Tried it. And like everyone, including himself, reverted back to stock bios due to the loss of audio it causes.
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GPU Zotac GTX 1080 Mini
- Thread starter 1461748123
- Start date
i will try this, if this doesent work i will get two noctua fans and some splitters :]
I'm already telling you this now, it's fun to play with this bios mod, just to hear how silent the gpu gets under 37%, but in all practicality, it's not worth it because you loose audio entirely. You'll end up going back to stock. Trust me.
What's the consensus on removing the plastic shroud off the zotac 1080 mini?
I remember somewhere that Josh from NFC said that the shroud is completely useless and should be removed.
Can anyone comment on this? And whether this affects performance/temps in any way?
I remember somewhere that Josh from NFC said that the shroud is completely useless and should be removed.
Can anyone comment on this? And whether this affects performance/temps in any way?
I think I said that for another GPU (possibly S4 #25?) but it has been a while... The Zotac 1080 mini shroud actually extends down to the heatsink fins, so I can see it actually being useful/beneficial.
Hope this helps...
Peace
+1
Having removed the shroud, I can feel a lot of air circulated around the GPU, whereas before there was very little. This is true regardless of whether you zip tie the fans onto the heatsink or if you use the skybracket (S4M).
You remove the stock fans and shroud to reduce noise, at the expense of a small increase in GPU temperature (about 5C). This can have a small impact on GPU boost clocks.
It's a better solution to the noise issue than a bios flash IMO. Lower risk whilst remaining fully reversible.
How about swapping the fans, plus adding a new shroud (e.g. 3d printed, cut sheet styrene, or even good old cereal boxes & tape)? Ducted air is an underutilised tool in PC cooling, mainly because it is very difficult to make it 'universal' outside of platforms with very strict physical layout enforcement.
Fans have been swapped for 2 x Noctua NF-A9x14 PWM mounted to the skybracket (included with the S4 Mini) with spacers to bring the fans closer to the GPU heatsink.
The fans are plugged into the chassis fan header on my motherboard. I'm using ASUS Fan Xpert 4 to control fan speed vs GPU temperature. I've placed a probe on the underside of the heatsink to provide GPU temperature readings to the software.
Fan speed <50C = 700rpm (approx 30%) - near enough silent at that point. Downside to this approach is the latency between the GPU temperature and that reported by the probe. So above 50C I have to increase the fan speed very quickly to keep temperatures below 74C (which is where it maxed out with the stock cooling setup).
This setup is a bit of work. It would be much easier to get a GPU to 4 pin fan converter and let the GPU control the fans. I tried this but decided against it as whilst the systems was much quieter with the Noctua fans, the 37% minimum fan speed on the Zotac meant that the GPU was still the loudest part of my system outside of games and benchmarks.
Ideally I would find a way of using software to control fan speed vs temperature without needing to use a probe. Speedfan did not work with the ASUS Z370-I Gaming board.
Either way fan noise is massively reduced over stock and temperatures remain acceptable.
I might give the cereal box shroud idea a go actually. Interested to see what it does to temperatures.
The fans are plugged into the chassis fan header on my motherboard. I'm using ASUS Fan Xpert 4 to control fan speed vs GPU temperature. I've placed a probe on the underside of the heatsink to provide GPU temperature readings to the software.
Fan speed <50C = 700rpm (approx 30%) - near enough silent at that point. Downside to this approach is the latency between the GPU temperature and that reported by the probe. So above 50C I have to increase the fan speed very quickly to keep temperatures below 74C (which is where it maxed out with the stock cooling setup).
This setup is a bit of work. It would be much easier to get a GPU to 4 pin fan converter and let the GPU control the fans. I tried this but decided against it as whilst the systems was much quieter with the Noctua fans, the 37% minimum fan speed on the Zotac meant that the GPU was still the loudest part of my system outside of games and benchmarks.
Ideally I would find a way of using software to control fan speed vs temperature without needing to use a probe. Speedfan did not work with the ASUS Z370-I Gaming board.
Either way fan noise is massively reduced over stock and temperatures remain acceptable.
I might give the cereal box shroud idea a go actually. Interested to see what it does to temperatures.
I'm not sure if this is the best thread for this, but it seems appropriate given the current discussion. I ran some tests on the Zotac GTX 1080 Ti Mini. I tested both the stock fans and some Noctua NF-A9x14 fans. Here are the results:
Methodology:
For each test configuration, Unigine Heaven (Extreme Preset) was launched and the card was allowed to reach thermal equilibrium. Then data was recorded with Nvidia's command line tools (power), a thermocouple DAQ (ambient temp), and MSI Afterburner (everything else) over three cycles of Heaven. Fan speed, GPU voltage, and core clock were held constant except for the baseline test.
Lengthy discussion for crazy people:
Undervolting:
The GPU responds well to undervolting, still allowing for an increase in core clock while simultaneously reducing temperature, power consumption, fan speed, and fan noise compared to stock settings. Not bad! Undervolting this card also has the benefit of reducing inductor noise, aka coil whine. At stock it's pretty bad. The voltage/frequency curve used for testing is pictured below:
Fan Speed:
The fan curve has a limited range (44-100% or 1350-3000 RPM) and there's no zero RPM mode at low temperatures. This is similar to the 1080 Mini which means that even at idle it's a little noisy. Under load, the fans spin up loudly to about 1900 RPM and have a slight pulsing sound or beat frequency.
BIOS Modding:
I'm not the first to do this (@CubanLegend famously BIOS modded his 1080 Mini), but I wanted more fan control for the Noctua fans, so I flashed an EVGA BIOS onto the card using this guide. The EVGA BIOS was selected because it has full range fan control (0-100%) and has the same default and max power limits of 250W and 300W, respectively.
With the EVGA BIOS the fans start and stop occasionally when the card is idle, but they're inaudible when doing so. I chose to set a custom fan curve that keeps the fans spinning at 15% or ~550 RPM and is also inaudible. At 70%, the Noctua fans max out.
Noctua Fans:
As some of you may know, there are two variations of the NF-A9x14 fan. The 2500 RPM variant is only bundled with some of Noctua's coolers while the 2200 RPM variant is sold individually. I tested both types and they perform identically at matched RPM settings. However, the extra range of the "2500 RPM" NF-A9x14 is useful for keeping the card cool at the expense of noise. That said, the noise tone is smoother for either of these fans at any speed when compared to the stock Zotac fans. The fans were held securely to the GPU heatsink using zip ties, as pictured below. This works surprisingly well.
Fan Adapter:
I powered the Noctua fans off the GPU using a fan adapter. The seller made the common mistake of wiring the RPM signal twice, but this was easily fixed by removing one of the wires. You can also buy a Gelid adapter and use any fan splitter. A third option is plugging the fans into the motherboard and controlling them with SpeedFan, but I haven't tested this.
Conclusion:
The Noctua fans perform adequately and are more pleasant sounding than the stock fans, but there's no denying that they are an eyesore and expensive. This mod only makes sense if your goals are less noise and possibly fitting the card into an S4 Mini with the normal bezel (not the 3D bezel). Keep in mind that this testing was done on an open bench and this card will likely be even more difficult to cool in a case. Finally, even without modding, undervolting your GPU is a great way to reduce temps, power consumption, and fan noise. I'd recommend anyone with the patience to give it a shot.
Additional measurements and photos were posted earlier here.
Hello @ceski! Nice work! Did you get any drawback flashing the EVGA BIOS onto your ZOTAC 1080 Ti, like loss of audio output on HDMI port as reported on the ZOTAC 1080 "non Ti"? I'm about to buy the Ti mini, but only if I will able to use lower fan speed AND did not loss audio output. Thank you very much.
Evening! Came from google, and very new in the SFF community. Wanted to say thank you to @CubanLegend for the BIOS flash tip. I got a 1080 ti mini, flashed it with AMP 1080ti bios and now was able to lower the fan speed from 44 standard. I Set 78% Power limit on 1080TI as well, set Temp limit to 84degrees. Left Core/Memory Untouched, and set temps to 30% IDLE, which is WAY MORE silent than it was before (those 15% matter). Thank you again Cuban, enjoy the evening.
There are plenty of options out there if you care more about looks than performance. I recommend the CNPS2x in that case.
I don't think there is anything that can touch the A9x14 in performance + silence.
Dude, I'm glad it worked, i remember you'd asked me about the 1080Ti mini and doing the same with it as I'd done with the 1080 mini, I'm SUPER GLAD the AMP 1080Ti bios worked!
No wasn’t me who was asking, just stumbled upon the forums yesterday night. But yes, can confirm success - im back in silence. Its still louder under load than what im used to coming from 1070 strix, but at least in desktop mode im back to silenceDude, I'm glad it worked, i remember you'd asked me about the 1080Ti mini and doing the same with it as I'd done with the 1080 mini, I'm SUPER GLAD the AMP 1080Ti bios worked!
And btw this is the only place on the internet that is mentioned on how to lower the fan speeds for minis - a post from you, so thank you again.
Also ran unigine benches, its on par with other zotac 1080ti mini cards (scores rougly the same). And i value silence more than a few fps!
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Is there maybe a short guide or something on how to mod the mini with pictures preferably? I dont care how the card looks, just the more silent it is the better
interesting, so then someone else mut've asked me about it in a PM a while back, i hope they check this thread, because it worked for your 1080Ti mini.No wasn’t me who was asking, just stumbled upon the forums yesterday night. But yes, can confirm success - im back in silence. Its still louder under load than what im used to coming from 1070 strix, but at least in desktop mode im back to silence
And btw this is the only place on the internet that is mentioned on how to lower the fan speeds for minis - a post from you, so thank you again.
Also ran unigine benches, its on par with other zotac 1080ti mini cards (scores rougly the same). And i value silence more than a few fps!
interesting, so then someone else mut've asked me about it in a PM a while back, i hope they check this thread, because it worked for your 1080Ti mini.
It was meee :-)
do you have the hdmi audio disabled problem after flashing?
Are the fans at 0 rpm at idle?
Thanks archijs for your brave soul :-)
