How good is the 4870 stock cooler

[tristanic]

I thought the CCC 8.8 took care of needing to tweak the fan?

 

[Zillatech]

From everything I've read, the Stock Cooler is fine with an elevated fan speed. I do think that having to use 3rd party software or the CCC fan profile hack is lame thou. I just ordered my HIS "Turbo" 4870 so I'll know more after this weekend but I was going to use the Radeon BIOS editor (RBE) to maybe tweak my fan profile at the BIOS level after I know I have a stable card and have time to evaluate the fan/noise/heat issues.

The official tutorial describes some disadvantages of using the CCC fan profile hack as well. Plus, once you set your fan profile in the BIOS, everything is automatically controlled and you never have to worry about using all that 3rd party software

I'm sure I'll post back if I have a problem but thats my plan of attack for now. One thing I have noticed is that there are hardly any modified coolers being made my AIB's, only the PowerColor PCS+ and now the Sapphire "Toxic 4870" model (won't those Heat Pipes hit something?)

I think ATI did a nice job on the cooler without going "crazy" on the board length like the GTX 260/280's. Those cards are out for me just because they won't fit my case.

 

[Blackfirevatsal]

bro i am a newbie in this, So could anyone answer me that is life of fan decreases as we increase the stock speed of 23% & do this also violates warranty?

 

[imported_Lipton]

I got it at 35% fan, 52Celcius and loaded it runs below 70 with the fan at 65%

 

[Zillatech]

Originally posted by: Lipton
I got it at 35% fan, 52Celcius and loaded it runs below 70 with the fan at 65%

Do you actually switch "manually" back and forth at 35% / 65% between desktop and gaming? Does everyone have to do that that runs the "fan fix" via the "CCC"???

On a side note, I used the "RBE" to download and look at some of the stock BIOS fan settings and its no wonder all the early/stock 4870's run so HOT! The stock BIOS fan profile for the cards sucks!

Basically, the stock settings spin up the fan to 84% when you turn on the computer then take it down to 0% until the chip hits 58C, then the fan speed starts creeping up until about 20%-40% depending on the temp. What you can clearly see here is that @ 70C the fan is spinning at only 30%!

I've looked at another MSI overclocked 4870 BIOS and found it was better but still on the HOT side. The "Set all fan settings to recommended values" button would appear to do a far better job then any of the stock BIOS fan settings because its fan slope sets the fan @ 40% for 60C. Anything below that the fan seems to run about 30%-35% in the low 50's.

All you have to do is download RBE and import some stock BIOS files from the site to see what fan profiles are used for the different cards and you'll see that all the early BIOS settings suck! That's why everyone is turning to "CCC" to manually tune their fans.

ATI needs to issue a new BIOS with a better fan profile to all AIB's to stop this "Fan Fix" nonsense!

 

[dennilfloss]

Sounds to me that ATI decided that their chip can handle the heat and that silence is more important than overclocking for the average consumer.

 

[solofly]

Originally posted by: dennilfloss
Sounds to me that ATI decided that their chip can handle the heat and that silence is more important than overclocking for the average consumer.

Bingo!!!

 

[Zillatech]

That may be but 0% fan until 58C ??? The fan is near silent at 30% or below. They could have easily tweaked the fan slope making for better cooling while still maintaining near silent operation. Having a 75C HOT BRICK in your case is not good for the rest of your components. If the stock fan settings are so adequate, then why is the "Fan Fix" so plastered all over the Internet? Hell, even Kyle @ Hard|[OCP] did a video tutorial on it!

 

[solofly]

Originally posted by: Zillatech
Having a 75C HOT BRICK in your case is not good for the rest of your components.

Tell that to the ones that fold (like myself) and they will laugh at you... How about CPU and GPU at 100% 24/7... Let me put it this way, I haven't seen my, low power, cool running, 9800GT under 80C for a while now...

 

[Spike]

I really hope the chip can handle the heat since even at 30% the fan is too loud IMO. I can hear it over my all-ready more noisy than I would like P180 setup. 23% was the highest I could go and not hear a difference in noise when sitting at my desk but the temps where scaring me. I'll drop the fan noise when the winter sets and and as soon as my warranty is up I plan on getting some aftermarket cooling, probably the S1.

 

[Whitedog]

Originally posted by: dennilfloss
Sounds to me that ATI decided that their chip can handle the heat and that silence is more important than overclocking for the average consumer.

The problem you are overlooking though is if you do not MOVE that heat outside the case, it affects the temps of the rest of your components.

I don't know about you, but I don't want a heater inside my case below my CPU.

Blow that heat out the back of the case man.....

 

[Whitedog]

Originally posted by: Spike
I really hope the chip can handle the heat since even at 30% the fan is too loud IMO.

You're out of your mind. I can't even hear the fan until it as at ~35%. Which is what I run mine at minimum speed. And it is BARELY audible at that speed. Card runs at ~53°C @35% speed.

 

[error8]

Ok, I just got a Saphire 4870, set the fan at 33%, that's 1500 rpm and I'm getting 64 C in full load. The fan makes some kind of noise, but nothing extraordinary. It seems that, after all, 4870 stock cooler is a very good one.

 

[Zillatech]

Well, I just got through spending some quality time with my new HIS HD4870 "Turbo" card this weekend and even thou the card runs great, the fan is too loud for me It's using a copy of the fan profile from the ASUS "Top" Model and it spins up from 30% to 40% all the time. At 30% fan speed its quiet but anything above 35% you can really start to hear it!

I spent a lot of time looking through the different BIOS fan profiles and even if you set the fan profiles closer to "Stock" ones, the fan itself is loud above 35%. I do have a open front type case (like the "Armor" types). so I can really hear it when the fan throttles back and forth trying to keep the core temps @ 60c.

I think I'll probably RMA it and get a IceQ 4850 instead. That should be quiet like my previous 8800GTS 512 model I'm upgrading.

I would also advise care to anyone who sets the fan @ 30-35% while gaming because thats not enough to cool the card properly under "Gaming" conditions. 30% is great for the desktop but it can't keep up when you start to put it under load. I was using This Shader Demo for stress testing.

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: Zillatech
Well, I just got through spending some quality time with my new HIS HD4870 "Turbo" card this weekend and even thou the card runs great, the fan is too loud for me It's using a copy of the fan profile from the ASUS "Top" Model and it spins up from 30% to 40% all the time. At 30% fan speed its quiet but anything above 35% you can really start to hear it!

I spent a lot of time looking through the different BIOS fan profiles and even if you set the fan profiles closer to "Stock" ones, the fan itself is loud above 35%. I do have a open front type case (like the "Armor" types). so I can really hear it when the fan throttles back and forth trying to keep the core temps @ 60c.

I think I'll probably RMA it and get a IceQ 4850 instead. That should be quiet like my previous 8800GTS 512 model I'm upgrading.

I would also advise care to anyone who sets the fan @ 30-35% while gaming because thats not enough to cool the card properly under "Gaming" conditions. 30% is great for the desktop but it can't keep up when you start to put it under load. I was using This Shader Demo for stress testing.

Why do you think 35% is not enough for gaming? Mine hits 64 C with Furmark at full load. That is a very good temperature for a videocard.

I really don't understand what you're saying. You want to rma a 4870 just because it's "loud" and get a 4850 instead??? What? You are downgrading because of the noise? Get yourself an Accelero S1 and strap a fan on it and you won't hear the card anymore.

 

[Zillatech]

How long did you run FurMark for it to get to 64c??? Oh wait, If your running Cat. 8.8 or 8.9, FurMark is "Nerfed" because it ran the cards too hot and would crash (HD48xx series). Try renaming "FurMark.exe" to something else and run it again. have you tried other games running for an extended period of time while monitoring your temps @ 35%?

Try running the Shader Demo I linked to and also try renaming FurMark.exe and then tell me what your load temps get to @ 35% fan speed.

As far as noise goes, "Yes" I would RMA it if I have to listen to it at above 40% ever! It's very loud in my particular room/case. I was playing "Titan Quest" and the fan kept ramping up to 39%, then down to 30% constantly and it was very annoying. I still have another 2 weeks or so to work with it before an RMA so I'll do some further testing. I'm also not about to rip off the heat sink and mod it when I could just RMA it and get something else.

I'm curious to know what your load temps. are after you've stressed it more (under stressful gaming).

FurMark is nerfed in the 8.8 Catalyst driver on purpose

 

[error8]

Renamed furmark and now I get less then 64 C . Used ATI tool for 45 minutes and the most I could get was 65 C with the fan at 35%. Crysis got even lower, at 62 C. I guess your card has a bad contact between gpu and heatsink or something. One thing is clear, the stock cooler for this card is great, at least for me.

Oh and all these test were made with a slight overclock at 810/ 3700 mhz.

 

[Zillatech]

Those temps sound ok to me. I'll do some more testing w/ fan speed @ 35% and see what I come up with. I do want to keep the card because its really fast. I did a quick 3DMark06 bench and got 15,482 (Vista x64). Maybe the Asus Top bios fan profile is just not that good. Thanks for testing and posting back thou.

From your Sign., it looks like your system has excellent air flow as well. I'm sure thats helping your temps on the card too.