Video card fan very loud

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Diggles

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Joined
Oct 4, 2007
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Ok, so for the most part my cpu tends to run ok. But. I noticed today when i tried to play the Sims for the first time that my video card fan was going crazy. very loud. clearly running very fast. This doesnt happen really. It may do that on WoW after a while, but it wasnt as loud as it was tonight on the Sims. Also it happens on Plantside 2. And that is about it.

The video card is ati 5870

And here are some computer specs

-Windows 7
Processor is a I5
2.6 GHz
hard drive has about 100gb of space left on it.

so im looking for a fix. WIll i need to buy something? or could it be a quick fix.
 
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Well, one thing is to clean out your video card with some compressed air. It can get clogged up pretty good with dust causing it to not cool as well resulting in the fan(s) running at a higher speed. I recommend downloading a program like msi afterburner which will allow you to view the temperature and fan speed of the card as well as let you set a custom fan profile. You can also download something like cpuid hwmonitor which will let you view the temps of both your cpu and gpu. Definitely look at cleaning out your gpu though as a starting point.
 
Ok.I can try the compressed air.its only odd to me since the game is only on for a minute
Or 2 before the fan really kicks in. And in regards to downloading one if those programs. What would be
A good temperature that my video card should be at. I'd like to try a custom fan set up.but I worry that I may cause more damage which would just be awful...

This may be a silly question.but I am.planning on buying a better hard drive..I guess that couldn't possibly help the issue? Having 3 times the space and all....
 
What mobo are you using? Some boards allow for increase in fan speed in the BIOS. If it's an older card, you should probably apply some new paste due to the old thermal paste getting crunchy over time and not dissipating the heat efficiently enough to allow proper cooling under air. I use Noctua HT-H1 for my CPU and GPU's. It can be found http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608008
As said previously, get those dust bunnies out. Might as well take it apart and do some general maintenance as well. Just my $.02. Good luck and keep us posted please.
 
Its a Asus P7P55D LE

I have seen there options to overclock if need be, but to be honest, i dont know jack about that. So ive avoided it so i dont end up doing more harm then good. But id try anything at this point. I paid 500$ for that video card just 2 years ago, and i know it still holds up fairly well even now, so id like to avoid having to replace the card so soon...

But again, out of all games that the fan sounds like a jet engine..The sims???
Seems odd to me is all. Nothing for WoW, nothing for BF3, or crysis.. but the sims... ><
 
Nice mobo BTW.
I feel your pain on what you paid for your card. After 2 years, if you haven't cleaned it, there most likely be quite a lot of dust accumulated inside where you can't readily see. Go here, http://www.overclock.net/t/699017/cleaning-my-5870 This guy has great pics in his thread. The grey diamond in this image represents where the thermal paste is applied.


I can guarantee that if you haven't re-applied paste after 2 years of use...It's Time!
Feel free to contact me if you feel overwhelmed at the task, I'll help out as much as I can.
P.S. I found examples of where the SIMS doesn't play well on some ATI cards. Your card isn't on that list. After you do the cleaning and new paste, try RivaTuner, found here: http://www.guru3d.com/files_details/rivatuner_v2_24c.html
 
Some good advice given above, clean GPU fan & case with compress air. Use some sort of fan monitoring program, Afterburner is good or try ASUS SmartDoctor http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Video-Tweak/ASUS-SmartDoctor.shtml

When looking @ the Spec I see the Engine clock speed: 850 MHz but not temp ranges but generally 90 - 92 is "safe" http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/hd-5870/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5870-overview.aspx#2

Keep in mind you fan can run fast as long as it's doing it's job of keeping the card @ a safe temp (sure too fast will cause issues down the road), so using a monitoring program is useful to see fan speed, temps even voltage if you mobo will report all that info to the program.

Another question for you, when your fan speed go "Jet" on you what's the load on your CPU?
 
I have taken the air to it on a ...semi regular basis. I have downloaded a program to keep track on the temp situation. And so far, only play DoD it has peaked at 80C.

And with that, i dont hear a thing.
I havent applied paste. ever. So, i can give that a go. I am off to buy a new harddrive anyway tomorrow, so ill take a look, grab some paste, and try that out. And ill use that link for sure. The last thing id want to do is blow this card. Thanks all for the help. And im sure ill be back to pick your brains before its all said and done with this issue. :)
 
Ya..such a shame.. tried The sims again with the afterburner program installed. the temp shot from 62 to 88 in like a min. With the GPU at 93%... odd.. :/

Well, ill leave er there. go the past route and hope for the best :)
 
actually diggles, if you clicked on the link for the software, it actually describes in simple detail what it does. frankly, im surprised i havent downloaded this program yet for mine since i have multiple nvidia drivers still in my system (although they dont hold down my system thankfully). but ya i dont really think its the multiple drivers causing it as much as it is the thermal paste causing it. i will admit that ive heard of a few amd/ati cards that have had this issue, but not many. definitely wouldnt mind trying to fix this issue on a card sometime, mainly to get practice on resolving such an issue and getting experience on how to do it. from the look of the pic on pg1, it looks quite a bit like assembly for a motherboard (in a way). however, just like a motherboard, it doesnt require a whole bunch, so make sure to put very little on the physical core itself. if you've ever handled a regular cpu in your system, its just like that. ill admit that i always get nervous when it comes to switching cpus out, but i always manage to get em working.

sorry for long paragraph; ive never been good at spacing.
 
I wont lie. lol i am a bit worried about doing this. It seems straight forward and all, but even with that, im nervous about somehow doing something to this card which will total it. And that. to me would just be heart breaking. But im going to hit up good ol youtube and im sure something to do with this will on there so i can actually see it being done.
 
Um, who was the Manufacture for your ati 5870?

Wasn't VisionTek by chance? 'cuz didn't they offer
Limited Warranty period (parts): Lifetime
Limited Warranty period (labor): Lifetime

Diamond Multimedia offered
Warranty : One Year Limited Warranty - 5 Year with Registration

So might be worth checking into the warranty, if you not comfortable thermal paste.

But if your going to the effort to do that you might want to swap out the fan itself while your in there. After all I don't see any where in this thread when you mention heating being the issue (infact in one of your later post you said it was running @ around 80 temp wise). Your issue is fan noise am I not correct ?

More goodies to worth reading thru - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=46642.0

Also from my reading the fan noise on that card seemed to be a common issue with it after about a year & a half of use
 
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Diggles said:
I wont lie. lol i am a bit worried about doing this. It seems straight forward and all, but even with that, im nervous about somehow doing something to this card which will total it. And that. to me would just be heart breaking. But im going to hit up good ol youtube and im sure something to do with this will on there so i can actually see it being done.
Click to expand...


I must have been too tired when making my last post last night on this matter.
If you are uncomfortable with doing the thermal paste or fan replacement, then I suggest find a local PC repair shop & seeing if they can do it for you @ a reasonable price. Any smaller shop should be more then willing.
And if it's something you feel is out of your scope then that's the best path (after all we don't suggest people go in & start messing with their BIOS, Registry or Over clocking if it's out of their wheelhouse)
 
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