Using Speedfan with nVidia cards for fan control!

They make noise, too.

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smilingcrow
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Using Speedfan with nVidia cards for fan control!

Post by smilingcrow » Sat Aug 15, 2009 9:46 am

I’m aware that Speedfan reports GPU temperature with certain nVidia cards so I presume this data can be used to control a fan’s speed. Are there any caveats to this? The VGA cooling fan will be connected to a motherboard header which Speedfan can control.
The card I’m thinking of using is a Gainward 250 GTS which seems to use the more efficient design that was introduced with the 1GB version of these cards.

spartan117
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Post by spartan117 » Sat Aug 15, 2009 10:56 am

I got a similar set up with a 8800GTS with a HR-03, with a 120mm noctua fan on it.

But basically I have speed fan set up so that the ideal temp for my GPU is 65C and let it increase or decrease all my case fans based on the temp of my GPU, so currently idling at 500Rpm ^^.

Not an ideal set up but I cant seem to get independent control of each fan header even though I have 4 spinners on my show up, using an Asus P5k-E wifi.

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Post by smilingcrow » Sat Aug 15, 2009 12:42 pm

Thanks for that. Hopefully the Gainward card will also have the temperature sensor enabled but it’s best not to assume anything as manufacturers seem particularly lazy when it comes to implementing all the features on VGA cards.

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Post by smilingcrow » Sat Aug 15, 2009 7:37 pm

Would anyone reading this that has a nVidia card from an 8 series onwards please list the make and model and state whether Speedfan detects the GPU temperature. Thanks.

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Post by Lawrence Lee » Sat Aug 15, 2009 10:27 pm

smilingcrow wrote:Would anyone reading this that has a nVidia card from an 8 series onwards please list the make and model and state whether Speedfan detects the GPU temperature. Thanks.
AFAIK, they all do. Even some of their IGPs.

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Post by smilingcrow » Sun Aug 16, 2009 12:39 am

Lawrence Lee wrote:AFAIK, they all do. Even some of their IGPs.
I assume that the GPUs have the circuitry on die but was wondering whether it requires card manufacturers to implement something in the BIOS to enable it to be read. If that is the case then knowing that some VGA cards omit fan control or Power Saving features I figured this might something else that is ignored.

ascl
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Post by ascl » Mon Aug 17, 2009 4:56 pm

I have a gainward 260 gtx, and speedfan can detect the GPU temp, but not the fan speed, and AFAIK cannot control the GPU fan.

Rivatuner can however.

(As an aside: I have the alternative cooling model 260... I would not recommend it. It seems they added an extra fan and then cheaped out on the heatpipes/heatsink -- net result is no better cooling but extra noise).

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Post by smilingcrow » Fri Aug 21, 2009 5:24 am

I got my hands on a GTS 250 and the GPU temps showed up in Speedfan as expected. I decided not to keep the card in the end as the power consumption at idle was higher than I'd hoped and the stock heatsink was poor.

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