Reading VGA fan speed

[Rory Buszka]

I'm taking a look at the review for the ASUS EAX1650XT card, and I notice that the blower has a three-pin output, presumably for RPM feedback. Is there a good utility out there that can let me read the VGA fan's speed?

Eventually, I think I'd like to splice the wires together into a standard-size 3-pin connector and control it with a Sunbeam Theta fan controller (along with my case fans). I'm big on reducing the noise my computers make, so I'd like to be able to use the ATi Omega drivers and underclock the core and memory to something like 133MHz when the card's running in 2D mode, so I can shut the fan completely off or have it operate intermittently, based on a thermistor output from the heat sink.

 

[Greg King]

Are you currently running with a fan controller? As far as a physical fan speed reading on your desktop, I am not familiar with any programs but I know they are out there. I will certainly look into this for you. VGA fans have 2 speeds usually, loud and ungodly insane, both are shitty.

This is really something that should be included in the drivers for god sakes. For all I know, it could be in the drivers but I just havent looked deep enough to know one way or the other as I usually water cool the card.

 

[madmat]

Try Rivatuner. I think it'll read fan speeds on cards that support it.

 

[Rory Buszka]

I think I'll be going with an mCubed TBalancer fan controller in my desktop rig, which should be able to not only tell me what the GPU fan is doing, but also provide full control (with user-editable speed-vs.-temp curves) so that I can accomplish the fullest level of noise-optimization.

 

[Greg King]

Tater, that sounds like it's going to be a nice setup.