In this guide ill show how to optimize the fan control of 48xx video cards from ATI by tuning the parameters of the fan controller with Rivatuner.
In order to fully take advantage of this guide you must use Rivatuner 2.11.
Since the 4870 X2 uses a different fan controller with respect to single GPU sisters (4870 and 4850), the automatic fan control of these boards will be described in different sections.
Before beginning, lemme say this: in this guide youll not find the exact parameters optimal for your system; in fact optimal parameters for fan control depend on a number of factors that are unique for each system/user, i.e. the desired temperature in idle/3d, the power consumption in idle (that can vary greatly by optimizing the powerplay states), the ambient temperature, the efficiency of the whole cooling system, the tolerated noise and so on. So dont expect that the parameters ill show you (parameters that work nicely on my system based on my tastes) work out of box for you. In the end some tuning is expected from you, but dont worry, ill show you the logic behind auto fan control, so it should be easy to find the right parameters for each system: this is the spirit of this guide. Ok, lets begin.
Index
Part I - Preliminary steps: how to configure rivatuner for automatic fan control and for Crossfire systems
Part II - Automatic Optimized fan control for 4870 X2
Part III - Automatic Optimized fan control for 4850/4870
Part IV - How to reduce the power drawn in idle
Part I - Preliminary steps
Open Rivatuner, click on power user tab, find the group "Rivatuner \ Fan" , expand it by clicking on the "+" sign and change the value of the parameter "AutoFanSpeedControl" to 3 by double clicking on the right column:
Now close and restart Rivatuner. Congratulations: the auto fan control rules have been unlocked.
Now open the low level settings window: it is enough to click on the little arrow on the right under the active display adapter and left click on the first button:
Now select the fan tab:
You will see the low level fan settings window.
Fan settings Tab for x2:
Fan settings Tab for 4870/4850:
Now activate the low level fan control. It is enough to check the box "Enable low-level fan control". You'll get this prompt:
Click on "Detect now" and wait some seconds: good, now we can change the fan control rules.
If you have multiple video cards linked in crossfire, you can configure the fan controllers of the different video cards at the same time by enabling the cloning mode option for fan control in Rivatuner: in this way when you change the fan controller parameters of the master board, the fan controller parameters of the other boards are set equals to the ones of the master board; this is done automatically by Rivatuner. Note that this operation mode is valid only for same model video cards (i.e. 2 4870x2 or 2 4850 and so on).
To enabling fan cloning operational mode, browse to Power User Tab of Rivatuner, search the group "Rivatuner \ Fan" and set the variable EnableFanControlCloning = 1:
Remember: you need to close and restart Rivatuner in order for the setting to take effect.
If you interested in 4870x2 fan control, browse to part II of this guide, otherwise jump directly to part III, where i discuss about 48xx single GPU boards.
In order to fully take advantage of this guide you must use Rivatuner 2.11.
Since the 4870 X2 uses a different fan controller with respect to single GPU sisters (4870 and 4850), the automatic fan control of these boards will be described in different sections.
Before beginning, lemme say this: in this guide youll not find the exact parameters optimal for your system; in fact optimal parameters for fan control depend on a number of factors that are unique for each system/user, i.e. the desired temperature in idle/3d, the power consumption in idle (that can vary greatly by optimizing the powerplay states), the ambient temperature, the efficiency of the whole cooling system, the tolerated noise and so on. So dont expect that the parameters ill show you (parameters that work nicely on my system based on my tastes) work out of box for you. In the end some tuning is expected from you, but dont worry, ill show you the logic behind auto fan control, so it should be easy to find the right parameters for each system: this is the spirit of this guide. Ok, lets begin.
Index
Part I - Preliminary steps: how to configure rivatuner for automatic fan control and for Crossfire systems
Part II - Automatic Optimized fan control for 4870 X2
Part III - Automatic Optimized fan control for 4850/4870
Part IV - How to reduce the power drawn in idle
Part I - Preliminary steps
Open Rivatuner, click on power user tab, find the group "Rivatuner \ Fan" , expand it by clicking on the "+" sign and change the value of the parameter "AutoFanSpeedControl" to 3 by double clicking on the right column:
Now close and restart Rivatuner. Congratulations: the auto fan control rules have been unlocked.
Now open the low level settings window: it is enough to click on the little arrow on the right under the active display adapter and left click on the first button:
Now select the fan tab:
You will see the low level fan settings window.
Fan settings Tab for x2:
Fan settings Tab for 4870/4850:
Now activate the low level fan control. It is enough to check the box "Enable low-level fan control". You'll get this prompt:
Click on "Detect now" and wait some seconds: good, now we can change the fan control rules.
If you have multiple video cards linked in crossfire, you can configure the fan controllers of the different video cards at the same time by enabling the cloning mode option for fan control in Rivatuner: in this way when you change the fan controller parameters of the master board, the fan controller parameters of the other boards are set equals to the ones of the master board; this is done automatically by Rivatuner. Note that this operation mode is valid only for same model video cards (i.e. 2 4870x2 or 2 4850 and so on).
To enabling fan cloning operational mode, browse to Power User Tab of Rivatuner, search the group "Rivatuner \ Fan" and set the variable EnableFanControlCloning = 1:
Remember: you need to close and restart Rivatuner in order for the setting to take effect.
If you interested in 4870x2 fan control, browse to part II of this guide, otherwise jump directly to part III, where i discuss about 48xx single GPU boards.