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Is it OK to run the fans 100% 24-7?

FalseChristian

FalseChristian

Diamond Member
I have 2 eVGA GTX 460 1GB overclocked to 860/1720/4200 at 1.05v. I can only run the Fuhrmark stability test for around 3 minutes before it starts artifacting. The temps approach 100 Celsius. When I set the fans to 100% it can run the stability test for hours with the temps staying in the mid 80's.

Thanks.

Edit: Corrected the voltage.
 
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It probably wouldn't harm the fan in the short term, but it may cause premature failure after a few years, and it'll sound like a leaf blower. On the other hand, it probably isn't good for the GPU or power circuitry to pass so much voltage through the card.
 
FalseChristian said:
I have 2 eVGA GTX 460 1GB overclocked to 860/1720/4200 at 1.50v. I can only run the Fuhrmark stability test for around 3 minutes before it starts artifacting. The temps approach 100 Celsius. When I set the fans to 100% it can run the stability test for hours with the temps staying in the mid 80's.

Thanks.
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It will get noisier and noisier as the fan ages. If it runs 8 hours a day at around 40-60%, it should last for 3-4 years before it becomes jet turbines.
 
FalseChristian said:
I have 2 eVGA GTX 460 1GB overclocked to 860/1720/4200 at 1.05v. I can only run the Fuhrmark stability test for around 3 minutes before it starts artifacting. The temps approach 100 Celsius. When I set the fans to 100% it can run the stability test for hours with the temps staying in the mid 80's.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
3 Minutes ? I would get some water cooling, and save your ears.
I also wonder how long the GPU can hold up under the stress...
 
FalseChristian said:
I have 2 eVGA GTX 460 1GB overclocked to 860/1720/4200 at 1.05v. I can only run the Fuhrmark stability test for around 3 minutes before it starts artifacting. The temps approach 100 Celsius. When I set the fans to 100% it can run the stability test for hours with the temps staying in the mid 80's.

Thanks.

Edit: Corrected the voltage.
Click to expand...

Depends on what you mean by "okay." It will likely reduce the life expectancy of the fans by some amount. Why keep it oc or ov'd 24/7 though? Just idle it most of the time and only oc/ov it when necessary. That way you minimize the potential negatives.
 
Thanks, everyone, for your help. I lowered the voltage from 1.05v to 1.012v and the overclock is holding and the cards are running much cooler now.
 
FalseChristian said:
I have 2 eVGA GTX 460 1GB overclocked to 860/1720/4200 at 1.05v. I can only run the Fuhrmark stability test for around 3 minutes before it starts artifacting. The temps approach 100 Celsius. When I set the fans to 100% it can run the stability test for hours with the temps staying in the mid 80's.

Thanks.

Edit: Corrected the voltage.
Click to expand...

Unless you have a need to run Furmark 24x7 at 100% stability I don't see the need to gear your hardware up to be capable of doing that.

I would leave the fans to do their thing, and just know that when you are doing something with your cards that begins to approach the demands of furmark then you need to push your fanspeed upwards in just those usage scenarios.

I like Afterburner with the overclock profiles settable by hotkey. I run my GTX460 @ stock when doing desktop stuff, then I enable the OC profile easily and quickly before I start an encode job (takes advantage of CUDA).

If I were a big gamer I'd probably do the same thing for a my games. Have a moderate OC setting that kept the noise to a minimum for those games that I already know aren't much of a challenge for the cards and then have an "all-out" profile that I'd use only in those cases where the game I was playing really needed that horsepower.
 
My personal preference has always been to configure a machine to be capable of indefinitely running a maximum possible load without crashing. I can't comfortably play a game knowing in the back of my mind that my hardware could cause a crash if it gets too hot. Reliability comes before all else on my computers.
 
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dguy6789 said:
My personal preference has always been to configure a machine to be capable of indefinitely running a maximum possible load without crashing. I can't comfortably play a game knowing in the back of my mind that my hardware could cause a crash if it gets too hot. Reliability comes before all else on my computers.
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+1

And I find having a rock solid system that I have 100% confidence in far more satisfying than an extra 3 fps in games. Let's face it, 460's in SLI at stock won't struggle with much these days 🙂
 
Don't listen to people talking to you about your voltage either, overclocked or not the 460's under volt when you're not gaming.
 
I think you could considerably improve your temps with better case cooling. You might be able to get 875core at 1.06V and still have mid 70s temps. 1.08V should let you get to like 900core. You shouldn't really need to overclock like that with SLI though, and you definitely don't need to have those settings running 24/7. Use OC profiles in afterburner.
 
FalseChristian said:
Thanks, everyone, for your help. I lowered the voltage from 1.05v to 1.012v and the overclock is holding and the cards are running much cooler now.
Click to expand...

what are you ambients like? how is case airflow? have you set up a custom fan profile in afterburner? those temps are WAY too high for that card. I've never been even as high as 70c running furmark on mine at 1.087v.
 
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