BFG 6800GT OC - does one of the fans turn off when it isn't needed?

E

Eraser

Limp Gawd
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Oct 28, 2000
Messages
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I look inside my case while it is on, and I notice only 1 of the fans is turning on the HSF on my BFG 6800GT OC. It is one of the "newer" HSF's from BFG, a nickel-plated one with blue led's on it. the other fan turns and runs fine.

does anyone know if the fan is suppose to not be running? or do i have a dead fan and should get it rma'd?

thanks for any assistance you can offer.
 
I'm pretty sure, by default, that both fans need to be blowing. Also I'm not quite sure if there's a way to even turn off one of the fans.

When in doubt, call tech support.
 
well does it turn on some of the time? if it never turns on, then yea that's a problem, maybe just get an aftermarket cooler..
 
Yeah, the two fans on the card should be running the whole time. I'd wait to see what BFG says or go with an aftermarket cooler.
 
BFG is slow in email responses. I emailed them almost 4 days ago and got a response finally for something. Theyre phone support is a lot better.
 
seeing the responses so far on that the fans should both be spinning, i'll call tech support later today or tomorrow and see what they say

i'd rather get an RMA than an aftermarket fan cooler... i just got this card less than 3 weeks ago
 
I'm using the very latest Omega drivers. Inside the overclock dialog, there is an option that is disabled by default which says "Fan always on."

I have a strong suspicion that newer drivers have found a way to shut the thing off when the drivers deem it unnecessary. I have not tested to see if this appears in the reference drivers. However, that doesn't mean the drivers can't do it even if there isn't one, it might just mean you need a tweak to force them to not do it because they didn't think user control was necessary.


Anyway, try the omegas I suppose. Worth a shot, right? What's the harm. (Just be sure you do a proper uninstall and cleaning to be on the safe side.)
 
i called tech support tonight, the guy said that the fans are designed to shut off if they aren't needed, or if they aren't getting enough power

i was planning on upgrading my PSU, so i'll do that and see if it helps
he also suggested making sure no other devices are running off the molex power cable that runs to the video card...
 
Have you checked to see if it NEVER runs? I mean, played any games for a while and opened up the case to see if it was running then? I'm wondering if it only turns on when the GPU hits a certain temperature threshold and it's running cool enough most of the time that it's not needed.

BTW, it's specific to coolbits 2 apparently. Just installed the reference drivers on a different copy of windows and the option was still there. It looked like it was kind of grayed out or something, but, I could still select and unselect, so I'm just not sure. Truth is, I never bothered to look at the thing because this card tries to compete with my CPU temperature wise...
 
i downloaded 71.24's and coolbits 2
enabled "fan always on"
fan still doesn't spin

the other day after turning it on i was watching the video card while the computer was booting up, and the fan was trying to turn but not doing a very good job, like it was not getting enough power to turn it..

bfg tech support said that my system was probably starved of power...
i have a 350watt enermax power supply that is 3+ years old
comp stats (i am upgrading very soon.. the video card was the first step):
[email protected] T-Bird CPU
KA-266R
2 sticks of 256MB PC-2100DDR-RAM
BFG 6800GT OC
Hercules Game Theater XP
Intel Pro1000 NIC
WD 120GB HD
6x DVD-ROM drive
12x DVD+-RW drive
floppy drive
2x 80mm Fans
3x 120mm Fans

anyway, he said that he calculated my power requirements based on that list and said i was just over 350 watts, so that my system was slowly starving for power and that i should look into getting a more powerful powersupply.

i was thinking of getting an antec 550watt psu from best buy because i have a 50 dollar gift certificate for them, but i saw a cheaper price at new egg (50 dollars less). does anyone know if best buy price matches to online stores such as new egg?
 
I know this is not a direct solution, but get a NV Silencer, they are cheap, keep the GPU cool, and a lot quietier....
 
Eraser,
I have the same vid card, and both fans are supposed to spin. They may slow down, but they do it together, at the same speed. You may have a bad fan, or one going bad, or it may have debris in the blades (have you visually inspected the fan for this?) . Also, try bumping the vid card voltage in your bios by .1 volt, see if that helps.
Its true you could simply buy another cooler, but it should work right 'out of the box'. I'd call BFG and tell them everything, and ask for RMA.
HTH
 
darktiger said:
I know this is not a direct solution, but get a NV Silencer, they are cheap, keep the GPU cool, and a lot quietier....
Click to expand...


While I agree that a NV5 is better than a good 99% of the stock solutions, I'm thinking that it wouldn't actually solve the problem if it's due to insufficient power or some sort of software/hardware power saving. In either of those two cases, power is cut or lowered and even the NV5's fan wouldn't run (which might be worse since it's really designed with the assumption the fan will be running.)

Is the span running sometimes? If you give it a good push, does it maybe keep going for a good while? If it's not software, that would definitely make me think that it's not getting enough power. I've done that with fans before and seen the effects. They might run sometimes and quit seemingly at random and usually you can give them a little spin and they keep running for a while. Now, if it never spins at all, then it may well be defective.
 
Eraser, I'm sorry to hear that you may be having some problems with your BFG Tech graphics card. I sent you a private message in hopes that we can get to the bottom of the fan issue you're experiencing and resolve the matter. :)
 
to those that are wondering, or if someone else has this problem in the future, i am going to get an RMA, and receive a new video card...
 
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