[SOLVED] I have never been able to adjust my RX 5500 XT's fan speed since I've owned it, is there a reason why?

[otokonokotron]

Just to get some important things out of the way, this is my first build and I still consider myself very new at this even though everythings been up and running for a few months.

(full disclosure, a lot of the below is more or less verbatum a reddit post I made that got no answering so I thought I'd try my luck other places and see if anyone can shed any light on my issue)

My setup:

GPU: RX 5500XT MECH OC 8GB
CPU: RYZEN 7 3700X 8 CORE 16 THREADS
Motherboard: MSI X570 Tomahawk Wifi
BIOS Version: (second to latest, v14)
RAM: 32GB trident rgbz
PSU: seasonic 750W
Operating System & Version: WINDOWS 10 PRO
GPU Drivers: Adrenalin Driver Version: 21.3.1
Description of Original Problem: GPU fan not controllable via software

Here's an info page for my GPU:
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/msi-rx-5500-xt-mech-oc-8-gb.b7520

Here is a re-post of the question I asked on reddit, as the problem is still unchanged:

START
Out of the box, regardless of the software, (i've tried using Asus's overclocking utility that offers GPU fan control, AMD's Adrenalin manual fan settings, and then of course MSI Afterburner), I've been unable to either set a custom fan curve or even manually adjust the fan speed by dragging the slider. I've followed along step-by-step with every tutorial i've followed, so by now I've played around with the settings enough to be aware of making sure I have particular options ticked in MSI afterburner in order to make sure manual fan control (curve or slider) is enabled. And yet I am unable to adjust my GPU's fan speed.

It's been several months, and just recently a newer stable MSI Afterburner was released, as well as a driver update for my GPU. I installed/updated everything and so far I am still unable to adjust the fan.

I have I-GPU open to the side, and I can see that if I set the fan to "user controlled" in any way and in either MSI Afterburner or Adrenalin, the fan speeds up from 40% to 50% and just stays there, completely unchanged no matter what following adjustments I make. Its like it just recognized that it is no longer set to automatic and just sets itself to 50% and stays there.

Is this normal behavior for this particular GPU? Does it lack the feature to control fan speed? It works fine at stock, and there are no apparent immediate problems in that it is working fine, I just want to know if there is a reason I can't control it's fan.

Please let me know If I need to provide any information, thank you.
END


I'd appreciate any help, again the card works just fine on automatic so this is no pressing matter, I'm just wondering what is going on. I feel as though the issue lies with the GPU directly, as the software makes no difference, or, perhaps this is one of those strange cases where there is some weird setting I have to tweak that I am unaware of.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

there is a good chance i-GPU is just not reading the fans RPM\% correctly.

if Afterburner shows them running at the speeds you've set in your custom curve than they are more than likely following your curve correctly.

try setting up the RTSS OSD within Afterburner and watch the fan speed % while running a game or benchmark.
if it also shows them following your curve correctly, just ditch i-GPU.

 

[otokonokotron]

In my previous experiments, I believe that I-GPU was accurate as I could both simultaneously see (thru IGPU) and hear the fan spin up slightly higher.

I'm using HWiNFO's sensor now, and the same thing appears to happen.

Ok, here's what I think is happening:
It looks like my GPU simply responds to being manually tuned by throwing in a few hundred RPMs, while "35%" is displayed as the minimum for my GPU in MSI Afterburner. In reality it must actually be higher, like the aforementioned 50%. Basically, I have control over my speed, but only at and above 50%. ( the price apparently to be payed for manuall control, not to mention its not like this is a super expensive top of the line card so its not that surprising i guess)
Secondly, unlike in the previous version of MSI afterburner (I am unfortunately unable to test actually whether this happened just because of afterburner, or maybe it was the result of a GPU driver update instead) I am ONLY able to adjust (and hear) the fan speeds change via setting a fan curve. Attempting to drag the slider on the main UI page does nothing.

I think I'm just gonna leave it at stock mostly, as the card still does its job and i'm not a heavy gamer. thanks again for you feedback and suggestions.

But also to your point I have not gamed and used a custom fanc curve, but I have no reason to believe that won't function properly as I can definitely hear my curve settings take affect after I hit 'apply'. I guess my GPU is just not super happy with having its fans taken off auto.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

you should still run a benchmark or game with the RTSS\Afterburner OSD open and showing fan speeds so you can watch the live fan speed % actually being reported through the card manufacturer's software.

especially when it comes to GPU fan control, 3rd party hardware data statistics are not always as accurate as the actual manufacturer's. in this case, MSI Afterburner.

 

[otokonokotron]

Ok so I ran a game with both stock and then with a custom curve set.

it seems like there are two seperate defaults for the fan. and one or the other gets followed depending on whether or not its set to auto or manual.
When set to auto, 12-1300rpms is considered around 35%
When set with a custom fan curve in Afterburner, 1700rpms is now reading as 35%.

so it simply seems my fan will just have a higher RPM is manually controlled. (althought I wouldn't mind if the manual slider worked, but thats completely unresponsive to me input)