GTX 980 Ti hybird fan acting weird

Zander M16

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Dec 29, 2013
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so i recently bought a GTX 980 Ti Hybrid and was running it on the default fan for a while, but i 'went out' and bought a Noctua Industrial 3000 PWM to cool it, with a 3 pin to 4 pin PWM adapter, since i wanted it extra cool for 4K but the fan seems to just speed up, slow down and then max then slow down every few seconds, i have precision x16 installed and im trying to stop it, the fan on the card is responding but the rad fan is not and keeps doing its own cycle.

any advice appreciated

Thanks
 
Solution
If the card is designed to control a 3 pin fan, you can't use a PWM fan. A 3 pin fan adjusts the power to the fan to control the fan speed. A PWM (stands for Pulse Width Modulation) sends a consistent voltage to the fan (for instance 12V) and controls the speed of the fan via a PWM signal. Essentially the PWM signal is a square wave which varies the On time versus off time to control the speed. The longer the on time, the faster the fan spins, the more off time the slower is spins. The frequency of the signal remains the same. This on versus off time is referred to as duty cycle.



If the card is designed to control a 3 pin fan, you can't use a PWM fan. A 3 pin fan adjusts the power to the fan to control the fan speed. A PWM (stands for Pulse Width Modulation) sends a consistent voltage to the fan (for instance 12V) and controls the speed of the fan via a PWM signal. Essentially the PWM signal is a square wave which varies the On time versus off time to control the speed. The longer the on time, the faster the fan spins, the more off time the slower is spins. The frequency of the signal remains the same. This on versus off time is referred to as duty cycle.



 
Solution
Well to fix your immediate problem, you should go back to your original 3 pin fan.

As for advice, what is it that you are trying to accomplish? Is your concern noise, or cooling performance? Or possibly the best of both worlds.

Fan choice is a huge debate and very subjective. Noctua fans are generally accepted as very good at performance while keeping noise under control. However they are expensive.

The next thing to consider is that you are using this on a radiator which means you should pick fans that have a higher static pressure. Generally speaking, higher static pressure fans are needed to push / force air through the dense radiator weave.

I can certainly give you a suggestion on fans, but I need to know what your primary objective is.
 

Zander M16

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yeah, i know the basics of static pressure is needed to force the air through the rad etc.

What im looking for is a mix of both worlds and one that comes in either black, white or red, would help very much too but not necessarily required

I originally went with the Noctua ones as i thought they where a good mix of airflow, SP and noise

so long story short a mix of both please...

Thanks in advance
 

Zander M16

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Thanks for the suggestion but just looks like, i'm an idiot that didn't know about PWM being incompatible with 3 pin
 
Something like this should fit your purposes:

Corsair High SP Fans

There is a High Performance and Quiet Edition in this fan. I assumed from the pictures that the rad is 120mm.

Make sure to get the DC model of these fans as there is a PWM version that looks just like them.

The fans are black and they come with sealing rings in Red, White and Blue. Your choice on which color you use. The rings will help keep the air from coming out around the edges and force the air through the radiator weave.
 

Zander M16

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yeah sorry the rad is 120mm

im looking at the stats and it just doesn't seem like it has enough airflow....
i mean compared to the Noctua that i've got that doesn't work :p

for no i think i'll jst plug the Noctua into one of the CPU optional ports on my mobo in pull, and keep the default one in as a backup in Push

but this will only be temp until i find what i'm looking for

even if possible, you've already helped so much, let me re-phrase what im looking for in a fan, high performance comes first, i don't mind it being moderately loud under full load but would like it to be about / or under ~30 db (i think) under normal operation

although i wish i had someway to figure out what my current setup volume is without buying a gadget for measuring it :p

Thanks in advance .... again