980 Ti fans revving up randomly

[Stale Sweetroll]

I've got the EVGA ACX 2.0+ 980 Ti, and for the last few months now I've had this issue where occasionally it will rev up for 1 or 2 seconds and go back to normal. Usually this happens when I load a new area in a game, when I'm in a menu and then go back to the game, or just after I've maximized from being minimized. Today, for the first time since I can remember, MSI afterburner wasn't on while I was playing Battlefront. This means my temp wasn't limited to 68 as I like to have it. During the round, the card fans would get MUCH MUCH louder than I've ever heard in the past ''rev ups''. This was like a vacuum cleaner had just been turned on. I have never in my life heard a fan this loud, and honestly I can't comprehend how the fans can go that fast. Much like the previous rev ups I'd have, however, this again only lasted a few seconds, maybe 5 at the very most, before returning to normal.

 

I don't know why the fans keep doing this, but what's more is that my performance in the game during this time was absolutely atrocious. When I opened MSI, I saw that the temps were at 82C, but I didn't get a chance to see the clock speeds. You would assume that the speeds were higher than normal given the temps, but given the poor performance, I'm left scratching my head. Once MSI kicked in with my 68C temp limit, all was fine. The card went back to its normal 1240 MHz clock speed and the game ran at 60fps for the rest of the time I played.

 

I guess I'm just looking for an explanation for this, and some advice about whether or not I should be worried and consider sending this back to EVGA. 

[Amazingasian]

Play around with the fan curves in AB.  Chances are you just have a funny fan curve set.

[Stale Sweetroll]

Play around with the fan curves in AB.  Chances are you just have a funny fan curve set.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. This is what I used to think when it did the quieter revving in the past, and that's why I've ignored it for months. It's so rare and I never had performance issues attached with it, so I just shrugged it off.

 

However, the crazy full on leaf-blower sound I heard today was without Afterburner or any custom fan curves at all. Not a problem necessarily since I intend to always have AB on, but I'm just wondering what the hell happened to make it both run poorly AND get up to 82C or higher. That coupled with the fact that the card has always run much hotter than other ACX 2.0+ 980 Ti's made me paranoid something more could be going on. I guess if it's not a problem with AB on, though, maybe I should just forget about it and not worry.

[Matt420740]

 

 

but I'm just wondering what the hell happened to make it both run poorly AND get up to 82C or higher.

Not having the 68C limit you set in Afterburner is what caused that.  When afterburner is running, the software will do what it takes to keep the temps at, or below your limit.  

 

When you gamed without that, the card did its own thing, surpassed 68C, and the fans did their best to keep it from overheating.  Once it got to a certain point though, the GPU started throttling to keep temps down, resulting in poorer performance.

[Stale Sweetroll]

Not having the 68C limit you set in Afterburner is what caused that.  When afterburner is running, the software will do what it takes to keep the temps at, or below your limit.  

 

When you gamed without that, the card did its own thing, surpassed 68C, and the fans did their best to keep it from overheating.  Once it got to a certain point though, the GPU started throttling to keep temps down, resulting in poorer performance.

 

Thanks, I guess that makes sense. The only thing I still don't get is that if the fans were capable of getting that fast, terrible as it was to listen to, why wouldn't it stay at that speed instead of doing it for only a few seconds? I guess it doesn't matter much, but it's still a bit strange to me. What's even more strange is that I've heard my fans at 70-80% and they weren't close to that loud. I feel like another 20% can't possibly be that loud, but I guess it's not something anyone can really answer. Thanks for your reply!

[0x1e]

Thanks, I guess that makes sense. The only thing I still don't get is that if the fans were capable of getting that fast, terrible as it was to listen to, why wouldn't it stay at that speed instead of doing it for only a few seconds? I guess it doesn't matter much, but it's still a bit strange to me. What's even more strange is that I've heard my fans at 70-80% and they weren't close to that loud. I feel like another 20% can't possibly be that loud, but I guess it's not something anyone can really answer. Thanks for your reply!

You can always put your fans at 100% manually to see how loud they get.

I have the ACX 2.0 cooler and personally have never had the fans rev. I don't think they have ever gone over 30%.

However I don't have a custom fan curve or custom temp limit.

If I do manually set 100% fan speed (when I trying insane overclocking) then I do notice the fans get much louder than what 100% produces for 1-3 seconds.

 

Never bothered me though as I wear headphones 1337% of the time and the card will also be going under water in less than a month.