The GPU is an essential component in a gaming PC and is often overlooked for cooling. A GPU needs to be cooled with air, and too much heat can lead to reduced performance and even damage the card. The best way to keep your GPU cool is by changing its fan speed manually or through software that allows you to control fan speeds, such as MSI Afterburner.
Adjusting your graphics card’s fan can also help reduce noise levels while also increasing performance. In this article, we’ll cover what you need to know about adjusting the fan speed on both Nvidia-based GPUs and AMD-based GPUs.
What is the GPU fan speed, and why does it matter?
How to increase GPU fan speed? Why do you need to know? The GPU fan speed is how fast the graphics card’s blower spins. This allows cool air to enter the graphics card while pushing out hot air built up inside. A higher fan speed means more cooling power, but it can also lead to increased noise levels too.
GPUs are measured in how many Watts they draw, with your power supply responsible for how many Watts it can deliver. A higher-end graphics card will have a more significant cooling requirement and therefore require a more powerful fan to cool the card, which is why this matters when adjusting your GPU fan speed. And that is why in this article, we have explained how to increase the GPU fan speed.
Adjusting fan speed for Nvidia GPUs
Several factors, including temperature control Nvidia’s GPU fan speed. The following guide will help you adjust it to your liking:
Step I: Check how many GPUs you have.
If you only have one video card, it will be an Nvidia-based GPU, and the steps below will work on setting the fan speed. If you have more than one GPU, make sure to check our other guide for it.
Step II: Open the NVIDIA Control Panel
The NVIDIA Control Panel can be found in your application list under “Programs.” You can also access it by right-clicking on the desktop.
Step III: Access the global settings
Click on “Manage 3D Settings” and then click on “Global Settings.” You should now see a window with four tabs: “On-screen Display,” “OpenGL Settings,” “Power Management Mode,” and “Texture Filtering.”
Step IV: Adjust the fan speed under “Fan Speed”
On the first tab, scroll down to Fan Speed and select your desired speed. By default, it should say “Automatic.” You can also specify how fast you’d like your fans to spin at idle by adjusting the slider below “Fan Speed.”
Step V: Click “Apply” to save your changes
Your changes won’t go into effect until you click the “Apply” button at the bottom. Now, when playing a game that uses 3D graphics, your GPU’s fan speed will be set how you specified in this section of the Control Panel.
You can always come back and change how your fans work or altogether disable them by selecting “Manual.” Now that was all about how to increase GPU fan speed for Nvidia. Now let’s continue with AMD GPUs.
Adjusting fan speed for AMD GPUs
In the above guiIn the above guide, we learned how to increase GPU fan speed for Nvidia. In this section, we will learn how to improve the GPU fan speed of AMD GPUs. Several factors, including temperature control AMD’s GPU fan speed. The following guide will help you adjust it to your liking:
Step I: Open the AMD Catalyst Control Center
The Catalyst Control Center can be found in your application list under “Programs.” You can also access it by right-clicking on the desktop.
Step II: Access “My Digital Flat Panels” and go to the second page.
Under the “Desktop” tab, go to the second page and look for “My Digital Flat Panels.” Look under the label entitled “Duty Cycle” for how fast your GPU’s fan should be spinning. It should say either 0% (silent), 33%, 40%, 50%, 66%, 80% or 100%.
Step III: Set how fast you want your GPU fans to spin
As you can see, the fan speed is set to 33% by default. You can change how fast your fans spin by clicking on the dropdown menu and selecting how fast you’d like them to go. The higher this number goes, the more cooling power your GPU’s fan will have and the louder it becomes.
You can also adjust how fast your fans spin at idle by selecting the “RPM” dropdown menu and choosing how quickly you’d like them to go. This can be set anywhere from 0% (disabled) to 100%.
Step IV: Click “Apply” to save your changes.
Your changes won’t go into effect until you click the “Apply” button at the bottom. So now, when playing a game that uses 3D graphics, your GPU’s fan speed will be set how you specified in this section of the Control Center. But, of course, you can always come back and change how your fans work or altogether disable them by selecting “Manual.”
Check GPU’s Temperature after adjusting Fans.
If you have made it this far, this means you know how to increase GPU fan speed for both Nvidia and AMD GPUs. After adjusting how fast you want your GPU’s fans to spin, it is crucial to check how hot your card has become. This can be done by following steps using HWmonitor:
- Go to http://www.hwinfo.com/ and download the HWmonitor application.
- Install HWmonitor on your computer.
- Start the program and look for your GPU under “Sensors,” and check the temperature of your GPU.
The benefits of increasing your GPU’s fan speed
Boosting your GPU’s fan speed will make the cooling more efficient and will help to prevent any issues with how hot your GPU is getting. This can be helpful for anyone playing graphics-intensive games who would like their GPU fans to spin at a higher RPM. The only drawback is how loud the fans will become. This can be distracting for some users, but there are ways to solve this problem.
Conclusion
IIn this article, we covered how to increase the fan speed of an Nvidia or AMD GPU. This can be helpful for anyone who wants their GPU fans to spin at a higher RPM and those who would like their cooling power to be more efficient.
You should now know how to increase your Nvidia or AMD GPU’s fan speed through Control Panel and the AMD Catalyst Control Center. We also covered how to monitor how hot your GPU is and make sure you don’t damage it.
After studying this article, you know why GPU fan speed is essential, how to increase GPU fan speed, its benefits, and how to check GPU temperature.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will increasing how fast my fans spin harm my card’s lifespan?
No, increasing how fast your GPU’s fan spins will not harm how long your card lasts. The only drawback is how loud the fans become, but there are ways to solve this problem.
What are the effects of increasing GPU fan speed?
The only drawback is how loud the fans become. This can be distracting for some users, but there are ways to solve this problem explained in our other article.
Is there a way to keep my GPU cooler without having it be louder?
Yes, there is a way to keep your GPU cooler without it becoming any louder. We covered how to do this in our other article.
What is the drawback to increasing GPU fan speed?
The only drawback is how loud the fans become, and it also draws more power if that is your concern.
Do all GPUs have adjustable fans, and how do they work?
No, not all GPUs have adjustable fans that can be adjusted by how fast they spin. In addition, some GPUs are only capable of being turned off completely.
