Zalman GV1000 auto fan control.

[cmjrees]

I love my quiet PC, so when I bought an Antec P182, I kept all the fans on low. Which is fine....


So I bought a Zalman GV1000 to replace the (hopeless) stock cooler on my Geforce 8800 GT, but I don't want to have to fiddle with the speed controller every time I think it gets warm.

Is this really lazy of me, or is it OK to assume that the system temperature correlates with the GPU temp, and have my mainboard control the fan?

[Pob255]

Umm not quite
The problem is that the card could be getting hotter but the mainboard temps could not be raiseing much.

I'd sugest you use nVidia control panel to monitor you gpu temps and running atitools as a good way of running a stress test while monitoring the temps
Then play around with the fan controller to get the sound/temp you're happy with and leave it fixed at that.
Sorry to say this but if you wanted automatic fan control you should of looked at a different cooler.
That said you find you can run the gv1000 at fairly slow speeds and still keep the temps down.

[Webby]

You can also use FurMark in stability test mode it will report GPU temp during the benchmark.

http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

[cmjrees]

Sorry to say this but if you wanted automatic fan control you should of looked at a different cooler.

You're right, and I know it's not marketed as automatic etc. I'm just experimenting with different ways, as you say keeping an eye on the temperature.

On a different note, then, would you say it's also a bad idea to construct an adaptor to connect the fan to the header on the card, and play with the settings on there?

[Webby]

It all depends on the graphics card a lot use pulse width modulation (PWM) to control the speed of the fan if the fan is not designed for this it will not work properly if at all. So connecting it directly to the graphics card would not in my opinion be a good idea, the best thing to do will be to get a fan controller (be it for multiple fans or a fan-mate for the single fan) turn the fan down to an acceptable noise level and test using Furmark to see the load temps, you will then need to decide what you class as reasonable temperatures.

[cmjrees]

I'll do that then