RX580 Armor card owners

waynelugames

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Any RX 580 Armor card owners mind sharing their experience with their card? Mine currently runs up to 65-75* on full load, however it is extremely loud when running at full load with 3500 RPM. I want to know if I have a faulty card or if this is normal for this specific card. If so I will buy a 3rd party cooler.
 
Solution
Similar idea to over/under clocking. Use AMD Wattman (or download a utility like MSI afterburner) and start incrementally reducing the GPU voltage, waiting a bit after each increment (setting voltage to 1100 mV might be a good place to start). Run a benchmark like unigine valley in the background while doing this, and watch for any signs of instability (graphical artifacts, driver crashes, etc). One you see signs of instability, go back to the previous voltage and let that run for a while while still observing. If you start seeing instability again, increase voltage a bit further and repeat, if not you're good. IIRC in some cases instability will only manifest itself after the card has heated up.

If you're using Wattman, adjust the...

waynelugames

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Ambient is 72 F, However MSI promotes the card as being incredibly silent under load. That is why I am worried if I have a faulty card.

I’m leaning towards buying a Arctic Accellero cooler.
 

TJ Hooker

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Eh, I'm guessing that's just part of their marketing fluff. Every manufacturer is probably going to say something about each of their cards being cool, quiet, powerful, etc. The truth is that the Armor series are MSI's budget cards, and the cooler reflects that. I mean, it's possible there's something wrong with the card, but those temps don't necessarily show that.

You could try looking for reviews (either professional or sites like Newegg or Amazon) and see what other people are getting.
 

waynelugames

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I’ve heard some people say the cooler on the armor series is escoecially bad, I was just seeing if anyone here has the issue.

Would you recommend getting the ARCTIC Accelero twin turbine iii?

Also would you know if skin oil damages the GPU? earlier I tried replacing the GPU thermal paste and the card looked a little greasy, but it works the same I think.
 

TJ Hooker

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I'd recommend playing with fan profiles and undervolting as I mentioned earlier, before I went out and spent more money. I've never used an aftermarket GPU cooler, so I couldn't really give any recommendations there.

If the oil is just on the PCB itself, I wouldn't be worried about it. What paste did you use, did it improve temps and/or fan speed at all compared to stock paste?
 

waynelugames

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I used the Noctua paste that came with my NHD15s cooler. No improvements...

I’m a newbie to this but when I underclock that would decrease my FPS and GPU ability correct? I’ve already messed with fans speeds and from 3000 and up it is extremely audible and annoying. A $40 aftermarket cooler for silent usage might just be my only option.

With my CPU around 60-70 quiet, my GPU being so loud really annoys me.
 

TJ Hooker

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Undervolt, not underclock. For AMD cards you can often decrease voltage a significant amount while still being stable at stock frequencies, meaning no impact to performance while still reducing power/heat. In some cases undervolting can actually improve performance, as some cards have their power limit set such that it is reached at stock settings, resulting in a bit of throttling.

Regarding fan speed, did you try changing it so it only ramps up to annoying speeds past 80C? I'd undervolt as much as you can first, and then try playing with the fan profile.

I mean, if you want to just go out and buy a different cooler that's up to you. I'm just the kind of guy who would try and see if I could fix it for free via tweaking before buying something. You're not going to get "silent" operation from the card via tweaking, but you might be able to get noise to a comfortable level.
 

waynelugames

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My apologies I am new to this, how would I undervolt my card?

Could you guide me through I don’t feel like ruining my card.
 

TJ Hooker

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Similar idea to over/under clocking. Use AMD Wattman (or download a utility like MSI afterburner) and start incrementally reducing the GPU voltage, waiting a bit after each increment (setting voltage to 1100 mV might be a good place to start). Run a benchmark like unigine valley in the background while doing this, and watch for any signs of instability (graphical artifacts, driver crashes, etc). One you see signs of instability, go back to the previous voltage and let that run for a while while still observing. If you start seeing instability again, increase voltage a bit further and repeat, if not you're good. IIRC in some cases instability will only manifest itself after the card has heated up.

If you're using Wattman, adjust the voltage for P states 6 and 7. You also want to monitor to see that voltage is actually going down as you are setting it lower. I think you can monitor this in Afterburner, but if you're using Wattman you may need to download another monitoring utility like GPU-Z. In wattman, if you reach the point where you've reduced the GPU voltage to the memory voltage, you'll have to start reducing each (by the same amount) to continue lowering voltage.

You don't have to worry about ruining your card. Worst case is you'll end up with some crashes/instability, which you can always fix by reverting to stock settings.

Can see a couple example screenshots of Wattman here:
https://wccftech.com/article/radeon-rx-480-reducing-voltage-increasing-efficiency/
 
Solution

waynelugames

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Aug 4, 2018
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Woah, thank you so much!

I went and copied what he did to his 480 and my game froze :p

Do you have a recommendation that you did yourself for the 580 before I experiment on my own?

Update: This is what I did right now https://imgur.com/a/FqyYjay
These settings kept my temps around 67* with around 3000-3200 RPM at 10-20 more FPS it seems. However I’m not sure if undervolting can cause screen tearing, might just be becuase I’m running 140fps on 60Hz
 

TJ Hooker

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A 580 is the same as a 480 but with higher clocks, as well as higher voltage required to achieve those higher clocks. It's not surprising you can't go as low on our 580 as he did on his 480.

So you now have it set at 1100 mV, is that stable? If so, good. Start decreasing it (in steps of maybe 10 mV), pausing after each step to see if it's still stable.

Unfortunately I can't remember what settings I used for my own 580. I had messed around with the settings when I was experimenting with ethereum mining a while back, and haven't taken the time to restore it to default settings + undervolt as I haven't really done any gaming recently.

Edit: Undervolting itself would have no direct effect on screen tearing, it'd just be a result of a change in FPS. If the card is only at 67C you have lots of headroom to lower the fan speed and reduce the noise. Although I'd finish optimizing the voltage before spending too much time optimizing fan profile.
 

waynelugames

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What temps should I achieve to reach on my 580 while under load? I’ve heard many say 80 is way to hot, yet some say it’s fine.

A undervolted GPU should function the same or even better than a stock 580, correct? If so what are some ingame signs that I have undervolted too much besides freezing?
 

waynelugames

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What temps should I achieve to reach on my 580 while under load? I’ve heard many say 80 is way to hot, yet some say it’s fine.

An undervolted GPU should function the same or even better than a stock 580, correct? If so what are some ingame signs that I have undervolted too much besides freezing?
 

TJ Hooker

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Opinions vary, but I'm in the camp that thinks 80C is totally fine. So if you're trying reduce fan speed I think it's totally reasonable to let the temps get up to around 80C.

Yes, a properly undervolted 580 will perform every bit as well as one at stock settings (possibly better), while running cooler, quieter, and more efficiently. Other than crashing, you might notice graphics glitches or artifacts. For example, I remember getting occasional blocks of bright purple that would pop up for an instant while I was dialing in my undervolt. But basically if you don't see or notice anything wrong, you're good.
 

waynelugames

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Oh i see. I have one question, do I change the last two voltages or all of the voltages?
 

waynelugames

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I am shocked. I set my volts to 1040, and right now I’m running around 65* with only 2500 fan speed.
 

waynelugames

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Can’t thank you enough. Saved me a whole $44 on a after market cooler lol. Will I be able to contact you if I need any help?