Is my 6970 Faulty?

[davidtran007]

I recently picked up a used MSI 6970 (Reference) and was wondering if it was faulty...

The problem being, the fan will max out at 100% (even with manual fan control settings applied at 35% on Afterburner and ATI Overdrive) when the GPU is under load or if it gets past a certain temp. None of my previous Radeon cards did this. It's really getting annoying because it sounds like a vacuum when the fan kicks in at 5000 RPM. I've tried different drivers and cleaning them out with driver sweeper as well. The card has the latest BIOS installed.

Is this normal? I have it connected to a Corsair HX620 (6 pin + 8 pin) if that matters

 

[Sufu]

I recently picked up a used MSI 6970 (Reference) and was wondering if it was faulty...

The problem being, the fan will max out at 100% (even with manual fan control settings applied at 35% on Afterburner and ATI Overdrive) when the GPU is under load or if it gets past a certain temp. None of my previous Radeon cards did this. It's really getting annoying because it sounds like a vacuum when the fan kicks in at 5000 RPM. I've tried different drivers and cleaning them out with driver sweeper as well. The card has the latest BIOS installed.

Is this normal? I have it connected to a Corsair HX620 (6 pin + 8 pin) if that matters

Have you tried creating a fan profile in Afterburner and seeing if that helps? Also I think your 620 is not enough for the card, though unlikely to cause your fan to always hit 100%.

 

[Kamainae]

The Corsair HX620 is perfect for that setup.
Maybe is the blue cable of the fan header, which is the digital control of the fan. Remove it and check the header and the cables.
Good luck.

 

[Lord_Exodia]

Check AMD overdrive and make sure to check if manual fan control is checked or unchecked, if checked bring the fan down to 20 and apply. Then un-check manual can control and apply. Go back in afterburner and set the speed you want and hit apply. Also update your afterburner, your using version 2.1 which is probably the version that came on the cd.

Afterburner 2.2 Beta 5

There have been several updates since then. Maybe that will make a difference.

If your manual fan control is at 100% in amd overdrive it will override msi afterburner every few minutes.

 

[davidtran007]

I've tried the latest Afterburner and different Catalyst drivers. Still no luck

I can control the fan manually no problem with either Overdrive or Afterburner. Whatever % I assign it to, it will work. So I'm thinking nothing is wrong with the connection.

The problem lies when the GPU goes goes under load. It just automatically kicks into 100% speed. Look at the RPM on the screenshot. It claims that the fan speed percent is at 35% which it isn't because 5000 + RPM = 100% fan speed. I am no longer able to control it even with the manual fan settings applied.

 

[Lord_Exodia]

I've tried the latest Afterburner and different Catalyst drivers. Still no luck

I can control the fan manually no problem with either Overdrive or Afterburner. Whatever % I assign it to, it will work. So I'm thinking nothing is wrong with the connection.

The problem lies when the GPU goes goes under load. It just automatically kicks into 100% speed. Look at the RPM on the screenshot. It claims that the fan speed percent is at 35% which it isn't because 5000 + RPM = 100% fan speed. I am no longer able to control it even with the manual fan settings applied.

There is something, and I forget what it's called and I believe it's Fan Hysteresis where the fan kicks in at 100% if the card is overheating too badly. No matter what the software says the bios on the card overrides it to prevent the card from burning out. The next step would be reboot the pc before it burns out if the heat continues to climb. The strange thing is looking at your pic the temp doesn't look like a world ending temp where that should kick in. I'd expect this kind of behavior around 100c or more. I'm not sure what is going on here with the card but I'd look into getting it RMA'd.

Have you tried to set a fan profile that scaled up and down as the temperature rises? If so does it work when you monitor the line graph afterwards?

 

[shantd]

It's clearly not normal, his temperature only shows 66C yet it's acting as though he's hit 100C. It's not an issue with the digital fan control either or he wouldn't be able to set the initial fan speed.

Do you have Afterburner and CCC running simultaneously?

Will the card's warranty carry over to you?

 

[davidtran007]

There is something, and I forget what it's called and I believe it's Fan Hysteresis where the fan kicks in at 100% if the card is overheating too badly. No matter what the software says the bios on the card overrides it to prevent the card from burning out. The next step would be reboot the pc before it burns out if the heat continues to climb. The strange thing is looking at your pic the temp doesn't look like a world ending temp where that should kick in. I'd expect this kind of behavior around 100c or more. I'm not sure what is going on here with the card but I'd look into getting it RMA'd.

Have you tried to set a fan profile that scaled up and down as the temperature rises? If so does it work when you monitor the line graph afterwards?

Tried several fan profiles which did nothing really...

It's clearly not normal, his temperature only shows 66C yet it's acting as though he's hit 100C. It's not an issue with the digital fan control either or he wouldn't be able to set the initial fan speed.

Do you have Afterburner and CCC running simultaneously?

Will the card's warranty carry over to you?

I've already tried running each individually. No changes. Warranty should carry over since they go by the MFR date on the Serial Number.

With that being said. I have given up on the card and will submitting an RMA to MSI. Anyone familiar with MSI's RMA process. Do I just send the bare card in the static bag? Or do they want the original box and accessories?

Also, what should I state as the problem? Should I state it has a faulty fan control?

 

[Jalidi]

I wonder if this is caused by one of the extra apps off the driver cd. Did you install anything off it? I think it's called Cool and Quiet.

It's definitely not normal though... at 35% the RPM is like 1975 for my 6970.