With fan curve and 1st two positions set to 30%, GPU fans intermittently briefly drop to 0%

[davejay]

The problem I am reporting appears similar to the one reported here, which was closed due to non-responsiveness from the submitter: https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-ARC-Graphics/0db-Fan-Mode-Sparkle-Titan-A770-and-Acer-Bifrost-A770/m-p/1542364

Using a Sparkle Arc A770 Titan with 31.0.101.5186 on Windows 11 home, first time driver installation after using DDU to clear AMD drivers from the system. Motherboard is an Asus B550i-gaming, CPU is an AMD Ryzen 5 5600.

This concern is noteworthy because a GPU idling with 30% fans (via fan curve) is much cooler than a GPU idling with 0% fans (via automatic), ~26c vs ~48c on my system, but at 30% the fan noise is loud enough that every intermittent brief drop to 0% and back to 30% calls attention to that noise.

Also, note that I say "intermittent" because the timing between each brief drop is unpredictable -- generally between 20-120 seconds -- but these drops happen consistently whenever I set the fan curve leftmost positions to 30% and 30%.

Steps to reproduce:

- Have fan speed control set to "fan curve"

- Have two leftmost fan curve percentages set to "30%" (lowest possible non-0 setting, see attached image of fan curve in Arc Control)

- Let system sit idle (~2% CPU usage in task manager)

- Observe GPU fan speed via Arc Control, Afterburner, your eyes and/or your ears

Expected behavior:

- GPU temperature holds steady (at ~26c on my machine)

- GPU fans hold steady at ~30%

Observed behavior:

- GPU temperature holds steady (at ~26c on my machine)

- GPU fans hold steady at ~30% with intermittent brief drops to 0% (see attached image of fan tachometer from Afterburner)

Impact of issue:

- GPU fan noise is quite audible at 30% and inaudible at 0%

- The transitions from 30% to 0% and back to 30% are noticeable on a system at idle when muted and constant-speed case/CPU fans are running

- The audible nature of the intermittent brief drops to 0% are therefore noticeable and annoying

Not tested:

- I did not test to see if this happens when the two leftmost positions were set to 31%/31% or any other equal value

- I did not test to see if this happens when the two leftmost positions were set to similar but non-exact values like 30%/35%

[Sotiris]

I have a Sparcle orc a750 oc.

i check for updates every week and i do a clean install if there is an update available.

Today installed driver version 32.101.62.99 15-NOV-2024

the fan oscilation problem persists.

whatever firmware update they did, did not fix the problem.

I have to set manually fan curve to 34% in order to have a relatively stable fan speed, but, even this way i get an ~150 rpm oscilation (from 1317 to 1484rpm)

If I set the fan curve to 30% fan speed goes from 0 to 1350 rpm

I do not think they care. either sparkle or intel.

this is the 1st and last time i buy an intel or sparkle gpu.

It should not be that difficult. every other card manufacturer does not have this problem.

[OneHair]

I have a SPARKLE ECO A310 and it has the same problem with the fan cycling up and down. It's been that way from the start.

I installed the card in multiple PCs, Dell OEMs and Home Built. 

It happens in Linux as well as windows, and since Linux doesn't use the ARC Control Center I can't help but think it's in the hardware.

I currently have it in a dual boot system which allowed me to boot into Window 10 to update to the latest firmware through ARC Control. It has not made any difference.

So far for me, both driver and firmware updates have done nothing to correct this issue. 

[ochompskr]

sparkle cards are garbage but it's hard to beat the price.  

i ended up buying an gpu fan-> cpu fan adaptor on amazon and plugging it into my 4 pin fan header.  i use fancontrol to control the speeds and it's MUCH better.  no more spin ups/downs and loud noises.  

[ignabe]

I have the same problem with my Sparkle a310-ECO.
Has there been an update to fix this?

[yosiox]

my new thread
https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-ARC-Graphics/Intel-Arc-A310-ECO-s-fan-is-still-very-noisy/m-p/1637300/emcs_t/S2h8ZW1haWx8dG9waWNfc3Vic2NyaXB0aW9ufE0yQTBBQkY5T1ZDSE1LfDE2MzczMDB8U1VCU0NSSVBUSU9OU3xoSw#M17023