Is it safe to run the 4850 stock fan at 100% 24/7?

GotNoRice

GotNoRice

[H]F Junkie
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I recently upgraded from a eVGA 8800GT Superclocked to a HD 4850. My 8800GT would idle at around 55C with the fan (2nd gen stock heatsink) at 100% via ntune. My 4850 would idle 79C using stock settings. I did the fan mod and set it to run at 100%. I’m at 700/1135 now and my idle temps are in the mid 40’s, with load temps up in the 70’s. It’s a little loud but I don’t really mind.

I’m just a little worried about the possibility of long term damage from running the fan at 100%? Is it even designed to run at that speed for prolonged periods?

My last ATi card was an X800XTPE with an ATI Silencer 4 on it, but after a while the fan started to die on it. I always ran that fan at 100% via ATitool.
 
If the fan fails during warranty time, you can always RMA it. I would suggest 3rd party cooler however, my 4850 temps dropper about 30-40c across the board with accelero s1 + silent 120mm fan.
 
I’m pretty accustomed to having a noisy computer. I have a lot of fans to keep my overclocked Q6600 cool and my 15k SCSI drives are pretty noisy as well, the 4850 doesn’t really stand out. I do have most of the fans on a fan controller and I can always load up a different profile with a lower fan speed in CCC on a cold night or something.
 
Thermal dissipation performance decreases exponentially with increasing fan speeds because the heatsink becomes a limiting factor. I would recommend you finding a ceiling at which any increase in fan speed does not decrease core temperature.
 
I have mine set to 100% as well, I'm also right next to my houses A/C, Heater Unit so it is usually pretty noisy anyway. Headphones or crank up the Z680's
 
i run mime at 40% and that is about max noise versus heat dissapation.....any higher and the temp drops are not as large as from default to 40%
 
I agree, you can probably find a sweet spot at something lower than the ear shattering 100% setting.

Also, replace the thermal compound with a thin layer of AS5 or similar and temps will drop another 10C with no added noise :)
 
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