MSI Afterburner to set a manual speed and a custom curve graph. Sadly, the 2000rpm quiet state only lasts until I play demanding games. I don't know what it is, but something seems to overwrite the custom settings, and decides to set the fan at 4500rpm to keep the GPU around 49-55*C. I have checked the BIOS, but I saw nothing related to graphics card fan speeds, but maybe I have missed something.

Any help would be appreciated as I have had this problem for as long as I can remember, but as I update my Steam game library, I encounter this problem more often! I have an MSI Radeon HD 7870 2GB if that helps.

 

[JuggarJones]

bump

 

[oldestgregg]

The temperatures are fine, a maximum of 55*C on a maxed out, modded Skyrim with shader mods. My friend has the same settings, but gets a temperature of around 65*C, although his graphics card is much quieter. His GPU keeps to around 2000rpm, while mine goes insane at 4500rpm. I wouldn't mind slowing down the fan, making it quieter, if it means I go into the 60s in temperature.

So far I have tried numerous programs, such as AMD Catalyst to set a manual speed, and also MSI Afterburner to set a manual speed and a custom curve graph. Sadly, the 2000rpm quiet state only lasts until I play demanding games. I don't know what it is, but something seems to overwrite the custom settings, and decides to set the fan at 4500rpm to keep the GPU around 49-55*C. I have checked the BIOS, but I saw nothing related to graphics card fan speeds, but maybe I have missed something.

Any help would be appreciated as I have had this problem for as long as I can remember, but as I update my Steam game library, I encounter this problem more often! I have an MSI Radeon HD 7870 2GB if that helps.

This may sound silly but you have ticked the auto button AND the little user cog to highlight the fan speed bit of AB in green havnt you?

 

[JuggarJones]

This may sound silly but you have ticked the auto button AND the little user cog to highlight the fan speed bit of AB in green havnt you?

Indeed I have. I have also tried without ticking the auto button, but nothing seems to change.

 

[K1LLSW1TCH]

Certain MSI HD7870 have a faulty transistor which needs to be removed before you can control the fan speed, I'll try and find the link for you as I had the same problem. It's very simple, takes two minutes and a sharp knife.

EDIT: Here's a link to the thread:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18484550

Just thought I'd let you all know that I found the diode (D201) and just removed it. CCC is allowing me manual control of the fans and BF4 maxed at 1920x1080 is giving me temps of around 50 degrees at the moment on 50% fan speed which I'm pleased with. Will probably ramp the percentage up if it gets any higher temperature wise but anything is better than the constant 100% whirring that I had before.

Just cut the highlighted piece off the board, or if you don't want to do it yourself I think you can contact MSI who are aware of the issue.

 

[JuggarJones]

Certain MSI HD7870 have a faulty transistor which needs to be removed before you can control the fan speed, I'll try and find the link for you as I had the same problem. It's very simple, takes two minutes and a sharp knife.

EDIT: Here's a link to the thread:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18484550



Just cut the highlighted piece off the board, or if you don't want to do it yourself I think you can contact MSI who are aware of the issue.

So you've done this and it worked for you? I'm guessing my warranty has expired as I bought the card 23rd June 2013, so pretty much just over a year ago. I'll read into this further and I will probably end up doing this. Thanks a ton though! I thought the probably was with bad airflow or something!

 

[K1LLSW1TCH]

Worked perfectly fine, my D201 wasn't in the exact same place as in the picture as my PCB was slightly different, but it's clearly labelled, near the bottom left corner. MSI might fix it for you if you fire an email and ask first as it's a known fault with those particular PCBs I'm sure they'd be happy to sort you out.

 

[K1LLSW1TCH]

Any luck with this?