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Flashed 4,1 W3690 Avoiding Graphics Card Annoying Fan Speed Changes

L

lastmile

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 10, 2008
118
7
I know there have been lots of posts about odd fan behavior with higher power graphics cards. I’ve made at least one myself.

I’ve got a 4,1 flashed to a 5,1 with a W3690 six-core installed. I think 32 GB RAM. I’ve tried every recommendation I’ve found to stop the fan speed changes I get with a flashed reference EVGA GTX 680 installed. They annoy me to the point of not wanting to use the Mac.

I don’t really want to buy another 4,1 to fix this but is this something that does not occur in every flashed 4,1?

Would it stop if I downgraded to an original 4,1 CPU? I had another flashed 680 in a dual 2.93 4,1 and never had this issue. Can I swap CPUs or do I need to reverse the firmware flash?

Finally, are there any newer graphics cards that offer similar (ideally better) performance than the 680 and draw less power, avoiding the fan issue?

I go so fed up with this superior “5,1” that I upgraded a 3,1 to dual quad 3.2 GHz and have been working on getting Sierra through Mojave running. I’m having so many issues with that (even before those upgraded) that I’ll probsble follow this with another post!!!

Looking for help please! I don’t want to turn to a Hackintosh again but I will if I can get a nice quiet, stable Mac Pro running.
 
lastmile said:
I don’t really want to buy another 4,1 to fix this but is this something that does not occur in every flashed 4,1?
Click to expand...

I've a flashed 4,1 and the only aftermarket card I've had to cause fan oddness which didn't go away was a Sapphire RX460. The Radeon HD7950, HD7970, R9-280X, Firepro W7000, Quadro K5000, GeForce GTX 970, and GTX 680 were all okay after either flashing or an SMC+PRAM reset.

I will have a Sapphire Pulse RX580 arriving in a couple days, I'm hoping it'll be fine too.
 
flowrider said:
Have you tried this:

https://www.crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control

Lou
Click to expand...

I don’t think so. It doesn’t look quiet like what I’ve tried before.
[doublepost=1538372562][/doublepost]
1madman1 said:
I've a flashed 4,1 and the only aftermarket card I've had to cause fan oddness which didn't go away was a Sapphire RX460. The Radeon HD7950, HD7970, R9-280X, Firepro W7000, Quadro K5000, GeForce GTX 970, and GTX 680 were all okay after either flashing or an SMC+PRAM reset.

I will have a Sapphire Pulse RX580 arriving in a couple days, I'm hoping it'll be fine too.
Click to expand...

Thanks. What CPU(s) are you using? Have you been putting the cards in Slot 1?
 
1) Install the software that Flowrider linked in post #2.

2) Let MacFanControl auto start

3) Set PSU fan base on PSU 2 temperature, min 38C, max 55C

4) Set PCIe Fan base on PCIe ambient, min 38C, max 55C.

This should fix the fan noise issue.

NB. Some PSU run warmer than the others, I own two 4,1 PSU, both clean, and they look different inside. The one that has more free space inside actually runs warmer. If you find that the fan setting in step 3 causing very high fan noise at idle. You may adjust the min / max accordingly (e.g. min 45C, max 60C). However, make sure your PSU is clean. And NEVER fix the fan RPM in MacsFanControl. That will completely override all system protection. And the associated components CAN overheat.
 
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