HD6850 noise issue

[joker1220]

Hi All!

I use this card; GV-R685D5-1GD http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3614&dl=#ov

The fan starts from 73%, in idle the card is 38-39 in Celsius, when loaded it goes up to 48-55 Celsius, so
the cooling is very good, but on 73% fan speed it's a bit noisy for me. 

My question is, will there be a new BIOS version with the fan speed reduced to 50% at start!?

On 50% the fan does the cooling job very well also and there is no noise issue at all!

If I set the fan speed manually in AMD Overdrive, then it stucks on the adjusted speed, in game i cant watch
the temperatures and i dont want the get the card overheat.

Any ideas what else can I do?

(Sorry for the bad language, I'm not english)

Many Thanks,

joker1220

[Dark Mantis]

Hi Joker and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

Have you tried using one of the utilities for tweaking the card like MSI Afterburner or Sapphire Trixx etc there are many of them ?

[joker1220]

Now thats what I didn't think of:D

Maybe i can set fan profiles in Afterburner, didn't try it out yet because
this is a gigabyte card and that app is for msi products.

I will try it out and reply:)

Thanks!!

[Dark Mantis]

There is no reason that it shouldn't work. Good luck.

[Grozdan]

I must say that the Balkan countries got a hold of a lot of faulty GBT 6850 graphic cards! They did retrieve most of them but some might have stuck. You should consider that if the problem stays (73% for idle temp is too much for that card because that's Windforce cooling system).

My friend recently returned this card because it was crashing the system in 2D (3D works fine but constantly dies at 2D and on SeaSonic 620GM). There is also a story on factory under-volt-ing which prevents any OC without raising voltage etc...

[Dark Mantis]

Hi Grozdan I think that you probably misundestood what the OP said. It isn't 73 degrees C in idle that is the fan speed. Agreed that it is too high but the temperature isn't bad at all.

[joker1220]

Yes, i'm talking about the fan speed displayed in the AMD Catalyst Control Center / Overdrive,
it's not activated and in Gray it shows 73% for fan speed.

Here is a picture for example, i marked on it what i meant to tell you, this
is from google, i will post one of my own pictures later on..

[Grozdan]

Hi Grozdan I think that you probably misundestood what the OP said. It isn't 73 degrees C in idle that is the fan speed. Agreed that it is too high but the temperature isn't bad at all.

Hi there DM
I haven't misunderstood but I probably wasn't clear enough
I wanted to say that 73% RPM on Windforce sounds like a little bit too much for idle state of the card. I have the same Windforce 2 system and mine's at 40% RPM for idle and at 32°C and I can't hear it! Even when fully loaded (Furmark) it's almost impossible to hear it and the temperature never crossed 68°C. I know that HD6850 is warmer (and therefore louder) than GTX 460 but to me, that sounds a little bit too much especially when there are noise complaints...

[joker1220]

Maybe I found the solution

This is the only VGA Bios on the website;

Version   Size   Date   Download Here   Description
F3_C   0.17 MB   2011/01/14   Asia China America Europe Europe(Russia) : FTP / Http   

    ATi Source BIOS Version: 013.007.000.003
    ECLK/MCLK is 775/1005MHz
    Release for Hynix memory
    Enhanced game compatibility.

I think i've got an older bios on the card, so this might solve my problem

By the way can the shaders be unlocked on these cards with a 6870 bios?

AMD told that they are cut off by laser but I've heard a few times that there
are some cards that unlocked with 6870 bios

[joker1220]

Problem solved!

I just flashed the bios found on the gigabyte website for the card, and now it works really nice!

Cooler starts from 40% and it stays there on idle, when loaded it goes up as needed:)

Got lots of fps in games now

Thanks for the help guys!!

[Dark Mantis]

You are very welcome and it makes a great deal of difference to your enjoyment of a game when the graphics card is running better and quieter. Have fun!