Loud fan noise with Nvidia GTX 560x2 SLI

[username_3502537]

Loud fan noise with Nvidia GTX 560x2 SLI

I recently bought a new computer and have been playing The Witcher 2 the last few days. Whether my graphics settings are low, medium or high the fan noise from my graphics card is very loud.

Here are my specs:

Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
ASUS® P8Z68-V: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, NVIDIA®SLI™, ATI®CrossFireX
8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155/1156 STANDARD CPU COOLER
CORSAIR 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE

I've been using MSI Afterburner to monitor my graphics cards' fan speed and temperature. With my graphics settings set to 'high' I'm getting:

GPU 1 - 97 degrees C and fan speed of 100%
GPU 2 - 63 degrees C and fan speed of 44%

With MSI Afterburner I've tried to set the fan speed to 50% which works ok for about 2 minutes and then the fan will suddenly jump to 100% speed. I've also tried setting the memory clock speed to close to maximum but this doesn't make any difference.

Is there anything else I can do to try and reduce the noise?

 

[Kindo.824]

The fan forcibly jumps to 100% because the GPU is running too hot; it's a safety mechanism. I'm sure there's a way for you to prevent this from happening, but that means the GPU will overheat and probably shut off your system, or simply break down completely. The fan is there for a reason, and if your card is running that hot, you should be glad that it activates before something breaks. Most graphics cards can function in high temperatures such as 95 degrees, or even a bit above 100 degrees, but it's never recommended to let them run that insanely hot.

I've also tried setting the memory clock speed to close to maximum but this doesn't make any difference.

Overclocking your card is only going to make it run even hotter. You also void your warranty by doing this, so if your card(s) breaks down from overheating - because you're lowering the fan speed - you won't be able to get a replacement. Downclock if you want it to run cooler (and silencing the fan), or get a third party cooling unit; they're usually more efficient at keeping your components cool, anyway, and don't make as much noise as most stock fans do.

 

[drunknmunkey666]

Check your airflow in your cabinet - something's very wrong in my opinion!!!

 

[username_3502537]

I have managed to reduce the fan noise by turning the clock speeds down using MSI Afterburner. By default MSI Afterburner had my settings as:

Core clock: 822 MHz
Shader clock: 1645 MHz
Memory clock: 2004 MHz

After playing about with the settings the fan noise is ok at:

Core clock: 600 MHz
Shader clock: 1200 MHz
Memory clock: 1000 MHz

I'm not sure why the default settings are high. I've never adjusted these settings at all until today.

Unfortunately since I've had to reduce these settings I now have to run The Witcher 2 at low graphics settings otherwise the frame rate is poor.

 

[Laivasse]

The default clock speeds you saw in MSI Afterburner were the standard ones for GTX 560 TI. You should seek a different remedy other than turning down clock speeds, because that is essentially crippling your card and equivalent to using a lower tier of GPU.

Check your case airflow for a start to see if there are any improvements you can make, then have a look at your settings for TW2. First check your graphics settings and turn off options that are too burdensome for your cards. I don't know too much about the impact of most of the options (googling for tweak guides should help), but of all of them Ubersampling is the option that really stresses cards to hell. Turning that off improves temps by 10-15C for me.

Whether that helps you or not, one thing you should definitely do is create a custom fan profile for your cards in MSI Afterburner. IMO the default fan profile dictated by the graphics BIOS is usually not sufficient to keep temps down; it runs the fan too slow while the cards are gradually heating up, then shoots them to maximum when they start getting close to dangerous temps, so you get the worst of both worlds (high temps AND loud fans). Keeping the fans set manually to 50% will do the same thing, since as the cards crest past 80C a speed of 50% won't be enough, so I assume Afterburner or your graphics BIOS eventually bumps the fans to 100% as a safety measure.

Instead create a custom profile (under 'settings > fan') that adapts the fan speed more suitably to your temps. You could have low-ish fan speed for idle temps, 50% speed for when your card gets over 60C, 80% speed for when your card gets over 80C, etc. Those were just random figures, you could probably find settings that suit your cards better with a bit of experimentation - just make sure you don't set the fans lower than default speed. With a custom fan profile and more reasonable GFX settings you can aim to minimise temps a bit without having to necessarily resort to 100% fan speed, but TBH it's a demanding game and an SLI air cooled setup is probably always going to be noisy - headphones might be your best bet. I have 2x GTX 570s and the fans roar when Ubersampling is on.

As a final suggestion, you might find that the new beta 285.27 drivers improve your temps. It might be just be wishful thinking but I seem to lose a degree or two of heat with them.

 

[username_3502537]

Thanks a lot for that Laivasse. I was just playing using those lower clock speeds on low graphics settings and I was having problems with my frame rate!

I have tried playing around with the fan settings and graphics settings but I find the fan noise at anything over 50% annoyingly loud. Presumably forcing the fan to only run at 50% would wreck the cards.

I still get a very loud fan noise with the default clock speeds and the graphics settings turned to low. Maybe like you said headphones would the best solution.

If the fan is running at 80% and my first GPU has a temp of 97 will I be causing any damage to the cards?

 

[Laivasse]

Nvidia says that the GTX 560 is safe to run at temps of up to 99c, so in theory a temp of 97c and even 99C+ (for VERY short lengths of time) is okay. In practice, who knows, you could be shortening the lifespan of the card by running it at that 97C for a serious length of time. My GTX 570s are rated to be safe up to 97C and Ubersampling pushes my cards to near 90C no matter what I do with the fans. I don't like that so I keep Ubersampling turned off (gives me temps in high 70s and doesn't thrash the cards so hard).

I think perhaps that your fan was only running at 100% due to the fact your card was approaching 99C - that is to say, if you set up a fan profile to trigger 75-80% fan speed at 80C-ish, it might never even reach 97C.

If you are getting loud fans even with GFX set to low, I'd say that could be due to the default fan profile your card is working with (the aforementioned problem of it bumping the fan speed too slowly). As you can see on your second card, by default, the fan speed is only at 44% even when your temps are mid 60s. Your first card is working from the same default fan profile, and 44% speed is obviously way too low at 63C since when that card is at 60C it is already heating up very fast on its way to 97C. It's possible that a custom fan profile will keep your temps under control in mid 60s-70s when you switch the game to Low graphics settings, without having to go much higher than 50-60% fan speed. It's hard to know without experimenting, really.

If you have space in your case, you could look into custom watercooling for your cards or an extra air cooler to improve temps. For the meantime, I guess it depends what way you want to play TW2 - pretty graphics with loud fans (and headphones over your ears ) and sub 90s temps should be possible, but low graphics with quieter fans (due to much lower temps) should also be possible. Personally I'm a loud fans, graphics whore, subwoofer cranking kind of guy. Just make sure Ubersampling is off and have a look at creating that custom fan setting in Afterburner.

EDIT: I just thought of something else. Setting graphics to Low turns off a lot of effects but I don't think it affects screen resolution. If you play TW2 in a lower resolution than your native one, it will result in less stress and less heat/fan noise for your cards. Every little helps.

 

[drunknmunkey666]

I got a single GTX560ti @ 900 MHz .. It runs to about 70c in TW2 at ultra settings (minus ubersampling) in FullHD ..
It would be a less-than-perfect solution to turn down your graphics or resolution, when your setup is just fine for running TW2 at highest settings.

You really ought to check which cabinet you got, and maybe post the brand + model in here so we can all take a look at it. I recently bought a new cabinet for my PC and since then temps in general dropped by 20c ...
So if you could post that info, I'm sure some of us can take a look at it and see if we think it needs replacing?
Also, if you want to, post a picture of the inside of your PC - so we can see if it looks okay...?

 

[username_3502537]

I got a single GTX560ti @ 900 MHz .. It runs to about 70c in TW2 at ultra settings

I did try ultra settings when I first got the game but my frame rate wasn't so great.

My case is a "COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE". I've also included a photo of the inside of my PC. I had to use the camera on my phone so quality isn't that great:



I've also been experimenting with a fan profile as suggested by Laivasse. I've tried a few different settings but none of them make much difference. At the moment the settings are:

20C - 33%
45C - 40%
60C - 52%
69C - 70%
77C - 90%

The temperature is around 90C at medium GFX. Any other graphics settings then the temp is 100C (yes for some reason the lowest GFX gives me a higher temp than medium).

The only thing that seems to make a reasonable difference in terms of temperature is lowering the resolution. I can get it down to 85C with a resolution of 1600x900 (my screen size is 1920x1080).

It seems like no matter what I do I'm going to get a lot of fan noise so I'm tempted just to reset everything to the defaults and use headphones. However, it does seem strange (and annoying) that Vinterberg only gets a temp of 70C and can play it on ultra.

The PC is located in a large, cool room and there's nothing blocking the airflow on the outside of it.

 

[drunknmunkey666]

It looks like your cabinet draws air in from the front, and blows it out at the back - do you got any fans on top of the tower and on the side?
A side+top fan could very well be the thing that needs to be added, to do the trick?

You got a very neat and tidy wiring and so on in that picture, very nice I think - And I love your PSU, nice choice

We had another user in here some time ago who also had serious heating problems, he bought a cabinet just like the one I and some others got - and the problem was solved .. "HAF 932" is the one I'm using, got front+back fan, side+top - and is very quiet, no noise..

But maybe somebody else got more clever knowledge of your issue?

 

[Laivasse]

I'm also at the limit of my knowledge. I have a Coolermaster case too (Storm Sniper series) and the airflow is very good.

I agree it does seem very strange, since there's no way that temps should be going past 90C at 90% fan speed on low or medium settings. At first I just thought it was stress on your cards, or maybe you had Ubersampling enabled, but now I'm not sure. Are you sure that all your case and card fans are even working? Is the Afterburner custom fan profile definitely kicking in? MSI Afterburner has to be running, & you need to click 'user defined' and 'auto' by the fan slider which will highlight the fan slider box green, for it to apply (but you should also hear a difference). Make sure your clocks are reset to the exact ones from your earlier post.

You could play a while with your side panel off and with a fan blowing in. If this reduces temps significantly then I guess the problem may be air flow after all.

From the professional way your case is wired, am I right in guessing it was assembled for you? If so, since it's a new comp, contact the vendor's tech support and tell them about the temps to see what they say. Don't mention adjusting the clocks. If they had a burn in period for testing the setup they should have noticed any temps like this.

It's possibly a problem with the way the cooling paste was applied to your main card's GPU. Swapping the cards in their slots to see how your second card copes under the main load would probably reveal this (you'd see much better temps on card 1, probably worse on card 2). Reapplication of thermal paste can be done by yourself, if you order some Arctic Silver compound, but it is fiddly and I've never done it (example guide here).

That's all I know, I'm afraid.

 

[karlroe]

You say this is a new system did you build it or buy it built, if you bought it built have you thought to contact the seller and ask if they can help solve the problem?

 

[username_3502537]

It looks like your cabinet draws air in from the front, and blows it out at the back - do you got any fans on top of the tower and on the side?

There is a fan at the top but not at the side. Considering I only got this PC on Tuesday I'd prefer not to have to buy a new case already especially as I'd then have to put in the PC components myself (and I'm useless at these DIY tasks!).

Are you sure that all your case and card fans are even working?

As far as I'm aware all the fans are working. According to MSI Afterburner and SpeedFan they are running.

Is the Afterburner custom fan profile definitely kicking in?

Yes it is I can definitely hear a difference in the way the fan works and I've done everything else you mentioned.

You could play a while with your side panel off and with a fan blowing in.

I don't have an additional fan unfortunately. I might buy one later.

From the professional way your case is wired, am I right in guessing it was assembled for you?

You say this is a new system did you build it or buy it built, if you bought it built have you thought to contact the seller and ask if they can help solve the problem?

The computer was built by the company who I bought it from. I did contact them before asking on the forums. They seemed to reckon that TW2 is a very graphically intensive game and that was why I was getting the loud fan noise.

I didn't know anything about MSI Afterburner until they mentioned it to me on the phone so they didn't know I was getting temps of 100C. Now that I know this shouldn't be happening I'll go back to them and see if they can provide additional assistance.

Reapplication of thermal paste can be done by yourself, if you order some Arctic Silver compound, but it is fiddly and I've never done it

Like I said above I'm completely useless when having to do DIY stuff (I was dripping with sweat just taking the side panel off!!). Since this computer is only a few days old it doesn't seem like something I should be having to do anyway.

Thanks for your help all.

 

[drunknmunkey666]

Even if TW2 is demanding, a well-built computer should never reach those temps - they should have made a stress-test on the machine before shipping it, because it's can't be right that there's certain games you cannot play with such a machine!
A stress-test could be running Furmark, and if it ever reaches more than about 95c then there's airflow-stuff to be done.

I hope you get a solution from their end!