Gainward GTX 750 = obnoxious noisy fan

[sheh]

The GTX 750 is a very cool running chip. At idle the GPU reports here about +10-12C above ambient with no case fans. After 5-6 minutes of FurMark, with the fan limited to the minimum allowable 30% speed, it gets close to +50C over ambient.

I don't get why Gainward would want to put such a lousy noisy fan on the card instead of capitalizing on the easiness of making it quiet. At the lowest fan level of 30% it's not THAT noisy, but it's buzzy and clearly audible from a distance, in a closed case, over my stock CPU fan, PSU fan, and two HDDs. A total disappointment. And no way with the stock BIOS to slow it down further or turn it off.

Under maximum load it climbs to less than 40% speed. I assume in the summer it might even get above 40%, maybe even 50%.

Here it is at 30% speed, compared against no noise while I'm holding the fan. It was recorded in an open case, with a cellphone some 10cm below the fan.

http://soundcloud.com/gstuff2/t1-1

And here it is from a bit more distance, the cellphone sitting some 10-20cm away from the open case, as I increase the fan speed 10% at a time all the way to 100%, then decrease it again to 30%, stop it, and finally let it resume running.

http://soundcloud.com/gstuff2/t2-1

As another reference, I found a video someone uploaded:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_fMlbOeycg

Are any of the other GTX 750 or 750ti cards this bad?

 

[Stuka87]

Which model card do you have?

 

[sheh]

The dual slot. Looks like this:

 

[3DVagabond]

A) Get a case fan.
B) Stop running Furmark.


I'm assuming that's a budget card. Saving a bit on the fan doesn't surprise me.

 

[sheh]

The 30% noise is at idle, and it's the minimum. There's no temperature problem, the GPU is at <30C.

 

[gradoman]

Good Lord.

If you don't want to sell it and buy another your options are as follows:

El Cheapo way: remove shroud and fan, zip tie a small fan on to heatsink.

Expensive way: Aftermarket cooling.

 

[tweakboy]

What happens when you slow the speeds, make sure its not refurbished or used..

 

[Shehriazad]

The passive 750 is actually pretty legit...not entirely sure why people get a fan design on the non ti version. Return it and go for passive if you want a quiet 750. The passive non ti 750s get to like 65°c at best...but do so at 0db. (Idle around mid 30°c)

 

[birthdaymonkey]

Yeah, if you can't return it, just remove the shroud and ziptie a fan to it. I have a Zotac GTS 450 that has 2 80mm fans running almost silent and it never goes above 60.

 

[sheh]

Yeah, the simple fix is using another fan. But I wonder about two things...

Can owners of other GTX 750 cards, from whatever manufacturer, tell how noisy the fan is on their cards?

And what are your opinions on companies using such crappy fans on their products? This isn't a budget card at 100$ for comparable cards in the US, but even on a budget card I'd find this unacceptable given the low heat output. Couldn't they spend extra 50 cents on a fan that doesn't suck? Given the reviews, I suspect this Gainward is worse than others.

 

[Shehriazad]

Yeah, the simple fix is using another fan. But I wonder about two things...

Can owners of other GTX 750 cards, from whatever manufacturer, tell how noisy the fan is on their cards?

And what are your opinions on companies using such crappy fans on their products? This isn't a budget card at 100$ for comparable cards in the US, but even on a budget card I'd find this unacceptable given the low heat output. Couldn't they spend extra 50 cents on a fan that doesn't suck? Given the reviews, I suspect this Gainward is worse than others.

Haven't really measured it, but the Palit StormX (single fan) 750 Ti was pretty decent.

Sure...it was the one audible part in the PC...but it created a comfortable low-ish tone wind noise when under load.
There's now a 750 Ti KalmX in that PC...100% noiseless.

The other 2 machines no longer have a 750 card in there...but they were both Palits, one a dual, one a single. Couldn't complain about noise.

 

[sheh]

Thanks. The sad thing, Palit are the owner of Gainward.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

could use msi afterburner and set another temps/speed curve.

 

[Shehriazad]

Thanks. The sad thing, Palit are the owner of Gainward.

Unfortunately that doesn't mean anything. Especially in the tech sector there are companies that belong to each other where 1 company caters to the cheap and lower quality market whereas the other company takes care of the better segment.

You'd be surprised how bad that gets in the food industry ;p But yea...I don't think I have ever used Gainward...or that I ever will. But for some reason Palit (at least out of MY experience) makes solid products and the customer support is pretty decent as well(had to RMA 1 card, got it back within 2 weeks, fixed)

 

[gradoman]

could use msi afterburner and set another temps/speed curve.

Yeah, but:

The GTX 750 is a very cool running chip. At idle the GPU reports here about +10-12C above ambient with no case fans. After 5-6 minutes of FurMark, with the fan limited to the minimum allowable 30% speed, it gets close to +50C over ambient.

Under maximum load it climbs to less than 40% speed. I assume in the summer it might even get above 40%, maybe even 50%.

In the normal day-to-day stuff, I'm sure the OP could limit the fan, but if it's not really quiet at idle, replacing the fans or replacing the cooler would be the way to go if you can't get a different model.

Though, like the other person said, stop running Furmark, lol.

 

[andg]

One simple fix I did way buying some cables from from moddiy.

I got a male 2 pin GPU fan to a female 3 pin fan connector, a low noise fan adapter (a resistor cable) and a male 3 pin to female 2 pin GPU cable.

It works perfectly. such that the fan is completely silent now at idle. Even with the reduced speed the fan has no problem cooling the card at load.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

One simple fix I did way buying some cables from from moddiy.

I got a male 2 pin GPU fan to a female 3 pin fan connector, a low noise fan adapter (a resistor cable) and a male 3 pin to female 2 pin GPU cable.

It works perfectly. such that the fan is completely silent now at idle. Even with the reduced speed the fan has no problem cooling the card at load.

Yeah, I like this idea a lot.

"Budget" cards often have a high minimum fan setting in the V-BIOS (or no speed control at all!), so there's no software solution. But putting a resistor in line to slow it down should do the trick. Just make sure the voltage is high enough for the fan to start.

 

[andg]

Yeah. My fan has no problem spinning up, it still spins even on the lowest fan speed setting / no load.

 

[Lorne]

By the visual design of the card the fan is cavitating.
On my old 5770cu I put MB risers to bring the fan just above the shield about 1/8", Also replaced the TIM at the time.
Before it would sound like an old Volcano6 HSF at 33pct and just got hideous at higher speeds.
Now its unnoticeable until 80pct and its still really mild.

 

[tweakboy]

Lets see the Gainward is a cheap board.

 

[sheh]

Flapdrol: Like gradoman said, 30% is the lowest speed you can normally set, and it's already buzzy. It's not a problem with the temperature/speed curves, it's the fan.

gradoman: FurMark exists exactly for these uses. To check temperatures/noise/stability at the highest loads.

andg, birthdaymonkey: The card has dynamic voltage control, and 30% equals 4.35V. Quite low already, not sure if the fan will work with much lower. But the point remains: it's a poor fan and a poor choice by Gainward.

Lorne: Do you mean vibrating against the heatsink? Or creating noisy turbulences? What sort of risers?

 

[know of fence]

Same thing happened with all the dual fan EVGA 750 Ti cards, they just used a cheap non PWM fan, that was way too fast and noisy, it never spun up during benchmarks because temperature never got that high.
After many complaints EVGA released a new firmware, dropping the voltage ever so slightly, for a very slight improvement, but with voltage regulated fans you can't really go below 5 V or the fan won't start.

 

[andg]

All I can say is that my fan still runs fine with a resistor adapter while on the minimum voltage of 28-30%.

 

[sheh]

BTW, the fan is an Apistek GA82S2M. It's got everything. Buzzy noise, "shroud as fan frame" (what's the idea?), high power consumption...

 

[gradoman]

BTW, the fan is an Apistek GA82S2M. It's got everything. Buzzy noise, "shroud as fan frame" (what's the idea?), high power consumption...

Nice. An all around POS. I get that the part is supposed to be budget, but I wonder how much is saved by going this route with a cheap fan...

Edit: In regards to FurMark, I guess you're right, but I never bothered with it since Crysis exists.