PCIe Video Card Fan is "Cycling"

I admit I've never heard of a GPU cooler doing something like this, but I have to say that 70-80°C is bloody hot. And having looked at the card itself, I'm not convinced that the installed heat exchanger is really adequate to the task.

Admittedly, Windows 7 is graphics intensive, so your GPU is getting a workout. But I really don't see how the problem could be a result of inadequate power. Still, considering how hot the thing is running, I would very seriously think about replacing the GPU cooler with something a bit more serious.

Thanks DrMoose,

I think that the only reason it's so hot is that the fan is not running continuously. I'm at NVIDIA's site right now to see if they have some kind of fan controller software.

CPU manufacturers and third-party have these applications, I don't see why GPU manufacturers would not.

I appreciate the quick reply!

Mike

Mike,

Nvidia only makes the chipsets and other manufacturers make the card such as Evga, XFX, Sparkle, Pny... I would check with the manufacturer's warranty department as it sure doesn't sound like its working properly to me, but it might be. That being said, I have seen people claim the cut off is 120c while others claim 105c and others talk about their's running at 80 to 90 all the time.

I've burned my finger quite well on some of the older cards without fans so they were running quite hot.

Good luck,

Randy

Had this once on a AGP card (not sure what it was really). It all worked well so I did not bother. Only at some point I was courious and had a look. Turned out the fan was blocking itself and restarted when it wanted to. The bearing was kaputt. At least so I guessed. Replaced it and got it back running continiously. Maybe not your problem but who knows.

You'll see if the fan can be controlled if you have two or three cables running to it. With only two cables you bet it is the fan!

All I know is this. CPUs tend to self destruct when they get up around 90-100°C. And GPUs aren't all that much different from CPUs. Certainly not in terms of the way they are made. So I cannot believe that running at such high temperatures is conducive to a long and healthy life for your GPU. Keep also in mind that thermal cycling, the process of heating up and cooling off and which is the primary killer of solid state electronics over time, is vastly exaggerated at elevated temperatures.

I would very seriously consider installing an all copper heat exchanger, either solid or heat pipe. As I said before, Windows 7 is a graphics intensive OS, and your GPU is getting a workout running it, so an aftermarket cooling solution is just a smart idea. I personally recommend Zalman products.

Also, while it is completely true that nVidia and ATI do provide chipsets to other card manufacturers, they do in fact make video cards of their own as well.

I had no idea that they even made aftermarket cooling solutions for video cards. I shoulda known. I really want to understand the cycling thing though.

This looks good, I have a similar on my CPU. I only need to make sure it will fit my card.

Thanks Dr. Moose!

Dr.Moose

Let me say that I have great respect for you but...you are wrong about Nvidia. They do not make video cards.

I know this from having worked with them as a so called partner for several years (2000 thru 2006) until I retired from the computer industry. They used to have it on their website that they didn't produce boards and only provided chip sets for board manufacturers. I couldn't find that on their current web site so I looked at trying to find an Nvidia manufactured board and I couldn't. I them looked up information on Wikipedia and got the following: "However, unlike ATI, Nvidia does not sell graphics boards into the retail market, instead focusing on the development of GPU chips."

I agree with you about the cooling. I like cool chipsets because they work better and last longer. That being said, graphic chipsets are notirious for running hotter than CPU's. I don't know why, but its not uncommon. I might suggest looking at Tom's Hardware. It's where I picked up some of the temperature quotes others were posting in a discussion about the 8800's.

If I were Mike, I would seriously think about doing as you suggested to cool that thing down. I have no doubt that it will last longer.

Randy

Sir, I stand corrected. Thank you. I always appreciate it when someone can illuminate my ignorance.

Hello,

I have designed cooling of electronic products for a big manufacturer during 7 years. As far as I understand, the symptoms are typical of a poorly designed servo controlled cooling, and that is exactly what I tried to avoid. The control loop includes thermal, mechanical and electrical emlements and is not easy to fine tune. Maybe some thermal resistances of mechanical characteristics of your device are altered and your product finally is in a corner case of the design and becomes unstable. I can suggest to remove dust from the heat sink if any

Difficult to correct and probably more destructive in the long term than a continuous 90C temperature for the GPU.