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View Single Post  Topic: Reduce Sapphire Toxic Radeon HD4870 Fan Noise 
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7Enigma
Rated PG


PostPosted: Fri, 19 Nov 2010 17:05:45    Post Subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Jason for the bios!

I had a problem with the files you sent me. I don't know if Win7 doesn't like the 2.015 version of Winflash but it wasn't working (it was in my task manager using 50% cpu but no windows showed up). I ended up doing a Google search and getting the one on TechPowerUp which is an older version by number but worked fine (2.0111). That version allowed the program to load properly. I then saved my old bios just in case, and loaded the new one. My big scare came after it said update successful. The screen froze but my mouse cursor and keyboard seemed to still be working. Then the whole computer froze and I had to soft-boot the system. To my relief the computer booted fine and the new bios was successfully installed. I don't know what happened (I had all non-critical programs closed, blocked internet access with zonealarm, and disabled my antivirus). Now on to the good stuff.....

My experience with Civilization 5 mirrors your review of the modded bios. With the old bios the fan was constantly spinning well above 50% and making a TON of noise regardless of what was going on on-screen (just seems to be rendering heavily at all times even with v-sync enabled), so much so that I had to wear headphones to play games. This also occurred in StarCraft 2 btw.

With the new bios I can hear it spin up SLIGHTLY after a minute or two, but the fanspeed even at near 100% gpu load in-game is only at 30% and is near silent. Temps are significantly up from ~55-60C to near 75C but that's still well within reason compared to the reference cards near 90C). This has completely changed gaming for me where I can play at low volumes at night while the kids are asleep but still be able to keep an ear on their room in case they get up. Before it was either dealing with the constant fan sound or not being able to hear my kids if they woke up with a nightmare.

Thanks again!

(and I've kept a copy of the files in case anyone needs it at a later date)
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