Radeon X800 noisy fan

[Soloist]

I have a Radeon X800 in this new pc with a noisy fan which seems to be running flat out the whole time regardless of the demands placed on it. I have downloaded and installed the latest software from the ATI website without any change.
ATI Support say that the card must be faulty but Evesham Computers (UK) have already changed the card.
My system is Windows XP Professional, Media Center Edition, AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+, 1 gig memory.
Does anyone have any experience of my problem? Thanks in advance if you can help.
Soloist, Christchurch UK.

[AlanJB]

I've got a similar rig to yours (Evesham Axis RD, X2 3800+, Sapphire X800GTO) and don't have this problem. If you install ATITools it will display the actual GPU fan speed (as a percentage). Sorry I can't be of any more help but this may at least help prove that the fan isn't reacting to temperature variations. My own X800GTO is only really audible when working hard in 3D.

[Soloist]

Alan, thanks for your reply, would installing ATITools compromise my warranty do you think? Can I use it at this stage just as a monitor of what the fan speed is without changing any speed control settings?

[AlanJB]

You can certainly use it purely as a fan monitor. That's more or less all I use it for, monitoring fan speed and GPU temps, as my R430-cored GTO is a poor overclocker. As for warranty issues, I can't see there being any when you're simply using the app to monitor the on-board environment sensors.

Alan

[trog100]

u can use it to control your fan speeds without a problem..

use the furry dice thing and watch the temps.. with the dice running your temp controled fan wants to switch up to the higher speed.. when its not running it wants to switch down to its lower speed..

u dont need to alter the cards core or memory speeds to do this.. just the fans percenatge speed at certain temps.. say 40% up to 50c and 100% at 60c.. the temps can vary depending how hot your card runs..

running the dice will give u a good idea of how to set things.. dice running equals game higher fan speed.. dice not running 2d silent mode.. slightly higher idle temps in the pursuit of silence dont matter..

trog

[Soloist]

AlanJB and Trog100. Many thanks for your useful replies, I'll give it a try.
Regards, S.

[Soloist]

Hi Guys!
I've not got round to downloading ATITools yet but I've had a thought, ATI have told me via its website ticket that this Radeon X800 fan speed is controlled by the installed software but with the latest software from its website and a new card installed by Evesham the fan still seems to be running flat out, its very noisy anyway. The techy from Evesham did not seem able to find the answer.
What I am wondering is, if the ATI software controls the fan speed why are people installing ATITools to do it? Perhaps you can enlighten me?
Incidently, since reinstalling the new Catalyst software (twice), I have lost the Control Panel, the icon has disappeared from system tray and when I click on the Control Center Icons in the Start menu, nothing happens. I wonder if this is connected with my problem? I am using Catalyst file v.8.252.0.0, mce v.8.18.0.0, .NET framework v.2.0.50727.42 and uninstaller v.4.0.100.1190. I have followed to the letter their instructions for installation in their pdf file. I'm obviously doing something wrong but don't know what!
Cheers, S.

[Albrich]

This is just to demonstrate how one system responded to the fan speed controls.

Fan Noise Info for Unmodified GeCube X800XL 256MB Video Card
(GeCube version uses a combined heat pipe + fan to keep things exceptionally quiet)

I used ATiTool 0.25beta14* to modify the fan settings as follows: (system ambient temp ~ 33C/92F ). Then, I surfed various new pages to use the display in non-gaming environment, with animations typically seen on news pages, until the temp reached steady-state for each % setting..

FanMode···GPUtemp···FanSpeed···NoiseLevel(subjecti ve)
Default·······47C·········0%·············Cannot hear video card fan (this is as it comes from the box)

Manual····· 60C·········40%·············Inaudible
Manual······50C·········45%·············Inaudible
Manual······49C·········50%·············Inaudible
Manual······47C·········60%·············Inaudible unless I'm right next to the case
Manual······45C·········70%·············Barely audible
Manual······42C·······100%·············Quite audible (about doubles total system fan noise)

These are subjective assessments. The system fan noise is very quiet. People with quieter or louder systems may hear more of a difference due to the video card fan at different speeds.

Note: if I set ATiTool to keep the GPU temp below 55C, it initially sets the fan speed to 50%. This automatic 50% setting keeps the GPU temp at about 49C.

From the box, the fan ran at 60% with a GPU temp of 47C. One can clearly run the fan at much lower rpm settings with very little increase in temperature, until a threshold is reached.

Notice the significantly larger temperature increase from 45% to 40% fan speed. There's an important thermal plateau there. So, I'd want to set my lower fan-speed limit to 45%, and I can safely change the default fan-speed profile as well, thus reducing fan noise and bearing wear without damage to the video card.

It should be noted these kinds of test results can change drastically and unexpectedly as the system ambient temperature changes. This also assumes the fan speed controller changes are in fact, linear.

*An apparent ATi rep has said that for X800 series cards, the stable ATiTool 0.24 is the highest anyone needs to go at this time. 0.25+ was released to add support for X1800 series cards. This might help simplify debugging.

Also, I have found that installing the Catalyst files appears to be unnecessary and just complicates (and can break) things. If monitoring and setting the fan speed is all you want to do then try just installing ATiTool first. On one machine (WinXP Pro Sp2 w/ MCE2005) all I installed was ATiTool and fan control worked fine.

[Albrich]

"What I am wondering is, if the ATI software controls the fan speed why are people installing ATITools to do it? Perhaps you can enlighten me?"

Soloist,

I think it's because the tools allow folks to setup multiple specific profiles that can be tailored for each type of planned system use (ie; browsing or gaming), and even for each application.

You can set up overclocking and fan control tailored to your needs and preferences, and if I read one document correctly, the user can set it so that the desired overclocking profile loads automatically with the game.

By running some simple tests, I determined I can safely run the fan much more slowly than ATi defaults set it to run. One can also set it to run faster at a lower temp setpoint. That will keep the GPU cooler than the default setpoints provide.

By conservatively changing the defaults, I figure I've increased the life of the fan about 25%, and my sytem runs quieter.

[Soloist]

Albrich, thank you very much for your very comprehensive and interesting replies. The data you have painstakingly given will be very useful. Apologies for not replyining sooner, I have been away.
Best regards,
S.

[Soloist]

Hi All
I thought you might be interested in the outcome of my noisy Radeon X800 fan.
Cutting a 4 month story short, the problem was due to a faulty graphics card and Evesham eventually replaced it. This resulted in a huge improvement in the fan noise which I was able to reduce further with ATI Tools (you may recall that ATI Tools would not work properly with the old card). The pc is almost inaudible now.
There is a lot to the ATI Tools program and my next quest is to find some instructions for it. I have done a Google search without success. If anyone knows where I can find them, please let me know.
Because you were all so helpful I thought you would like to know the outcome.
Best regards,
Soloist.

[AlanJB]

Glad to hear that Evesham eventually accepted what we had already worked out. :)

For ATI Tools documentation, see http://www.techpowerup.com/wiki/doku.php/atitool/start

Al

[sbarton]

I'm really glad I found this post. I just purchased a X800XL AIW 256 PCI-e with the exact same problem. The fan goes to 100% from power on and stays there. Using ATItool or Riva Tuner to try to descrease the fan speed manually does not work. Those tools accept a new value but the speed never changes. The OS is newly installed as are the Catalyst 6.5 drivers.

I guess I will take it back and see if they will give me a new one.