GTX 970 idle temps with fans off.

[kol12]

My GTX 970 usually idles around 35 degrees on the desktop with the fans off but I've noticed that when I start running a few more apps it will get up to 45 degrees. Is it ok to run it at these temps without fans or is it better to manually set the fans to keep it down a bit? I don't really understand the GTX fanless mode is it quietness or fan lifespan feature perhaps?

 

[Gallarian]

Your GPU can run up to 90-100 C before it shuts off to protect itself.

45 C is nothing to be concerned about at all, even with the fans completely off.

With a 970, you should expect 30-40 C when idle with fans at 30%, and 75 C at full load. Bringing you fan speed up to about 60% should keep it below 60 C at load.

Fanless mode literally means when you GPU is at a low temperature and load, the fans arent needed so wont spin up. The fans will activate when the GPU senses an increase. It's designed to make the card silent for normal operation.

 

[kol12]

So running it at anything under 60 degrees without fans won't shorten the lifespan?

"With a 970, you should expect 30-40 C when idle with fans at 30%, and 75 C at full load. Bringing you fan speed up to about 60% should keep it below 60 C at load."

As I said in my first post I usually run around 35 degrees idle without fans. I can usually maintain 60 degrees whiles gaming with 35% fans.

 

[Gallarian]

Yeah, thats correct. If your GPU is around 60 C then it wont do it any harm at all. As I said, it can reach almost 100 C before it shuts down to protect itself.

Gaming doesnt always push your GPU to 100%, usually only around 50-80%, so 60-70 C is normal for long periods of gaming, nothing to worry about

Your temps are totally normal and safe and well within the manufacturers recommended limits.

 

[guanyu210379]

With or without the fan, try not to hit above 70'C under all circumstances.
If you can have such temperature without fan, you can turn off the fan.
70'c on my GTX970 is only reachable by Witcher 3 and Furmark so far.

GTX970 is well made by nVidia on from this perspective, my KFA2 GTX970 EXOC does not go above 70'C under relatively manually added massive OC and max 70% fan speed.
I set the fan to be completely off below 40'C (idle) and will go up to 70% @70'C (linear). 100% fan speed is not necessary.