GPU Zotac GTX 1080 Mini

[brt02]

To add my personal experience with bios flashing to the discussion - I found that the EVGA SC2 ROM got my fan speed floor on my 1080ti mini down to 0% without disabling hdmi audio. Anyone having issues with their 1080ti mini bios can shoot me a PM with their email address and I'll send you the ROM that I'm using, I'm not 100% sure which link I got it from anymore.

I've been watching some videos about the 1080ti mini. Apparently it doesn't have any input filtering chokes. Does anyone know if there would be any tangible gain to DIYing in some input filtering chokes somehow?

I assume you refer to Buildzoid's video?

I think he explains that effect of not having input filtering chokes is that if your PSU is operating close to 100% load, current spikes that would have otherwise been filtered out by the card instead would trip the PSU. I don't think he made a big deal out of it. The VRM component choices were his biggest issue with the 1080ti mini. But even those are fine at stock.

 

[teisysadmin]

I assume you refer to Buildzoid's video?

I think he explains that effect of not having input filtering chokes is that if your PSU is operating close to 100% load, current spikes that would have otherwise been filtered out by the card instead would trip the PSU. I don't think he made a big deal out of it. The VRM component choices were his biggest issue with the 1080ti mini. But even those are fine at stock.

That's the one. I don't have any issues with my PSU tripping, but I'm definitely operating close to 100% load, and I've gotta unscientifically wonder whether better input filtering might allow slightly better undervolting potential.

 

[Broxin]

To add my personal experience with bios flashing to the discussion - I found that the EVGA SC2 ROM got my fan speed floor on my 1080ti mini down to 0% without disabling hdmi audio. Anyone having issues with their 1080ti mini bios can shoot me a PM with their email address and I'll send you the ROM that I'm using, I'm not 100% sure which link I got it from anymore.

I've been watching some videos about the 1080ti mini. Apparently it doesn't have any input filtering chokes. Does anyone know if there would be any tangible gain to DIYing in some input filtering chokes somehow?

So the DDU uninstall DOES matter.
Nice

 

[brt02]

That's the one. I don't have any issues with my PSU tripping, but I'm definitely operating close to 100% load, and I've gotta unscientifically wonder whether better input filtering might allow slightly better undervolting potential.

ah sorry, i thought you were referring to filtering of the 12v input.

He claims lack of filtering on the VRMs results in a possible impact of 10-30MHz on core clocks.

So there may be an impact, but a negligible one, given the clock speeds that these cards run at. Not really worth doing

 

[Wurzelfritz]

I hope it's ok to hijack this in another direction (again? from what I've read in the thread)

I currently have two problems:
1.) I have a pretty massive coil whine when f.e. playing GTAV. Even with a gsync monitor, but it's already there when set at 25Hz.

Granted, I do need to test further and get an fps overlay to see what it actually renders, I have not tried undervolting, etc.. yet but I wanted to ask around if anyone else has coil whining problems.

And for me it's a big deal because (which will lead to point 2) I'm about to watercool everything, put it in a custom built wooden mini ITX case and nothing makes any audible noise besides the coil whine then!

2.) I want to watercool it with a bykski waterblock BUT my zotacs PCB layout is different to those I see when googling for the layout or even in this thread here. Images attached - that way I'll have to cut out additional space in the waterblock, otherwise it won't fit.
(there seems to be two additional mosfets, one squeezed in between the 1st and second capacitor and right beside the last one moving it out of line with the others)

Bought the card on amazon and I did find another guy who complained on the aliexpress bykski cooler that it didn't fit his card.

 

[Ziptar]

I registered just so I could post to this thread to say thanks! This is awesome!

I'd replaced the factory heat sink and fans on the Zotac 1080 Mini in my NCase build with a Raijintek Morpheus II GPU Heatsink and a Gelid GPU to PWM Fan Adapter hooked to the two Noctura NF-A12x15 120MM fans mounted in the bottom of the NCase M1. The NCase M1, NF-A12x15 fans, and Morpheus II fit together like they designed and built to do so. It's Perfect. However it still wasn't quiet enough, when just sitting at the Windows desktop there was still a pretty decent audible hum from the two bottom 120MM fans controlled by the Zotac Mini. The 37% minimum fan RPM in Zotac's bios had to go!

Found this thread and I'm glad I did. I flashed the Zotac 1080 Mini with the bios for an MSI GTX 1080 just as Panda did in his post. I now have full control over the fan speed. The card fuctions just as it did with the Zotac bios there is no loss of functionality or features as far as I am concerned, I am using DisplayPort and I can still clock my memory to 700Mhz. I haven't tested the HDMI either.

The GPU will overclock to 2000Mhz with the Memory clock at 700Mhz and voltage at 120%. I've run it that way for hours and it is stable but it is noisey. Instead I keep the GPU at 1823Mhz with the memory at 700Mhz and the voltage at 90%. With that I can run all my games maxed at 120+ FPS while the GPU never exceeds 70c and all 6 of the fans in the case are barely audible with the PC sitting on my desk 18" away. The GPU controlled fans aren't as loud while gaming as the factory Zotac fans idling at 37%. When I'm not gaming I can't hear a thing even when my ear is up agaist the case. I took the Firestorm screenshot after I'd been at my PC for a couple of hours surfing the web and reading email, 34c and the fan hasn't gone over 20%.

Why would I buy a Mini graphics card just so I could stick a full length heat sink on it you may ask? Simple answer, air flow. With a full length card in an NCase M1 the air flow from the 120MM two bottom case fans is trapped at the bottom of the case. A blower card helps but is noisy and still hot and didn't want to water cool. The short PCB of the Zotac Mini card leaves one 120MM fan completley open to blow through half of the Morpheus II into the top of the case and move air out of the bottom instead of being trapped there with awesome extra GPU cooling as a bonus.

 

[teisysadmin]

Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know that if you can fit the full thickness 92mm fans into your enclosure, in some crude testing I found that the full thickness 92mm fans will keep the zotac 1080 ~8C cooler than the slim line fans. Planning on doing some more rigorous benchmarking and testing soon, but I've been slammed with work.

 

[Broxin]

I registered just so I could post to this thread to say thanks! This is awesome!

I'd replaced the factory heat sink and fans on the Zotac 1080 Mini in my NCase build with a Raijintek Morpheus II GPU Heatsink and a Gelid GPU to PWM Fan Adapter hooked to the two Noctura NF-A12x15 120MM fans mounted in the bottom of the NCase M1. The NCase M1, NF-A12x15 fans, and Morpheus II fit together like they designed and built to do so. It's Perfect. However it still wasn't quiet enough, when just sitting at the Windows desktop there was still a pretty decent audible hum from the two bottom 120MM fans controlled by the Zotac Mini. The 37% minimum fan RPM in Zotac's bios had to go!

Found this thread and I'm glad I did. I flashed the Zotac 1080 Mini with the bios for an MSI GTX 1080 just as Panda did in his post. I now have full control over the fan speed. The card fuctions just as it did with the Zotac bios there is no loss of functionality or features as far as I am concerned, I am using DisplayPort and I can still clock my memory to 700Mhz. I haven't tested the HDMI either.

The GPU will overclock to 2000Mhz with the Memory clock at 700Mhz and voltage at 120%. I've run it that way for hours and it is stable but it is noisey. Instead I keep the GPU at 1823Mhz with the memory at 700Mhz and the voltage at 90%. With that I can run all my games maxed at 120+ FPS while the GPU never exceeds 70c and all 6 of the fans in the case are barely audible with the PC sitting on my desk 18" away. The GPU controlled fans aren't as loud while gaming as the factory Zotac fans idling at 37%. When I'm not gaming I can't hear a thing even when my ear is up agaist the case. I took the Firestorm screenshot after I'd been at my PC for a couple of hours surfing the web and reading email, 34c and the fan hasn't gone over 20%.

Why would I buy a Mini graphics card just so I could stick a full length heat sink on it you may ask? Simple answer, air flow. With a full length card in an NCase M1 the air flow from the 120MM two bottom case fans is trapped at the bottom of the case. A blower card helps but is noisy and still hot and didn't want to water cool. The short PCB of the Zotac Mini card leaves one 120MM fan completley open to blow through half of the Morpheus II into the top of the case and move air out of the bottom instead of being trapped there with awesome extra GPU cooling as a bonus.

You have some more pictures of the modded card outside of the case?

 

[Ziptar]

You have some more pictures of the modded card outside of the case?

No I don't at the moment. Now that it's done and had a chance to burn in I need to do some cable clean up soon. I'll pull it out and take some pictures then.

 

[wenrro]

Well that sucks that you sold it.... TechPowerup forum admins made my ZOTAC 1080 mini BIOS public & added it to the database after verifying it, and they told me that Pascal GPU BIOS modding isnt possible right now since you can only reflash a SIGNED BIOS, since they are all encrypted, so you can only sign another official card's BIOS, no modding of the actual 1080 mini BIOS is possible.... I even reached out to ZOTAC live chat support and was told that their support engineers are aware of that 37% minimum fan speed, but that they only work on BIOS updates for card ISSUES, not for feature requests. I was told to reach out to ZOTAC's social media pages in case their marketing team might listen and could talk to the product management team... but I knew that reaching out by myself would fall on deaf ears, so I took matters into my own hands, and so...

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE!...

Because I LITERALLY just figured out the 0% fan mod on my ZOTAC 1080 mini! It's SOOO QUIET NOW! My SSDs are louder than it, heck even my CPU fan (Noctua A9x14) is louder than it... the fans are no longer limited to 37% fan speed (1170RPM) and they are now able to turn completely off. I have my ZOTAC 1080 mini's fans OFF completely until the GPU hits 55C, which it NEVER does when web browsing, watching 4K or UHD youtube videos, or even while watching a 4k UHD bluray rip!

How did I do it? I bit the bullet and did a BIOS reflash and it worked! I flashed my ZOTAC 1080 Mini's BIOS with the ZOTAC 1080 Amp! Edition BIOS...! That card has a 0% fan mode feature build into it from Zotac called FREEZE, and I was right that this 0% idle fan feature was in the BIOS. And as such the fan limiter is UNRESTRICTED! But! Notice, the AMP! Edition card's BIOS comes with a SLIGHTLY higher base clock and boost clock than our 1080 mini does, so it might run a few degrees c hotter if you dont tweak your power limit properly,... but it's safe. Here's a page with all the BIOS's for our ZOTAC 1080 series cards, including my 1080 mini bios in case you want to reflash back to stock.

Disclaimer: Reflashing your GPU BIOS could cause unknown problems, so do this at your own risk!

Here's what you need to know if you flash to the "1080 Amp! Edition" BIOS on your "1080 Mini":

• your 1080 mini will now be clocked 53MHz higher on the core old:1620 new:1683 (base) and will have a 63 MHz higher Boost clock on the core at old:1723 new:1822 (boost), totally safe since the 1080 mini can easily GPUboost 3.0 it's way up to 2050MHz in games
• Set a 0% fan curve at your own risk, even if the GPU core isnt hot, it doesnt mean other components arent overheating with the fans off
• I recommend you DO NOT set the GPU fan speed to 0% in your fan curve, as the GPU may need some sort of cooling on other components besides the GPU core, I'd recommend a minimum fan speed of 26% across the board (600RPMs)... this is a whisper quiet fan speed anyway. At 26% minimum fan speed (600RPMs) the fan will be stable, it will be WHISPER quiet at that speed. Why? Because if the fans are set below 26% minimum, the fan's dont seem able to maintain such low voltage and instead will turn on/off every 2 seconds.
• You should set your GPU's power limit to 78% (if you had it at 100% before), or 94% if you had it at 120% before... (in MSI afterburner), this is because the 1080 mini's original power limit of 217W is 78% of the BIOS I used to reflash it (which has a power limit of 276W), and you dont want your card going over it's power limit. so 78% power limit on the Amp! Edition's BIOS is the same as having a 100% power limit on the stock 1080 mini BIOS. and 94% power limit on the Amp! Edition's BIOS is the same as having the 120% power limit on the stock 1080 mini BIOS.
• untie your temp limit from your power limit in MSI afterburner, and Set a temp limit somewhere you feel comfortable, like 85c or 90c (just in case)
• I noticed that sometimes when on the 0% fan mode, the GPU fans would start up at a steady RPM for some reason, a quiet RPM, but MSI afterburner would still report 0% fans speed, so to avoid that glitch in fan speed, my fans are always running a 26%, which is 600RPM and practically silent.

Here's the tools and instructions you'll need to reflash:
You'll need NVFlash from here
ZOTAC GTX 1080 Amp! Edition BIOS (to flash to) from here
ZOTAC GTX 1080 Mini BIOS (to flash back in case you want to revert the changes) from here

Here's the instructions:


HAVE FUN with the SMALLEST GTX 1080 money can buy... now in all it's silent 0% fan glory! I hope your SSDs, HDDs, or whisper quiet CPU fans are now the loudest thing in your quiet, powerful, luxirious SFF system... time to move up to M.2 to replace those "LOUD HDDs"! >=D

My new super quiet fan curve!

My new card, idling from 25-35c when browsing the web and watching 4K videos, while silent... amazing!:

If you guys would like me to redo some of my old GPU benchmarks to see if my temps go up or if I come across issues, let me know. I'm swamped with work this week, so I'll have to try that out next week when I have some time.

Hello everyone!!! pleased to meet you here!

Recently i have purchased a zotac 1070 Ti mini (370€ "deal"), and guess what! i hate the 37% low threshold for the fans! for me is too much noise and i was thinking in returning it back. But i like the performance of this card, althought it makes a lot more noise than my previous palit dual 1060 6gb card on idle mode. Im on a ncase m1 with an 8700k and i love silence when surfing the net or watching movies. Something i dont have with this card.

I have read from the first to the 13th page of the thread and i pretend to read the rest of pages.

Ok, sorry for the brick and let's go with the point of my post:

- Do you know of anyone who has flashed the 1070 AMP edition bios to the 1070 Ti mini card?


These are the 2 files:

https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/197029/zotac-gtx1070ti-8192-171016-1

https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/187937/zotac-gtx1070-8192-161103-1

The 1070Ti AMP bios is not valid because this card doesn't offer the FREEZE feature for the fans.


Do you think it could be a lot more risky flashing the 1070 (non TI) AMP Bios to the 1070 TI mini?

Thank you very much for your time and patience.



EDIT: well i think my post is silly, because the 1070 has less cuda cores so i am a bit blocked with the issue of the 37%... it has no sense to post that bios on my card and also could not be possible to flash the 1080 bios either.

what options do i have left?

thank you again.

 

[CubanLegend]

Hello everyone!!! pleased to meet you here!

- Do you know of anyone who has flashed the 1070 AMP edition bios to the 1070 Ti mini card?
...

what options do i have left?

thank you again.

Hi, Welcome!

Sorry but i dont know of anyone who has flashed the 1070 AMP to the 1070 Ti mini... and as far as your options... you COULD try a comparable 1070Ti EVGA bios or MSI bios, as others above have been able to flash certain EVGA bios for the 1080 Ti Mini, i believe.. and after a driver cleaning, it worked properly for them...

But remember flashing a 2-fan EVGA 1070 Ti bios to your 2-fan ZOTAC 1070 Ti Mini, is AT YOUR OWN RISK, as i dont think anyone's tried it... I hope it works though!!

 

[wenrro]

Hi, Welcome!

Sorry but i dont know of anyone who has flashed the 1070 AMP to the 1070 Ti mini... and as far as your options... you COULD try a comparable 1070Ti EVGA bios or MSI bios, as others above have been able to flash certain EVGA bios for the 1080 Ti Mini, i believe.. and after a driver cleaning, it worked properly for them...

But remember flashing a 2-fan EVGA 1070 Ti bios to your 2-fan ZOTAC 1070 Ti Mini, is AT YOUR OWN RISK, as i dont think anyone's tried it... I hope it works though!!

thank you for your fast response, LeyendaCubana!

I think that changing the stock fans for 2 noctuas NF-A9X14 is less frightening than flashing a bios from another vendor

but removing the heatsink is frightening too I will try to read the rest of the thread soon and get more info about this.

i dont know what to do, i would like to get used to this 37% noise...but i can't

If i remove the heatsink, it's convenient to replace again the thermal paste, isn't it? I shouldn't put it back again with the old paste, should i?

Regards!

 

[FullForceRainbow]

thank you for your fast response, LeyendaCubana!

I think that changing the stock fans for 2 noctuas NF-A9X14 is less frightening than flashing a bios from another vendor

but removing the heatsink is frightening too I will try to read the rest of the thread soon and get more info about this.

i dont know what to do, i would like to get used to this 37% noise...but i can't

If i remove the heatsink, it's convenient to replace again the thermal paste, isn't it? I shouldn't put it back again with the old paste, should i?

Regards!

Definitely don’t just reuse the old paste! Reusing the thermal pads that are on the card is fine though—just try not to touch them.

It’s pretty easy to replace the thermal paste. You’ll need to clean off the GPU die and the heat sink with rubbing alcohol, just like you would for a CPU. Be careful of all the tiny SMDs that surround the GPU die—just be gentle when you clean!

After you’ve removed the old paste, you’ll need to replace it with NON CONDUCTIVE thermal paste. Most likely the thermal paste you have isn’t conductive, but check to be sure—it will definitively break the GPU if you use conductive paste.

When replacing the paste, it’s better to use too much then too little—unlike a CPU which has an integrated heatspreader over the die, the die on a GPU makes direct contact with the heatsink. Any part of the GPU die being uncovered in thermal paste is a problem—so make sure to use plenty.

Last, reattach the the heatsink to the GPU—be gentle, but make sure it’s tightened down properly. You don’t want the card to bend or anything.

That’s really it, it’s pretty easy to do—don’t worry about it!

 

[wenrro]

thank you for your answer, @FullForceRainbow

Is it absolutely necessary that the card whose bios i would flash into my zotac has the same pcb model as mine?

For example, the evga 1070 Ti's seem to have a more complex pcb, even with two 8-pin conectors or so... although the bios has the same limits in terms of power.

thank you.

 

[wenrro]

Hi again,

what do you think about trying to flash this:

https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/197132/gigabyte-gtx1070ti-8192-171016

on the zotac 1070 ti mini?

https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/197029/zotac-gtx1070ti-8192-171016-1

Same power target and limits, clocks, one 8 pin connector, same display outputs and bios versions are similar:

86.04.85.00.A0 Gigabyte
86.04.85.00.AA Zotac

 

[wenrro]

Hello! I think this will be my last update on this topic, but in short - got two A9x14 Noctua fans, mounted them on the card. The mounting is easy, and you dont need to take the aluminum block off(no need to reapply thermal paste). You simply unscrew the fans and the shroud, reconnect the new coolers and zip tie them in. A few pics:
So the noise part - the loudest these go is roughly the same as zotac fans on 50%. So would totally recommend. You dont need to reflash the BIOS, and I might return to the original one because Noctua fans on 44% are inaudible. My HDD is louder than that. You kind of start to hear them at roughly 60-65%.

As my recommendations go - replace the shitty zotac fans with noctua fans. BIOS flash is optional. It might give you the silence in desktop, but as soon as you start doing something you start hearing them again. And the temps are obviously nicer.

Thanks again for this thread everyone.

ok, i'm thinking in the fan mod more and more, but i would like to know if the zip ties make them estable, without no vibration or noise caused by this method. I think you are using small zip tiies, aren't you?

And for the adaptor, something like this would work? You have the male in the GPU pcb and you need a female like this one?

then i should go with 2 noctua NF A9x14, right?

for reapplying the thermal paste i would go with the noctua nt h1.

Thank you a lot.


@CubanLegend @FullForceRainbow , what do you think?

 

[CubanLegend]

ok, i'm thinking in the fan mod more and more, but i would like to know if the zip ties make them estable, without no vibration or noise caused by this method. I think you are using small zip tiies, aren't you?

And for the adaptor, something like this would work? You have the male in the GPU pcb and you need a female like this one?

then i should go with 2 noctua NF A9x14, right?

for reapplying the thermal paste i would go with the noctua nt h1.

Thank you a lot.


@CubanLegend @FullForceRainbow , what do you think?

try it. I have all the items, the gpu fan header, fan splitter, and 2 CPU versions of the A9x14, I just havent installed them because im waiting to find time to do it... others have done it though, and it has been quieter and cooler than stock.

 

[wenrro]

try it. I have all the items, the gpu fan header, fan splitter, and 2 CPU versions of the A9x14, I just havent installed them because im waiting to find time to do it... others have done it though, and it has been quieter and cooler than stock.

Should i go for the 14 mm or for the 25mm version? What would be more efficient?

If i want more silence i should go for the 14mm i think.

Thank you.

 

[CubanLegend]

Should i go for the 14 mm or for the 25mm version? What would be more efficient?

If i want more silence i should go for the 14mm i think.

Thank you.

I've got both the 25mm Redux and the original 14mm slim fan, the 25 mm is quieter because it can spin at a lower RPM to achieve the same cooling at the thinner 14mm, but if you need to fit the fans in a small space, get the 14mm, I have 2x of the CPU version of the 14mm, which IIRC go upto 2500PRM vs the usual 2200 RPM, but they only come bundled with the NHL9i cooler, or you can try do ask Noctua to order them seperately and directly from them via email (like I did) I told them what I was doing and sent them pictures of others who had done it to their 1080 mini's, they loved the idea and let me purchase 2 fans, and they sent me a free fan cable extensions, and a Noctua fan header splitter to join both of them into 1 header. Very nice company! but your mileage may vary depending on who responds to your support email to them.

 

[CubanLegend]

thank you for your fast response, LeyendaCubana!

I think that changing the stock fans for 2 noctuas NF-A9X14 is less frightening than flashing a bios from another vendor

but removing the heatsink is frightening too I will try to read the rest of the thread soon and get more info about this.

i dont know what to do, i would like to get used to this 37% noise...but i can't

If i remove the heatsink, it's convenient to replace again the thermal paste, isn't it? I shouldn't put it back again with the old paste, should i?

Regards!

Hey sorry i missed your post, you could always try the 2 fans, and i think on the 1080 mini you dont have to remove the heatsink because the fan header is acessible if you reach deep for it, i think the 1080ti mini has the different heatpipes so you may have to remove the heatsink to get to the fan header... try it!I currently use the bios flash mod because i dont have time to remove my GPU's fans and shroud right now to install my 2x NFa9x14's

Hi again,

what do you think about trying to flash this:

https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/197132/gigabyte-gtx1070ti-8192-171016

on the zotac 1070 ti mini?

https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/197029/zotac-gtx1070ti-8192-171016-1

Same power target and limits, clocks, one 8 pin connector, same display outputs and bios versions are similar:

86.04.85.00.A0 Gigabyte
86.04.85.00.AA Zotac

I think it should be safe...

Honestly, i flashed LIKE 10 different BIOS to my 1080 mini and i had no issues after a proper driver clear and reinstall. if you just flash, reboot, re-enable GPU, reboot, let windows detect it reinstall drivers, reboot again.. you should be safe, especially if the BIOS is for a card with 2 fans, same power target and power pin layout, heck I even flahsed other higher power target BIOSes before (not too high), and I would then bring my 1080 mini's power target DOWN in proportion with the adjusted power target.

remember, it's still all at your OWN risk, please backup your BIOS first.