HD 4870 Fan-Control, Easy Workaround, Lowered My Temps 30C

Going from stock fan to 40% fan dropped idle temps from 75c to 49c and can barely hear the fan at all. Now, 60% speed is a different story :)
 
dccmadams said:
if set to 90 or 100, leafblower loud I suppose.
Click to expand...
beyond that
I accidentally set it to 90 last night and I was afraid it was going to wake up my kid!


So, I'm curious if anybody ever figured out how to tweak the automatic setting. That would be ideal to have an aggressive auto profile. Low at idle, high under load.
 
I've a question about this...

One you set the XML file, and the new driver and/or third-party prog support is released, do you have to go back and reset the XML file? Or would installing the new driver just start everything anew? Or perhaps just have to change it back if using a third-party prog, since that's not the same as installing a new driver, which resets everything?

Figured others might want to know this as well, and I haven't seen it asked yet, and I'm assuming (hopefully) someone will be releasing something that's compatible with the 4800 series to more effectively control the fan speed.
 
Once ATITool or somebody else figures out how to get overclocking working, I'd suggest deleting all your profiles in the Profile Manager. That will set CCC back to defaults and allow the program to change settings unhindered.

In my 3870 experience, I think the 3rd party apps would override the XML settings, but I could be wrong. I'd try to keep it clean just in case.
 
jebo_4jc said:
Once ATITool or somebody else figures out how to get overclocking working, I'd suggest deleting all your profiles in the Profile Manager. That will set CCC back to defaults and allow the program to change settings unhindered.

In my 3870 experience, I think the 3rd party apps would override the XML settings, but I could be wrong. I'd try to keep it clean just in case.
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Good idea, and what I was thinking once 3rd party gets released or a new driver in order to control the fan speed easier.

Thanks!
 
Or buy an Asus 4850 and say Thank You!

btw, %40 seems to be the sweet spot in noise/temp ratio for mine.
 
Omegas said:
Or buy an Asus 4850 and say Thank You!

btw, %40 seems to be the sweet spot in noise/temp ratio for mine.
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I have 3 profiles

low - 30%
med - 40%
high - 60%

No OCs so far. I'll work those into the profiles next. Hoping to break 800mhz.
 
Has anyone removed the stock HSF, and replaced the original thermal compound/tape with some Artic Silver? That usually help to bring down temps.

I am picking my 4870 up tonight, and was considering doing this first thing.
 
Spirals said:
Has anyone removed the stock HSF, and replaced the original thermal compound/tape with some Artic Silver? That usually help to bring down temps.

I am picking my 4870 up tonight, and was considering doing this first thing.
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I have not yet. I am giving my card some break in time in case I need to RMA for some reason early.
 
I tried that. It only dropped idle temps by like 2C. No way of telling how much it is helping now after I've increased the fan speed but my idle temps are now 49C at 35% fan speed.
 
By default what is the normal fan cycle that makes the 3870s and 4870s reach 70C+ idle temps? I have Rivatuner set to 48% so I can keep a nice 45C instead of 75C
 
I would apply this fix only if my Catalyst Control Center WORKED. Displays drivers are working on my 4870, just CCC wont load without errors. (I have .NET and am Administrator)

I must fix becuase I dont want to run my card at 78C IDLE for any longer
 
LyL18 said:
I would apply this fix only if my Catalyst Control Center WORKED. Displays drivers are working on my 4870, just CCC wont load without errors. (I have .NET and am Administrator)

I must fix becuase I dont want to run my card at 78C IDLE for any longer
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Make sure you have Visual C++ 2005 installed also. I had a problem with CCC months ago with .NET installed. I can't remember exactly how I fixed it, but it had something to do with Microsoft Visual C++ 2005.

Anyhoo, 40 percent was too loud for me. 35% keeps me 58c idle, which is good enough. It's a lot better than 80c, anyway. Thanks for the fix.
 
Where in the settings in CCC can you control the fan? I only see the overclocking settings.
 
bfellow said:
Where in the settings in CCC can you control the fan? I only see the overclocking settings.
Click to expand...

I had the same question.
You just need to read the OP.
This works very well.
I can't get automatic to work for me, just manual.......
but at 35% I have idle down from 68C to 47C and my overall case temp dropped 4C as well.

I wish the RivaTuner guy would get us a 2.10 so we can get this stuff running cooler.
Who thought 68C was a good idle temp?????
 
Infaustium said:
I've a question about this...

One you set the XML file, and the new driver and/or third-party prog support is released, do you have to go back and reset the XML file? Or would installing the new driver just start everything anew? Or perhaps just have to change it back if using a third-party prog, since that's not the same as installing a new driver, which resets everything?

Figured others might want to know this as well, and I haven't seen it asked yet, and I'm assuming (hopefully) someone will be releasing something that's compatible with the 4800 series to more effectively control the fan speed.
Click to expand...

Once you install a new CCC (8.7) this tweak will be gone with the driver package and you'll be back to square one, I suppose.
If you don'treplace the CCC and just D/L the new drivers you'd have to return the tweak to default to give Riva a square chance.
 
This Mod work great.
Awesome Find.

Got the fan set at 50%.

50% Fan + AS5 = 65C Full Load stock cooler running F@H

Many Thanks
 
bfellow said:
Where in the settings in CCC can you control the fan? I only see the overclocking settings.
Click to expand...

You can't. CCC doesn't have fan control options, which is the purpose of this hack and this thread.

Gotta say, between green and red, I'm growing to appreciate all the extra bells and whistles Forceware drivers have that CCC doesn't. Fan control and game profiles the most.
 
Is 80C even hot for these cards? If you look at the GPU temp meter in CCC its not even close to the red area (hot!). Maybe 80C is just the normal temps for these cards.
 
SPARTAN VI said:
You can't. CCC doesn't have fan control options, which is the purpose of this hack and this thread.

Gotta say, between green and red, I'm growing to appreciate all the extra bells and whistles Forceware drivers have that CCC doesn't. Fan control and game profiles the most.
Click to expand...

Actually there are game profiles you can set up easily, under the Profiles button in the CCC :). You point it to the .exe you're running, save it and set the settings for it. Then it will activate that profile automatically whenever that .exe is launched.

47%-52% variable fan in BIOS with flash, 100% stable, ~25% performance increase in Crysis over 790/4000 :eek: :
gt4870oc2rb4.gif
 
GoldenTiger said:
Actually there are game profiles you can set up easily, under the Profiles button in the CCC :). You point it to the .exe you're running, save it and set the settings for it. Then it will activate that profile automatically whenever that .exe is launched.

47%-52% variable fan in BIOS with flash, 100% stable, ~25% performance increase in Crysis over 790/4000 :eek: :
gt4870oc2rb4.gif
Click to expand...

Oh wuwu, I'll try this today. Thanks!
 
Many thanks for this fix, I'm running @ 40% and my default idle temps for my 2 cards were 80/76 now im getting 49/74

It appears that its only effected one card...

OK while writing this i've spotted the same values in the config files but instead of _0 at the end they're _1 which presumably means the 2nd card, i've altered them and my 2nd card span up faster (i could hear it) and now im getting 48/40 idle.

Nice!

I hope they make automatic profile loading, having to manually load this everytime i start my pc is really fucking gay, Im still pleased with my AMD purchase but god damn this is the kinda crap I was expecting to see having moved from Nvidia and I'm already seeing it....grrrr
 
GoldenTiger said:
Actually there are game profiles you can set up easily, under the Profiles button in the CCC :). You point it to the .exe you're running, save it and set the settings for it. Then it will activate that profile automatically whenever that .exe is launched.

47%-52% variable fan in BIOS with flash, 100% stable, ~25% performance increase in Crysis over 790/4000 :eek: :
gt4870oc2rb4.gif
Click to expand...
great OC.
You set those clocks via BIOS flash I assume?
 
jebo_4jc said:
great OC.
You set those clocks via BIOS flash I assume?
Click to expand...

Yepper. Oddly it is performing a LOT better than 790 core, greater than the % increase in core speed by a good bit. It's very weird... more details in the "My 4870 has arrived!" thread that I made originally.
 
Frostex said:
I hope they make automatic profile loading, having to manually load this everytime i start my pc is really fucking gay, Im still pleased with my AMD purchase but god damn this is the kinda crap I was expecting to see having moved from Nvidia and I'm already seeing it....grrrr
Click to expand...


got to the activate panel of the profile manager and check "desktop shortcut". this should make it better for you, unless you consider one click on an icon is gay, in which case you dont get much stuff done.
 
I am still curious as to the meaning of the red led's that light up for a second when the computer boots up. After bringing the 4870 back to life after the bios flash mess, I have only 3 of the 4 light up for just a second. Anyone seen the details or know what is or isn't supposed to light up?
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
got to the activate panel of the profile manager and check "desktop shortcut". this should make it better for you, unless you consider one click on an icon is gay, in which case you dont get much stuff done.
Click to expand...

Its gay you have to do anything at all, it's just a bad system not having an auto load system.

Having said all that..it appears that the fanspeed is sticking through reboots...dunno why, but thats good :)
 
Same here, the adjusted fan speed is sticking through reboots....very nice! At 45% I think its a tad too loud for sitting in the living room...at 35% its barely noticable. Even at 35% Im idiling at 45 deg C as opposed to 79 deg C. Great great find OP.
 
i had cat 8.6 installed and when I put in my 4870, Vista saw it immediately with no change in drivers. 8.6 was the driver included in the CD
 
This is great and sooo easy (must be as even I can do it ;-). Anyhoo 35% is a bit too noisy for me (if I want to watch a DVD or surf) but not as loud as my old 8800GTS if I want to fire up a game. So I've created 2 fan speed profiles; one 35% and one 22% (original speed).

There's probably a simple way of reverting to the default fan speed but the above method works for me.
 
I can primarily stand 40% f. speed considering my side fan is on par with the 4870's fan which it runs at 40% f. speed (noise dba), but seriously this mod made a world of a difference, especially since it let me understand how high the temps can go.
 
Nice! I got mine down to 29c. Just for a few seconds. But it was there! :) Without the air conditioner on it idles around 38-40. I'm using a Thermalright V2 with some Enzotech Bcc9 ramsinks.

487029c467.jpg

4870v2392.jpg
 
Good stuff, wish they could implement fan control in the CCC panel in 8.7 without having to manually edit. Waiting for the acceleros though to really get the ball rolling. Only $25 at directron.
 
why does this card get so hot at idle? what's the maximum operating temperature for it? I was considering getting it but after reading some posts im getting scared.
 
BigCactus said:
Good stuff, wish they could implement fan control in the CCC panel in 8.7 without having to manually edit. Waiting for the acceleros though to really get the ball rolling. Only $25 at directron.
Click to expand...

This was actually hinted at by a ATI Beta tester on Rage3D, so you may get your wish. Perhaps that is what those settings are for in thirst palce in the XML file we've been changing manually.
 
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