Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 fan spinning to max rpm randomly

[lukehale]

The factory fan settings for the gigabyte gtx 970 g1 are really loud so I went and flashed the bios to allow lower rpms, the issue i've had is that even when i've set this custom fan curve in msi afterburner the fan will randomly spin up sometimes at absurd rpms for a second or two when i'm in a game. I've tried to find the cause for this but I have no idea how to solve this.

 

Any suggestions?

[VinZie]

MSI Afterburner?

[lukehale]

Just now, VinZie said:

MSI Afterburner?

what about it?

[VinZie]

Just now, lukehale said:

what about it?

You can control fan speeds there.

[lukehale]

Just now, VinZie said:

You can control fan speeds there.

I've said in the first post I'm using msi afterburner

[VinZie]

1 minute ago, lukehale said:

I've said in the first post I'm using msi afterburner

Fuck me. I can't read apparently. My apologies.

 

What motherboard do you have?

[lukehale]

Just now, VinZie said:

Fuck me. I can't read apparently. My apologies.

 

What motherboard do you have?

It's alright.

Asus z77 sabertooth, would my motherboard effect it?

[VinZie]

Just now, lukehale said:

It's alright.

Asus z77 sabertooth, would my motherboard effect it?

You might find a bios update. Go look for one on the manufacturers website.

[wzrd]

7 minutes ago, lukehale said:

The factory fan settings for the gigabyte gtx 970 g1 are really loud so I went and flashed the bios to allow lower rpms, the issue i've had is that even when i've set this custom fan curve in msi afterburner the fan will randomly spin up sometimes at absurd rpms for a second or two when i'm in a game. I've tried to find the cause for this but I have no idea how to solve this.

 

Any suggestions?

It could be spiking in response to a spike in temperature, have you tried monitoring temps as this happened? If the card has seen enough use there's a chance the TIM is starting to wear out, which would allow the temperature to spike for a second and cause the fans to spin up.

 

The other fault could be in the power delivery. Spikes in current can cause VRM temperatures to shoot up instantaneously, which would cause the fans to spin up, but spin straight back down as it went back to normal.

 

Your GPU BIOS may also have given up, so it could be a good idea to reinstall that to eliminate it as a source of error. The latest BIOS should be available on Gigabyte's website. Let us know how you get on.

[lukehale]

Just now, wzrd said:

It could be spiking in response to a spike in temperature, have you tried monitoring temps as this happened? If the card has seen enough use there's a chance the TIM is starting to wear out, which would allow the temperature to spike for a second and cause the fans to spin up.

 

The other fault could be in the power delivery. Spikes in current can cause VRM temperatures to shoot up instantaneously, which would cause the fans to spin up, but spin straight back down as it went back to normal.

 

Your GPU BIOS may also have given up, so it could be a good idea to reinstall that to eliminate it as a source of error. The latest BIOS should be available on Gigabyte's website. Let us know how you get on.

My temperatures never go higher than the temp limit which is 75c.

This issue has always been the case since I bought the card. I reverted back to the stock bios and it didn't do it but the absurdly high rpms are unbearable so I just went back to this. 

[wzrd]

1 minute ago, lukehale said:

My temperatures never go higher than the temp limit which is 75c.

This issue has always been the case since I bought the card. I reverted back to the stock bios and it didn't do it but the absurdly high rpms are unbearable so I just went back to this. 

As in 75C is the limit you have set using the fan curve?

[lukehale]

3 hours ago, wzrd said:

As in 75C is the limit you have set using the fan curve?

75c is the limit where it will start to downclock if the temperature exceeds it.

The fan curve is set to 35% on idle and 40% on load, from what I see on GPU-Z when the fan speeds start to change it will ramp up to 20,000 RPM according to GPU-z.

If i just set it to a static 35% it doesn't have this ramp up issue.

[wzrd]

Just now, lukehale said:

75c is the limit where it will start to downclock if the temperature exceeds it.

The fan curve is set to 35% on idle and 40% on load, from what I see on GPU-Z when the fan speeds start to change it will ramp up to 20,000 RPM according to GPU-z.

If i just set it to a static 35% it doesn't have this ramp up issue.

It sounds like the fan speed sensor isn't calibrated properly - fans can't spin at 20000RPM. This causes the temperature-RPM calibration of the software to be off, i.e. the fan is increasing its speed by far more than you have set in the curve, as the sensor isn't reading correctly.

 

The only way to get around this would realistically be to tweak the fan curve until it behaves the way you want it to, even if it doesn't look right, or to RMA it. A faulty fan sensor is definitely grounds for an RMA.

 

That said, most BIOSs simply won't allow you to run the fan too slowly under load, even if you set it that way in the fan curve, so if your temps come close to throttling point, it could be an innate feature of the BIOS that exists to protect the cards, and the only way to get around this would be a modded BIOS, although I am not sure as to whether any exist for that particular card.

[lukehale]

8 minutes ago, wzrd said:

It sounds like the fan speed sensor isn't calibrated properly - fans can't spin at 20000RPM. This causes the temperature-RPM calibration of the software to be off, i.e. the fan is increasing its speed by far more than you have set in the curve, as the sensor isn't reading correctly.

 

The only way to get around this would realistically be to tweak the fan curve until it behaves the way you want it to, even if it doesn't look right, or to RMA it. A faulty fan sensor is definitely grounds for an RMA.

 

That said, most BIOSs simply won't allow you to run the fan too slowly under load, even if you set it that way in the fan curve, so if your temps come close to throttling point, it could be an innate feature of the BIOS that exists to protect the cards, and the only way to get around this would be a modded BIOS, although I am not sure as to whether any exist for that particular card.

I'm pretty sure there's just a hardware limiter on the card, I don't think i'll be able to resolve it. Thanks for the help though.

[wzrd]

Just now, lukehale said:

I'm pretty sure there's just a hardware limiter on the card, I don't think i'll be able to resolve it. Thanks for the help though.

I think you're right, it's most likely just a built-in safety mechanism, whether hardware or software. No problem.