EVGA G2 850W (Eco Mode) Question

[dsr07mm]

Greetings,

For almost full year I wasn't even using Eco mode, but essentially I started thinking about making my PC quiter as much as I can. I just shut down my PC, turn off PSU, turned on Eco mode and it's much quiter now.

Simple question.. What Eco actually do ? Turn off FAN until PSU reach some temperature ? How do I know when will that happen ? Approx ? I'm using i7 4770k without clock and 1070 clocked but with no voltage bumped. So pretty much everything on stock. Will I ever activate that fan ?

 

[Delroy Monjo]

This should explain it for you: http://www.evga.com/support/faq/afmviewfaq.aspx?faqid=59497

 

[panathas]

It's quite simple. In eco mode the fan stays off until the temperature or power consumption rises to a certain predefined point. You should also know that since heat rises, if you have your PSU normally installed to the bottom of the case with the fan facing downwards you will have a lot of heat trapped at the top of the PSU case, when the fan doesn't work. This will decrease the lifetime of the capacitors inside the PSU and decrease its overall reliability over time. So if your PC spends a lot of time in idle mode or in low/normal power usage causing the PSU to have its fan off almost all the time, it is recommended to install the PSU with the fan facing upwards in order for the heat to escape more easily. This recommendation only applies though if your PSU is installed to the bottom of your case.

 

[Natsukage]

Hello... I posted because I saw Holo...xD

You are exactly right. ECO mode turns off the fan until it reaches 40C. It will only speed up faster if the temp reaches 60C or higher.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Hello... I posted because I saw Holo...xD

You are exactly right. ECO mode turns off the fan until it reaches 40C. It will only speed up faster if the temp reaches 60C or higher.

This is not quote accurate. As can be seen on Techpowerup, the PSU was tested at 41C ambient temps.

So if what you said was true, the fan would have spun at even 0W. The fan controller uses a thermistor attached to one of the heatsinks for obtaining a temperature reading, and I don't think anyone here is really sure what that exact temperature of the heatsink is to trigger the fan to turn on. But once the fan is on, it does not stay at the same RPM until the temps go up 20C. As can be seen the curve shoots up quite rapidly just from a small amount of additional load.

 

[Natsukage]

Well, it's safe to assume it will go higher in RPM if your load is higher. That graph proves the point. But the point is: if your ambient is lower than 40C, it will not spin even if the load is 500W. At least...it shouldn't. ^^

And also, that graph you posted was not done in ECO mode afaik.

 

[dsr07mm]

Thanks everyone this makes everything clear. Although whats your opinion guys on this quote down below for PSU placement upwards if it's installed in bottom part of the case ? Mine it's faced downwards and I have filter there so I was keeping all my PSU's like that for 3 years so far. Now since I want ECO mode to be on always, should I rotate PSU ?

It's quite simple. In eco mode the fan stays off until the temperature or power consumption rises to a certain predefined point. You should also know that since heat rises, if you have your PSU normally installed to the bottom of the case with the fan facing downwards you will have a lot of heat trapped at the top of the PSU case, when the fan doesn't work. This will decrease the lifetime of the capacitors inside the PSU and decrease its overall reliability over time. So if your PC spends a lot of time in idle mode or in low/normal power usage causing the PSU to have its fan off almost all the time, it is recommended to install the PSU with the fan facing upwards in order for the heat to escape more easily. This recommendation only applies though if your PSU is installed to the bottom of your case.

Thanks for mentioning this, first time actually reading that someone recoomend this. But in that case will my PSU get more dust inside ? I mean it's kinda obvious, my case on side has holes for one intake/outtake but I didn't install any for a reason. So every week or so I clean my EVO212 and GPU with compressor, it's gonna be mess in PSU if it's turned off most of the time since my PC is either idle either I play games like FM/Diablo 3 or really less demanding games so loads on gpu and cpu are literally like when you open chrome.

Well, it's safe to assume it will go higher in RPM if your load is higher. That graph proves the point. But the point is: if your ambient is lower than 40C, it will not spin even if the load is 500W. At least...it shouldn't. ^^

And also, that graph you posted was not done in ECO mode afaik.

So should I worry for dust on back of my case ? I mean when fan is not blowing dust will get inside much more easily, yet I don't see filters for PSU hm..

 

[Natsukage]

If you rotate your PSU, you will no longer have a filter at all. Dust cannot accumulate in an upside down PSU (fan towards the bottom), so it doesn't matter in your case.

But, the PSU will indeed get hotter if you use ECO mode. But 40C is not enough for it to matter anyways. Usually, your PSU will be the coolest part of your PC if it is such an efficient power supply and on the bottom. There will be no added wear to your capacitors by making it run a little hotter. They are made for 105C...

 

[panathas]

Yes dust is one consideration that I forgot to mention. Although it depends on your PC case, if it sits on the floor, and how much dust you have on your room. It could only be a real issue if your case accumulates a lot of dust. In normal conditions it won't matter because the fan will be off most of the time and since heat rises a lot of dust won't settle on the fan's opening.

 

[Natsukage]

The simple answer is: If you clean your dust filters regularly, you can keep it on ECO mode without worrying. ^^

 

[panathas]

An alternative to that is to leave your PSU at its current position and use the ECO mode for only 6 months/year, specifically the 6 colder months. That way you can balance noise, heat, PSU reliability and the PSU's fan total lifetime.

 

[dsr07mm]

If you rotate your PSU, you will no longer have a filter at all. Dust cannot accumulate in an upside down PSU (fan towards the bottom), so it doesn't matter in your case.

But, the PSU will indeed get hotter if you use ECO mode. But 40C is not enough for it to matter anyways. Usually, your PSU will be the coolest part of your PC if it is such an efficient power supply and on the bottom. There will be no added wear to your capacitors by making it run a little hotter. They are made for 105C...

Hmm.. Make sense once again but every couple weeks when I open my case I see a lot of dust covering PSU from above, under my GPU including part on GPU bracket.

This is how I keep my PC case, it's above monitor/display level on wood.

Basically do I need to rotate at all with ECO on or no with this positioning ? Or simply I should rotate and block (side intake/outtake) to prevent dust getting inside. I do have 2 outtakes above, one outtake behind, and push/pull on EVO212.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

I highly doubt the fan would not be spinning at 500W.

 

[Natsukage]

I'll assume your power supply looks like this inside?

Spoiler

Or the PSU fan is visible inside?

If the fan for the PSU is under the case, right up to the dust filter, then dust covering on the top of the metal casing does absolutely nothing. It will not cause any kind of overheat for the PSU. Only dust inside the PSU can cause overheating and premature failure. If you have a dust filter, there shouldn't be any at all. (or at least, not much)

You do not need to rotate it.

 

[dsr07mm]

It's like that on picture. Streight down to the bottom of case, there is a filter which can be placed from outside, easy to remove and clean, really small holes dust can't get inside. And then as on my picture there is space between case and wood like 2-3cm where both sides including back has space to get air room without anything to prevent it.

Okay so I will leave it like this except I will keep ECO on and reduce loudness I guess, hopefully I can notice when fan goes on since gpu has really agressive fan curve.

One more question though, for testing purposes CAN i turn OFF and ON eco mode while PSU and PC are running ? I switched ECO to On only when I had PC turned off and power cable pulled off for safety reasons since I don't know. I would like to see how much is the difference in terms of silence like that.

 

[Natsukage]

From what I've seen, the answer is yes, you can switch on and off ECO mode without issues while the pc is on. ^^ It only affects the fan, and not the power supply itself.

 

[dsr07mm]

Thanks @Natsukage, I actually tried now when I woke up. I'm speechless how loud is actually and I never releazed that it's PSU. In a "good way" loud though, clear fan noise but really loud due to high RPM especially cause PSU is above display level. I guess I will keep ECO 24/7 and hope that it's not gonna fail or something.

 

[Natsukage]

You're welcome. ^^ Those EVGA are reputed to be loud after all. Sometimes it's impossible to keep them in eco mode depending on the setup and ambients. But you should be perfectly fine.

 

[dsr07mm]

One more thing though, I hate when I get into something, I just can't put that out of my head.

I have Thermaltake v4 case.

So until now I had (I will call fans by number as on picture), 4 for outtake at 70%, both on 1 as outtake at 70% and 2 fans on EVO212. Since I turned ECO on, I was thinking that it's probably smarter to have one intake aswel, and since I don't have filter on side, and I have 3 SATA's and 1 SSD, I removed 1 fan from position 1, second one on the right, and I placed him at front, position 2. Also on 70% as all other fans except those on EVO212 which are on auto with 70c as max temp.

Is this good fan placement ? I was thinking to put one instead front down below near PSU but I would completely isolate HDD's and SSD ?

So short question:
Is it better to have one intake in front or below instead all outtakes ? And where is better if answer is positive, front or near PSU ? (limited to 3 fans aside from 2 on EVO212, it's z87 g45 mobo, I don't want to use molex cables since I can't control fan speeds, I do have one more with molex from old case).

Max GPU temp is 60-62c (agressive fan curve since it's Pascal), Max CPU temp before was 62c when I'm rendering h264 video in 1080p60fps which is also and heaviest task on this PC. I have feeling that I raised up temps for couple C by removing upper outtake. As I mentioned, on EVO212 there are 2 fans (Push&Pull or however) so not sure anymore..

Ambient rooms during winter ~20-22c, summer pretty much same since AC is working 24/7.

 

[Natsukage]

There's no real "best way" of setting up a system. All depends on your casing, HDD count, and ambients. I suggest playing around with the placement of the fans until you have the ideal temperature inside. Monitor your temps during a gaming session, and then retry the same gaming session with another placement.

Ideally, if you don't mind another small source of noise, I'd replace the fan on top where it was as the outtake(1), and add a completely new fan in front as the intake(2). This should help air flow, and reduce your temps.

 

[dsr07mm]

I didn't get notification for your last reply, but yes that's what I did aswel and it's much better. GPU doesn't go over 52c now.. A bit weird but good. Eco mode is ON from that day and no issues so far but even in 3d mark for couple hours there was no need for fans to start spinning neither it was that warm, so everything is good.

Thanks