Fan speed, voltage and power control.

[conormcgregor809]

Hi! I'm wondering if setting up my fan speed in MSI Afterburner is something bad? What about if I set it up to the max? Is it dangerous? Also, I would like to know, what voltage and power control is for? If I'm not planning on oc, I should not worry about that? I've been asking stupid questions lately, is just that this is my first pc gaming, and is expensive, so I don't want to damage something. xD Thank you!

 

[raisonjohn]

You would normally setup fan speed to control both temperature and noise. If you set fans to the max, then, you'd be creating more noise (due to speed) for cooling you don't need (especially when just idling at lower temperature). Running fans at max speed *might* even lower the life-span of the fan itself (depending on the fan bearing type).

You'd want to play around the fan curve. For example, make the fans run only when the temperature reaches a certain degree (say, ~40C). So, during times you are not using the PC at full load, the fans need not spin at all (no noise and longer lifespan). You can make the curve exponential, meaning, at 50C say you run the fans at 25%, then when temps reach 60C, run fans at 50%, then at 75C run at 75%, at threshold temps 80C~90C run the fans 100%.

 

[aquielisunari]

Hi! I'm wondering if setting up my fan speed in MSI Afterburner is something bad? What about if I set it up to the max? Is it dangerous? Also, I would like to know, what voltage and power control is for? If I'm not planning on oc, I should not worry about that? I've been asking stupid questions lately, is just that this is my first pc gaming, and is expensive, so I don't want to damage something. xD Thank you!

Is modifying your card's behavior via MSI something bad? No. It certainly can be something bad if you don't thoroughly research before OC'ing. OC'ing is a subtle increase of a card's performance level. Let's say my card's core clock is 1380MHz. That's too low. I change it to 2000MHz because I have a weak GFX card. I go to play a game and the PC crashes. I then do a bit of research and discover changes are usually done in 25-50MHz increments. Small steps Ellie, small steps. The same applies to the memory clock. Some will be a bit more aggressive with the memory clock OC'ing.

Voltage is something you should change as a very last resort. You have OC'd your GFX card and your FPS increased some but not enough for your needs. You then look to MSI AB and see voltage. 25 is also the magic number for voltage increase. 25mV increases are the norm for voltage increase. That's .025V.

But now that I've OC'd and increased my voltage my card's running hot. I click on the gear(settings) in MSI AB and click on the Fan tab and enable User Defined Fan Control. Changing it to the "max" is also known as 100%. That's not really a thing. Because there are 4(or more if the user adds them) point( THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!!!!! ) dots in the graph which is known as the fan curve. One would have to change all of them to 100% and that isn't usually done(read never). I can set my fan to let's say 50% when the card reaches 30C, But then I don't make a significant change until it reaches 65C(which isn't normal for my card). I could change all four of those to 100% but it would be VERY loud. Dangerous? No. Will running your GFX card at 100% all the time shorten its life? Yes. How much? Idk. It's about finding that balance between noise and cooling.

My card uses about 145W at full power. I can allow the card to draw more power if it needs it by setting the limit to 110%. People look to boosting the limit before increasing the voltage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH4MU-ZKP1A is a VERY informative video. It's only thirty minutes but the OC procedure described will take much longer for those not acquainted with OCing. Sure it's for the 970 and 980 but the procedures(such as the aforementioned voltage bumps) in the video can be applied to any GFX card. There are many other videos and articles that can help the user to OC most any GFX card out there.

Crashing is a normal part of OC'ing. The PC will usually recover from a GFX card crash. If not, then a reset will work. That is your GFX card telling you that you have exceeded your OC limit. My card crashed so I backed of the core clock 10Hz and it was fine after that. I found my OC wall. Go past that and a crash is to be expected.

If you don't OC then you shouldn't worry about fan control unless the noise is too much for you. You also have to be aware of your temperatures. Turn down the fan too much and your card can quickly overheat and that is a bad thing.