GTX 295 Fan Speed

[allenk09]

I have an XFX GTX 295, and the fan speed for some reason cannot be controlled at all through any program UNLESS I have MSI Afterburner running all the time. I used FurMark to benchmark the card and up at 100C the fan was MAYBE at 50%. When I turn the fan to 100% it sounds like a jet engine.

Is this normal?

 

[Joseph F]

You could flash a custom BIOS onto the card to have the onboard fan controller throttle the fan more aggressively.

 

[XFX Support]

The fan shouldn't ever need to be at 100% and those cards run very warm but not 100C.

How long have you had the card? Those card are about three years old. It likely needs to be cleaned up thoroughly by taking the cooler off and cleaning the fin array from the inside and replacing the thermal paste. After two or three years the thermal paste will not work as effectively and the fins will be clogged with lent that you can't get out without removing the whole cooler. The design with the fan in the middle is pretty easy to take apart. The other design with the fan at the back is a little more difficult so that depends on how comfortable you are doing it.

 

[allenk09]

The fan shouldn't ever need to be at 100% and those cards run very warm but not 100C.

How long have you had the card? Those card are about three years old. It likely needs to be cleaned up thoroughly by taking the cooler off and cleaning the fin array from the inside and replacing the thermal paste. After two or three years the thermal paste will not work as effectively and the fins will be clogged with lent that you can't get out without removing the whole cooler. The design with the fan in the middle is pretty easy to take apart. The other design with the fan at the back is a little more difficult so that depends on how comfortable you are doing it.

Thanks for the reply, it is the fan at the back. I contacted XFX support about warranty and they wouldn't help because it was out of warranty so I just took it apart myself and fixed all of the problems (wouldn't turn on at all, a piece of thermal paste was hanging off onto a few resistors probably shorting them out since thermal paste is conductive - card was never opened before that so I assume it was a factory error). It does run a little hot, but it never gets above 80C in battlefield maxed out. It only gets really warm when I'm running furmark on it. It's all clean inside but it could probably use a new coat of thermal paste. I don't know how to do that, and I personally don't want to chance it so I'd rather not do it myself.

 

[Joseph F]

Thanks for the reply, it is the fan at the back. I contacted XFX support about warranty and they wouldn't help because it was out of warranty so I just took it apart myself and fixed all of the problems (wouldn't turn on at all, a piece of thermal paste was hanging off onto a few resistors probably shorting them out since thermal paste is conductive - card was never opened before that so I assume it was a factory error). It does run a little hot, but it never gets above 80C in battlefield maxed out. It only gets really warm when I'm running furmark on it. It's all clean inside but it could probably use a new coat of thermal paste. I don't know how to do that, and I personally don't want to chance it so I'd rather not do it myself.

Applying thermal paste is easy.
Just clean off the old gunk from the heatsink(s) and GPUs with >90% isopropyl alcohol and a paper towel, apply a dot of thermal paste about 2.5mm across in the center of each GPU, and put the heatsink(s) back on.

Furthermore, you shouldn't run Furmark.
It has been shown to blow the power circuitry on certain graphics cards.

Do you have the dual-PCB or single-PCB GTX 295?

 

[allenk09]

Applying thermal paste is easy.
Just clean off the old gunk from the heatsink(s) and GPUs with >90% isopropyl alcohol and a paper towel, apply a dot of thermal paste about 2.5mm across in the center of each GPU, and put the heatsink(s) back on.

Furthermore, you shouldn't run Furmark.
It has been shown to blow the power circuitry on certain graphics cards.

Do you have the dual-PCB or single-PCB GTX 295?

I have the dual PCB, the one with the fan at the back of the card. It looks like XFX smothers these things in thermal paste before they leave the factory. I had some hanging over the side and IMO as a ham radio operator that builds a lot of electronics from scratch the thermal paste was shorting a few components out which made it not boot. The card was never opened prior so it was a factory error.

I've already taken enough chances with this card and I feel as if I'm about to break it whenever I do something even when it's just sitting in my computer.