What is more important? Fan speed or GPU temperature?

[madebyshady]

*main question of this is in bold in case you don't want to read everything.

I have an Alienware x51 with an i7 4770 and an R9 270x graphics card. Ok, so when I played really graphic intensive games like Metro Last Light on very high settings, my gpu temp would reach like 88 degrees celsius. My computer was using 30-40% fan speed. I learned that while it's not damaging, 88 C is close to being at a dangerous level. I used a program called msi afterburner and now it's low to mid 70s celsius during metro last light and im using 60% fan speed now (it goes to 100% if my gpu does reach 80 C but that hasnt happened). but its LOUD! I can use headphones if it gets too distracting and it would only be getting this high during graphically intensive games... but my question is: what is safer? having fast fan speed like 60%... or having high temps for my gpu (near 90 degrees celsius)?

I don't want to mess up my fans or my gpu. if both are dangerous then i'd rather not play next-gen games on this.

 

[hunter315]

88C isn't awful, its a bit toasty, but fine, if you were pushing 95C i'd be more concerned but if it is a reference cooler 88C is about what i'd expect to see. I would have made the curve slightly more aggressive so it was pushing about 10% harder at those temps. Your GPU does not benefit notably from lower temps, nor does your fan wear out significantly quicker running at 60% instead of 40%. I'd take a bit more time tuning that fan curve so that it isn't horribly loud and keeps your temps a bit lower if you want.

What card do you have? There are certain coolers that work better, and some that are notoriously loud.

 

[madebyshady]

88C isn't awful, its a bit toasty, but fine, if you were pushing 95C i'd be more concerned but if it is a reference cooler 88C is about what i'd expect to see. I would have made the curve slightly more aggressive so it was pushing about 10% harder at those temps. Your GPU does not benefit notably from lower temps, nor does your fan wear out significantly quicker running at 60% instead of 40%. I'd take a bit more time tuning that fan curve so that it isn't horribly loud and keeps your temps a bit lower if you want.

What card do you have? There are certain coolers that work better, and some that are notoriously loud.

What card? If you mean video card then it's an R9 270x. I'm not sure what cooler I have or if I even have one to be honest. I didn't pick the parts myself, I just got all of the default options from the Alienware x51 computer. And by aggressive, do you mean putting my fan curve at 70% when it reaches 70 C instead of 60%?

UPDATE: Okay I just increased the fan curve by 10% when it reaches 70 degrees celsius and now when i play metro last light, the fan speed doesnt go above 59 and my gpu temp didn't go past 72 C. so its more or less the same, except the temperature for the gpu dropped by a few degrees.

 

[hunter315]

I was referring to slightly more aggressive than the stock curve, so if it is doing 40% at 85C, bump that up to 50%. GPU fans get ridiculously loud as the fan speed ramps up, so keeping it as low as possible while still maintaining good temps is usually what you want to do, unless you like having to wear headphones to avoid going deaf.

 

[madebyshady]

I was referring to slightly more aggressive than the stock curve, so if it is doing 40% at 85C, bump that up to 50%. GPU fans get ridiculously loud as the fan speed ramps up, so keeping it as low as possible while still maintaining good temps is usually what you want to do, unless you like having to wear headphones to avoid going deaf.

Ohh I see. I think I'll try that too and see how it works. It's just I asked an Alienware customer service person, like the ones you can chat with on their website, and they said 88 C is too hot. I've heard other people say its pretty hot and others saying it's okay.

UPDATE: I only kept my fans at 50 this time and the gpu temp stayed 78-79 for almost the entire time. The fans, while they're still loud at 50%, are noticeably quieter than 60%.