Graphics GTX 460 Appreciation Society - Plus VGA Cooling Thread!

Heh cheers Blogins.

I had a look around and Ket (from XS) already has a modded BIOS for tons of GTX460s including mine, the Palit Sonic 1GB. Default fan speed on all his BIOS mods is 30%, but I'm really not sure about it tbh... if 40% is quiet enough for me to "bear" I'd rather that than risk bricking my only graphics card!

I did play around with the Delta on my own PWM controller it spins at about 5% so all's good there; but I would rather have it at 30% at least so that my GPU doesn't overheat lol.

 

Come on Lenny! You have come this far, can't turn aroud now!

Let's see just how deep the rabbit hole goes

 

I wouldn't trust a BIOS from anywhere other than the original manufacturer LennyRhys. That's why it's best to alter the BIOS already found on your card. Much like the Voltage BIOS MOD I did for mine, it'll simply remove the limitation imposed by the software. In my case the Voltage will remain exactly the same as it was from stock unless I increase it in Afterburner. I'd imagine it would be much the same for Fan Control.

Having said that if you were to try it I would strongly suggest you knock the 'Minimum' fan speed down to 35% in the altered BIOS at first and then observe what speed the GPU fan speed is upon booting into Windows. With any luck it's value would be hard set to 40% then this could be lowered in Afterburner to the minimum limit of 35%. If this rings true then setting it to 10% should in theory be fine and again it'll be through Afterburner that you can fine tune a fan profile.

Here's the thread with all the Fermi BIOS editing advice...

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=336117

 

Nice mod, how high do you reckon you would be able to push the fan Lenny before the header failed?

 

@ Blogins thanks for the input and for the link. I'm still wary of flashing my vBIOS but will think about it... a simpler solution would be to buy a less powerful 92mm PWM fan LOL.

@ George, I think the PCB track would fail long before the header did, and I'm not going to test that one out lol It will handle this fan at full speed no bother though (already has, at 4300rpm in Afterburner). Although the fan is rated at 600mA, that's a max value which allows for startup current; operational current draw at full speed is probably 400mA which is not a lot. The header will be good for well over 1 amp, but the PCB track probably not!

 

What did you use to attach that to the vrms? And did you use thermal paste or tape? Looks great!

 

Use GPUZ to download a copy of your BIOS direct from the graphics card itself.

Alter the voltage limit with the FERMI BIOS EDITOR and then flash it to your graphics card.

All the advice and links you need are contained in this thread.

 

That's lots of information!

Now unlock the voltage and get some real overclocking on the run!

 

Well mine are all fine at 900 MHz ( BOINC 24/7) even my Sonic ( 700 MHz std ) ! ! !

Had a scare today, I built the PC into my new Antec P280 case but the Sonic just started to fry, I suspended GPU WU's at 87 degrees... I guess that facing downwards doesn't do them any favours as in my HTPC it's running at 64 degrees at the same load ? ? ? That's a 30+ degree drop just by positioning it vertically !

dunx

P.S. Sadly I expect to move mine on soon as I fancy more Powah ! LoL...

 

I'm just going to put this right here...



For my signature machine!

 

This is the best I could get... at 900mhz. Looks like I will have to BIOS mod for moar volts? < is that what some of you crazy cats have been doing?

 

Impressive! What's the maximum your MSI Hawk reaches on the volts with stock BIOS?

 

Have you a reliable way of telling?

GPUz says 1.0250, but I think that is the stock top and not the overclocked top. Would it be sat at 1.1250 then? Is that a reasonable guesstimate? (Are 100 mVs the first decimal?)

I know my temps don't go very high when not using furmark. Talking 62c max when using 3dmark and unigine... but 82c when using furmark.

I'd say I have some head room perhaps with more volts? I was a 910mhz but had to back down to 900mhz to reduce artefacts during both benchs... I've yet to use the built in bench of Just Cause 2 though, as Bit-tech seemed to suggest in an earlier review at some point that it is picky about overclocked cards.

 

The MSI GTX 460 Hawk lacks VRM cooling from what I'm reading so don't get to voltage happy!

Also to find the maximum voltage possible just move the slider up in Afterburner but DO NO APPLY THIS VOLTAGE!

 

Hmmm... Maximum is applied is plus 100mV. I needed that for the overclock to stay stable. However, gpu_z tells me it is 1.025... But thus value never changes. So is there better software to confirm what it it running at.

I may have to cool those vrms then with extra goodies then.