EVGA GTX 970 Only One Spinning Fan :: Hardware and Operating Systems

All Discussions > Steam Forums > Hardware and Operating Systems > Topic Details

Cloudy May 15, 2019 @ 7:33pm

EVGA GTX 970 Only One Spinning Fan

I have a EVGA GTX 970 Superclocked ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-2974-KR) that even when put under load has one of it's two fans spinning. I used this GPU for months and both fans would spin, but now when I went to sell it only one works.

The non-working fan doesn't twitch or move at all, I have tried updating the drivers, use older drivers, manually control the fans with MSI Afterburner (most recent version), EVGA Precision XOC, different games that use a lot of VRAM, tried on two different PCs, making sure the PCI-E cables are fully in, and the GPU fully in the motherboard. Windows 10 is fully updated and I did not have any shocks or crack when I was installing into the PC. Do I have to take it apart, is one of the fan's wires loose?

The author of this topic has marked a post as the answer to their question.
Click here to jump to that post.

Originally posted by [☥] - CJ -:

Originally posted by _I_:
the 10xx series and later can stop fans, the 9xx series and earlier will not stop the fans when the gpu is powered

This
-

If the fan isnt working you can try dusting it out, or removing the fan connector and plugging it back in to see if that resolves it.

It may come down to getting a 3rd party cooler replacement if RMA is not an option, but you should contact EVGA and see what they have to say about it, assuming you registered the card with them.
-

And nevermind, you already did what i suggested :p

< >

Showing 1-15 of 17 comments

_I_ May 15, 2019 @ 7:36pm

on most of them the fans are powered together
most likely its a bad fan

the 970 should not stop its fans ever

Last edited by _I_; May 15, 2019 @ 7:37pm

nullable May 15, 2019 @ 8:43pm

Originally posted by _I_:
on most of them the fans are powered together
most likely its a bad fan

the 970 should not stop its fans ever

Under load yes, but most GPU's for the last several generations will turns fans off when just displaying the desktop. The demands are so low that the heatsink alone is enough to keep it cool and the card is typically running at a fraction of it's max clock-speed...

_I_ May 15, 2019 @ 9:17pm

the 10xx series and later can stop fans, the 9xx series and earlier will not stop the fans when the gpu is powered

Cloudy May 15, 2019 @ 9:36pm

Neither fan starts spinning until about 60°C - 65° when fans are set to auto on MSI Afterburner. I just a moment ago took the GPU apart, put (desperately needed) new thermal paste on and jiggled the fan header. It seemed to fix it, at one point the one fan stopped spinning again but without touching anything and messing with stress test it seem to work again.

Last edited by Cloudy; May 15, 2019 @ 10:03pm

The author of this thread has indicated that this post answers the original topic.

[☥] - CJ - May 15, 2019 @ 9:38pm

Originally posted by _I_:
the 10xx series and later can stop fans, the 9xx series and earlier will not stop the fans when the gpu is powered

Last edited by [☥] - CJ -; May 15, 2019 @ 9:38pm

nullable May 16, 2019 @ 4:01am

Originally posted by _I_:
the 10xx series and later can stop fans, the 9xx series and earlier will not stop the fans when the gpu is powered

I am fairly certain that's not true... but reading around I think you must be referring to the official driver based solution, and not the common/custom solutions implemented by various partners.

https://www.techpowerup.com/208911/nvidia-geforce-gtx-titan-x-to-feature-tweakable-idle-fan-off-mode

Even so I would have bet the feature existed even longer even back to the 700 series and likely would have been wrong. At any rate my EVGA 970 had this feature and it wasn't the only 900 series card. Depends on how you want to split hairs over implementation details though.

Last edited by nullable; May 16, 2019 @ 4:02am

Bad 💀 Motha May 16, 2019 @ 5:23am

Originally posted by Brockenstein:
Originally posted by _I_:
on most of them the fans are powered together
most likely its a bad fan

the 970 should not stop its fans ever

Under load yes, but most GPU's for the last several generations will turns fans off when just displaying the desktop. The demands are so low that the heatsink alone is enough to keep it cool and the card is typically running at a fraction of it's max clock-speed...

While true for some models I can confirm evga 970 and 980 dual fanned models should never turn off any of the fans, they should run at 10-20% at their very lowest speed, never off.

RMA this gpu through evga.com

Cloudy May 16, 2019 @ 10:23am

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:
Originally posted by Brockenstein:

Under load yes, but most GPU's for the last several generations will turns fans off when just displaying the desktop. The demands are so low that the heatsink alone is enough to keep it cool and the card is typically running at a fraction of it's max clock-speed...
While true for some models I can confirm evga 970 and 980 dual fanned models should never turn off any of the fans, they should run at 10-20% at their very lowest speed, never off.

There is an official paper that came with my EVGA GTX 970 that exactly says the fans will not spin at all until the GPU reaches 65 degrees. (Although once it does reach that temp both fans are suppose to go on, not only one. I did fix it though by taking the GPU apart, it was a loose fan header.)

Last edited by Cloudy; May 16, 2019 @ 10:25am

Bad 💀 Motha May 16, 2019 @ 12:00pm

Perhaps I'm thinking of the gtx 7xx series then. Well if you don't want to take the gpu apart to check and address the issue, talk to evga tech support about this. As both fans should always spin at the same times and rpms on those evga gtx 9xx series gpus. I could see both fans being at 0 rpm at system boot and at low idle temps, but it shouldn't be having one fan stay off while the other is working, obviously something is wrong with that fan that is not spinning at all.

nullable May 16, 2019 @ 12:05pm

I'm not saying all fans will always turn off, but without knowing exactly which model in a period where some models have the feature, saying "never" carries some risk.

I am fairly certain my 970 was dual fan, and I'm fairly certain the fans would kick off. But at 10% speed they'd be silent. So I'd bet money, but not my life. It's not a big deal and not relevant to the OPs situation with a defective fan anyway. So I'll concede whatever point for the benefit of the thread.

Last edited by nullable; May 16, 2019 @ 12:23pm

#10

Bad 💀 Motha May 16, 2019 @ 12:13pm

Evga doesn't have that feature, that's something you typically would see on an Asus gtx 9xx or 10XX series model of gpu regarding one fan running while the other is at a dead stop.

Last edited by Bad 💀 Motha; May 16, 2019 @ 12:14pm

#11

[☥] - CJ - May 16, 2019 @ 3:27pm

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:
Evga doesn't have that feature, that's something you typically would see on an Asus gtx 9xx or 10XX series model of gpu regarding one fan running while the other is at a dead stop.

EVGA does have that feature, just not for something below the 10xx series though, their iCX feature allows independent control of the fans, so if the Core temps are fine but the VRMs are hot the fan covering the VRMs will spin but the core fan will not, etc etc.

But yeah, i thought the fans being off until 60-65C didnt start until the 10xx series, didnt know the 9xx may have had it, but for an EVGA card it doesnt really surprise me if it does.

#12