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7800GT 100% fan speed issue - XFX's position

Associate
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1 Dec 2005
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163
Can anyone tell me if I install riva tuner will it actually tell me the fan speed in rpm? I have an xfx7800gt Extreme led edition and its fairly loud but I used to have an x800pro and that was loud too so I dont really notice the difference. Basicaly I'm not sure if it running at 100% or not?
I suppose while I'm here are gpu coolers like the zalman and the artic cooler one hard to fit and which is better ;)
Cheers
 
Associate
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13 Dec 2005
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474
I received my bfg 7800gt oc a week ago and i seem to experience similiar issues to you guys. Each day when i start the computer, its a safe bet that the fan will be at 100% when i get into windows. When i installed the 81.98 drivers i did indeed hear the fan speed decrease, even when i rebooted countless times, the speed would reduce once in windows. BUT, leaving the computer off over night and starting it the next day, windows failed to reduce the speed and thus, remained at 100 %. Eventually, after countless reboots, windows finally reduces the speed. I have to go through this process everyday and have been for the past week since i received it. Help me :(
 
Soldato
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I_Am_Vengeance said:
I received my bfg 7800gt oc a week ago and i seem to experience similiar issues to you guys. Each day when i start the computer, its a safe bet that the fan will be at 100% when i get into windows. When i installed the 81.98 drivers i did indeed hear the fan speed decrease, even when i rebooted countless times, the speed would reduce once in windows. BUT, leaving the computer off over night and starting it the next day, windows failed to reduce the speed and thus, remained at 100 %. Eventually, after countless reboots, windows finally reduces the speed. I have to go through this process everyday and have been for the past week since i received it. Help me :(

Mines acting the same now, can't you just leave it on 24/7?
 
Man of Honour
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cathain said:
Can anyone tell me if I install riva tuner will it actually tell me the fan speed in rpm? I have an xfx7800gt Extreme led edition and its fairly loud but I used to have an x800pro and that was loud too so I dont really notice the difference. Basicaly I'm not sure if it running at 100% or not?
I suppose while I'm here are gpu coolers like the zalman and the artic cooler one hard to fit and which is better ;)
Cheers

If you have the same 100% fan speed problems as so many others, you are screwed. Nothing will change the fan speed.

RivaTuner will not tell you the fan speed. I don't think that fan speed monitoring is possible from software with these cards.

The easy way to tell if it's running at 100% all the time is to listen to it.

What should happen is that it runs at 100% while the machine is booting, loading Windows and loading the graphics driver. It should then drop to a far lower level, around 25%. This causes a dramatic reduction in noise. When you run software marked as being 3D (AFAIK, the driver checks to see if OpenGL or Direct3D is being used), the fan should spin up to about 50%. An alternative is for the fain speed to be linked to the GPU temperature.

Either way, you should get a dramatic reduction in noise from the card when the graphics driver loads. If you don't, your fan is running at 100% all the time.

EDIT: The coolers aren't hard to fit, just a bit fiddley. I've read that the cloth pads covering the AC one for the memory chips can become displaced during fitting and that it's easier to remove them from the cooler, stick them on the memory chips and then fit the cooler. I haven't fitted either because I want a guarantee on a card that has proven to have at least one serious flaw and fitting a cooler voids the guarantee except on EVGA's cards. Personally, I prefer the AC cooler because it exhausts the heat straight out the back of the PC. I have one on my old 9800 Pro.
 
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Associate
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1 Dec 2005
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163
Angilion said:
If you have the same 100% fan speed problems as so many others, you are screwed. Nothing will change the fan speed.

RivaTuner will not tell you the fan speed. I don't think that fan speed monitoring is possible from software with these cards.

The easy way to tell if it's running at 100% all the time is to listen to it.

What should happen is that it runs at 100% while the machine is booting, loading Windows and loading the graphics driver. It should then drop to a far lower level, around 25%. This causes a dramatic reduction in noise. When you run software marked as being 3D (AFAIK, the driver checks to see if OpenGL or Direct3D is being used), the fan should spin up to about 50%. An alternative is for the fain speed to be linked to the GPU temperature.

Either way, you should get a dramatic reduction in noise from the card when the graphics driver loads. If you don't, your fan is running at 100% all the time.

EDIT: The coolers aren't hard to fit, just a bit fiddley. I've read that the cloth pads covering the AC one for the memory chips can become displaced during fitting and that it's easier to remove them from the cooler, stick them on the memory chips and then fit the cooler. I haven't fitted either because I want a guarantee on a card that has proven to have at least one serious flaw and fitting a cooler voids the guarantee except on EVGA's cards. Personally, I prefer the AC cooler because it exhausts the heat straight out the back of the PC. I have one on my old 9800 Pro.

Yea I'm pretty certain it running 100% now because I cant hear any difference in sound no matter what I'm doing. Reckon I'll just bear with it and get the new zalman vf900 when its released ;)
 
Soldato
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Me and my girlfriend Both bought shuttle SN25P's with BFG 7800GTOCs. (Exactly the same card, both have the same rev. fan) however hers is very quiet and mine sounds like a hoover :<

Emailed BFG and they just said "It's how the card was designed" or something. Well surely not if I've got one thats sillyloud and ones thats fine? :<
 
Soldato
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Scotland
QUOTE]I received my bfg 7800gt oc a week ago and i seem to experience similiar issues to you guys. Each day when i start the computer, its a safe bet that the fan will be at 100% when i get into windows. When i installed the 81.98 drivers i did indeed hear the fan speed decrease, even when i rebooted countless times, the speed would reduce once in windows. BUT, leaving the computer off over night and starting it the next day, windows failed to reduce the speed and thus, remained at 100 %. Eventually, after countless reboots, windows finally reduces the speed. I have to go through this process everyday and have been for the past week since i received it. Help me [/QUOTE]

Mine acts exactly the same.

I gave in and changed the cooler its now completely silent + gets an extra 30mhz overclock on the core.

So much for "lifetime warranty".

BFG tech support are a joke the only people who i have delt with that are worse are netgear.


I was told on 2 emails and on the phone that the card is supposed to run at 100% all the time. :(

Why ocuk stock them i don’t know.

And is it legal for a retailer to offer no technical support or RMA and fob you off to the manufacturers?

And am i correct in saying if there is a fault you have to send it to america?

If so how much does that cost?
 
Soldato
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And is it legal for a retailer to offer no technical support or RMA and fob you off to the manufacturers?

And am i correct in saying if there is a fault you have to send it to america?

If so how much does that cost?

As far as I know, it's not. The retailer must provide full support for the first year of ownership, then if you have any extended manufacturer warranties the manufacturer then takes over.
 
Man of Honour
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Just to the left of my PC
So it looks like BFG are even worse than XFX. Both have a big problem with their current 7800 cards, but at least XFX sort of admit there's a problem.

This is the first time I've had advice from OcUK that turned out to be completely wrong.

Incidentally, does anyone have a UDER version XFX 7800GT Extreme that works properly? I find it hard to believe that every single one completely lacks fan speed control, but all I can find is people with ones that don't work properly.
 
Associate
Joined
29 May 2005
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70
Dunno if this'll help, but a friend of mine was having a similar problem with another XFX card with the fan running at 100% 100% of the time. He tried installing Gainward's Expertool and he was able to dynamically set the fan.

http://www.gainward.de/drivers/

Might be worth a shot.
 
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