7900gt fan won't quiet down

ROcHE · Mar 24, 2006

I have the same problem with my XFX 7900GT. Sounds like a jet engine. This is my first Nvidia card ever and I somewhat miss Ati Tray Tools now

Canterwood · Mar 25, 2006

I've just switched over to a 7900GT from my old X800 XT, and the high speed fan noise of the GT is p*ssing me off now.

I went Nvidia this time round cos of the lower power and heat output, but I'm beginning to wish I'd stuck with ATI and got a 256mb X1800XT.

The noise is too much, I hope Nvidia can sort this out soon.

Looking around though, Artic Cooling have word on their site about a 'passive' cooler for the 7900GT, but its not available until June.

hans007 · Mar 25, 2006

a lot of nvidia based cards do this.

i had a evga 6600gt that never throttled and my msi 6800 also doesnt.

what you have to do is get nihibitor , and modify the bios to change the speed at 2d mode and the clock rates. some manufacturers do not have a different fan speed / clock speed for 2d mode, so there is no speed to throttle to.

once you mod the bios with nihibitor to enable that, then flash you shoudl be good to go.

all nvidia cards can do this, just some manufacturers do set it for some reason or another.

Gujski · Mar 25, 2006

I went from a BFG 7800GT to a BFG 7900GT and noticed it was louder too. Does not seem to throttle down.

RedBeard · Mar 28, 2006

I was having the same problem. I got my 7900 GT CO OC Superclock in today. This is what I did.

I installed these drivers:

84.25 drivers

But before I installed these the fan ran at full speed the entire time. Older drivers did NOT throttle down the fan. Give them a try.

BTW- the fan at full speed is VERY loud. When it throttles it is like night/day.

MADMAX23 · Mar 30, 2006

I installed those drivers 84.25 and everything is the same....the fan will always run at the same speed although in its Bios it's configured to run at different speeds...2D mode: 20%, 3D mode: 50%....

Live · Apr 10, 2006

I have a PNY 7900GT and the fan is always at 100% according to PCwizard and my bleeding ears. Rivatuner dosent show any info on the fans or temps that I can find (RC15.8). The 7900GT was installed on a fresh copy of XP and so the 84.25 were the first and only drivers installed. All clocks stock and temp idling around 45-50. at which temps are the fan meant to run different speeds?

This bios stuff sounds interesting. Could someone show exactly how to see what is listed in the bios and what and how to change it if needed? MADMAX23, hans007?

Any help would be highly appreciated by me and I bet a lot of other 7900gt owners.

What bug me are all these 7900gt reviews I read that stated this card was rather quiet. None of them mentioned any problems with the fan throttling.

Sithuk · Apr 10, 2006

I also have a PNY 7900GT and can confirm the fan stays at 100% all the time. It is driving me crazy :/

As all 7900GT cards are the same except for the fans and supplier's custom BIOS I'm hoping I can use another card's BIOS or that a new Nvidia driver will resolve the issue.

At least it's good to know it's not just my card.

Bullhonkie · Apr 10, 2006

My XFX 7900GT never seemed to throttle down either. The tiny fan they use on that reference cooler makes for a very annoying sound. I could hear mine from clear across the room and it was easily the loudest thing in my system. Everything else in my rig runs undervolted aside from the chipset fan, so it was very apparent.

I ended up replacing it with a VF-900 and couldn't be any happier. I have the Zalman running at 6v and it's completely inaudible to my ears. Temps dropped from 42C/70C idle/load stock to 33C/48C. I haven't had the need at all to turn it up past 6v. You could easily get away with a VF-700 since these 7900GTs seem to run so cool.

So not only was it unbearably loud, it wasn't all that great as a cooler either.

Scorpion · Apr 10, 2006

My XFX 7900GT is running 100% all the time as well. It's definatly the loudest thing in my case. Luckily I bought the VF900 at the same time for overclocking, but now it appears it's going to help me substantially with noise as well.

Can't wait to get home to tinker.

Is it me or is the VF900 so dang sexy? It looks great along with CP9500.

Live · Apr 11, 2006

So have any one got there 7900GT fan working right?

santz · Apr 11, 2006

If thou fan won'tu quiete downe, Shooote ite withe a bazookaAae!

youu woolde b happyu ife yuru fane wonte bee theree, ite willu remaine quiete FOREVERE

HEHE ue

Live · Apr 12, 2006

Santz you don't need anymore of the drugs you are taking. I on the other hand need a fix for this problem...

Canterwood · Apr 12, 2006

Replaced the fan on my 7900GT with a Zalman VF900.

Very disappointing for such an expensive card to have such a crap cooler imo.

I might have stuck with using ATI if I had known.

angeluss · Apr 12, 2006

i agree with Live about santz

anyway i tried everyway to make quiet my 7900 gt 's fan but i got that i will never gonna quiet down. i called leadtek research and they told me 'the board that been used to produce ur card is came from Nvidia(at least first party products) and THE BOARD HASn'T HARDWARE FAN CONTROL OPTION.!!!

also i received an email that inculed same answer.. so my idea don't waste ur time to make it quiet , just go and buy some suitable fans.

and one more thing never buy Accelero X1 , i bought one but it didn't fit.. now i've ordered zalman vf700cu, i hope it's gonna be delivered me tomorrow. if u would like i can put some pics of my card with new fan..

Gunslinger08 · Apr 12, 2006

Yeah, this is killing me. My videocard is by far the loudest thing in my system. Can anyone tell me where to get the tools I need to edit the card's BIOS?

Live · Apr 13, 2006

I would advise people to contact Nvida and the respective partners you bought from and see if we can get some confirmation on this issue.

angeluss · Apr 14, 2006

i contacted with them as i wrote before here! please READ!

Live · Apr 14, 2006

Originally posted by: angeluss
i contacted with them as i wrote before here! please READ!

I did read that you contacted them. That's why I suggested others contact (Which I have but not gotten a reply yet) them as well to see if it could be confirmed that there is no fan control at all on the 7900GT. Confirmed as from more then one source.

aiya24 · Apr 14, 2006

what cards are you guys coming from, like what was your card before the 7900GT?

i stepped up from a 7800GT and using the 84.25 beta drivers. my 7900GT goes full speed during post and when i launch a 3D app. i used driver cleaner to clean out my old drivers. if this helps anyone.

Live · Apr 20, 2006

Originally posted by: aiya24
what cards are you guys coming from, like what was your card before the 7900GT?

i stepped up from a 7800GT and using the 84.25 beta drivers. my 7900GT goes full speed during post and when i launch a 3D app. i used driver cleaner to clean out my old drivers. if this helps anyone.

I did a full format and fresh XP install and used 84.25. So its not that. Have you confirmed that your fans actually spins down? Try PCwizard and see if your fan really is doing anything but 100%.

aiya24 · Apr 21, 2006

i just installed it and it shows that my fan is running at 17% idling, when i launch a game it goes to 35% and gets loud. the noise at 35% is the same level when i've been playing CS:S for a hour or so i dont know if the fan even runs at 100% while i game. after this hour of csing it still shows 35%.

Suspicious-Teach8788 · Apr 21, 2006

VF700 is good but its loud. VF900 is about the same in cooling but its a lot quieter....

aiya24 · Apr 21, 2006

i have a vf700cu that i will eventually put on my 7900GT after i voltmod it and it isn't that loud compared to the stock fan under load. i haven't heard the vf900cu in person but i'm pretty sure the difference in sound is that that big. plus the vf900 comes with a fanmate2 and when you run it with that and turn it up to full its still running as just 11v not 12v so its a little quieter. my vf700 will be on a fan controller anyway so i won't be using the molex converter.

Live · Apr 25, 2006

Originally posted by: Unwinder creator of rivatuner
Actually I've not yet seen any 7900GTs able to adjust fan speed. So either the fan control scheme is ripped from the PCB by design (most likely) or all 7900GT I've seen are affected by the same faulty transistor issue like 7800GT (unlikely).

I just saw this over at guru3d. So I guess we are out of luck with this one. Annoys the hell out of me as I would never have bought this card if I had known this. Shame on you Nvidia!

http://forums.guru3d.com//showpost.php?p=1710150&postcount=17

7900gt fan won't quiet down

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