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Memory Leak causing Fan Noise?

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
edited February 2010 in PC Gameplay Bug Reports
just sitting in the login que i can hear my video card fans cycling up. What is it about cryptic game engines that makes them handle system resources so badly? They seemed to have it working before this latest patch, then this happens again. Happens during some space missions too, and i think it has to do with the space game engine. Running 2x Nvidia GTX 280 so should be no problem here. 6GB ddr3 ram, Win Vista64, XiFi sound card. No system parts are at fault here. Only cryptc games cause this fan noise. Champions Online does it too. But Crysis, Fallout 3 and any other high end game runs quiet. No idea why this is.
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  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Got the same issue here too... never heard my fan making so much noise
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    CptWarpass wrote: »
    just sitting in the login que i can hear my video card fans cycling up. What is it about cryptic game engines that makes them handle system resources so badly? They seemed to have it working before this latest patch, then this happens again. Happens during some space missions too, and i think it has to do with the space game engine. Running 2x Nvidia GTX 280 so should be no problem here. 6GB ddr3 ram, Win Vista64, XiFi sound card. No system parts are at fault here. Only cryptc games cause this fan noise. Champions Online does it too. But Crysis, Fallout 3 and any other high end game runs quiet. No idea why this is.

    Your video card fan kicking on means its getting warm. Every game should be kicking the fan on unless its a 2D game. Its how the drivers operate.

    If your video card fan doesn't turn on for Fallout 3, or Crysis then either your video card fan or sensor is busted, your running those games at the lowest quality (should turn on regardless, the drivers activate the fan when a 3D app starts), or your music/game music is louder than your fan.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Your video card fan kicking on means its getting warm. Every game should be kicking the fan on unless its a 2D game. Its how the drivers operate.

    If your video card fan doesn't turn on for Fallout 3, or Crysis then either your video card fan or sensor is busted, your running those games at the lowest quality (should turn on regardless, the drivers activate the fan when a 3D app starts), or your music/game music is louder than your fan.

    He has a GTX 280, not an intel 965.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    The drivers forthe 280 will kick the fans in on any 3D app as those cards imparticular get hot due to the huge size of the chips.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I am having the same issue with my 4870X2. Even just sitting at the login screen my fan peaks up to 80% or more. This seems a bit crazy. Crysis doesn't even make my card do that! I don't have any performance problems, just the fan makes a ton of noise. I can live with it, but a patch would be nice.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    The term "memory leak" is way over used.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_leak

    It isn't a universal term to desribe anything wrong with anything, it is actually a very specific and uncommon (today) issue. In the old days of code developers were responsible for manually releasing memory space after it was no longer needed, as you can imagine it wasnt uncommon for memory clearing to be missed. These days your platform does that on its own, and therefore cases where memory is lost are few and far inbetween.

    Specific to this case, fans spinning up is a healthy and desired outcome when rendering 3D content. This is the result of CPU/GPU load, not memory fill. If you find that your card appears to be running hotter than it should you may want to take your PC to a professional for cleaning, dust accumulation quickly leads to decreased air flow and increased heat generation. Generally a cleaning should be done once every 3 months for systems under heavy use, more in dusty environments.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    or make sure your power supply is meeting the cards requirements.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Run a program like Rivatuner and set your fans to run at around 60-70,this way your card will be kept cool.

    I have a GTX275 card and have my fans set to 70,I ran a temp test yesterday and my card never went about 72 degree's while playing the game,best to be safe than sorry.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    DarKnight6 wrote: »
    The term "memory leak" is way over used.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_leak

    It isn't a universal term to desribe anything wrong with anything, it is actually a very specific and uncommon (today) issue. In the old days of code developers were responsible for manually releasing memory space after it was no longer needed, as you can imagine it wasnt uncommon for memory clearing to be missed. These days your platform does that on its own, and therefore cases where memory is lost are few and far inbetween.

    Specific to this case, fans spinning up is a healthy and desired outcome when rendering 3D content. This is the result of CPU/GPU load, not memory fill. If you find that your card appears to be running hotter than it should you may want to take your PC to a professional for cleaning, dust accumulation quickly leads to decreased air flow and increased heat generation. Generally a cleaning should be done once every 3 months for systems under heavy use, more in dusty environments.

    Actually, memory leaks are still quite common when developing applications. . A lot of well known and used (but granted, not all) programming languages still require you to release dynamic memory manually. I agree with your implication that memory leak is probably the wrong term to use here (but only because I don't know EXACTLY what is causing the fan to kick on during the loading screen), but I think the question clarifies to:

    "Why does a loading screen require such a large amount of GPU power that it is creating unnecessary temperatures, the severity of which are forcing my fan to automatically kick on to full blast"

    or:

    "Why does the loading screen force my fan to full throttle"

    Those of you saying that the driver kicks the 280 on while rendering any 3D content are wrong. I have a 280, and like this guy my fan kicks on during the loading screen of STO, while other 3D games do not make it come on full blast, such as WoW). Also, 3D rendering in After Effects does not cause the fan to come on full blast. There may be an option for the driver to do so, but it is certainly not the "norm".

    You are correct that the fan speed is a method of cooling the GPUs, however this process is typically throttled based on a number of factors. The fan speeds up in certain situations, but a login screen should not be one of those situations unless the application is forcing the fan to that state.

    You honestly don't know that it's not a memory leak causing the CPU/GPU load. I actually found the description rather appealing.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Sim_Kill wrote: »
    The drivers forthe 280 will kick the fans in on any 3D app as those cards imparticular get hot due to the huge size of the chips.

    I think you're missing the part about it not happening in other 3D apps.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Delanis wrote:
    Actually, memory leaks are still quite common when developing applications. . A lot of well known and used (but granted, not all) programming languages still require you to release dynamic memory manually. I agree with your implication that memory leak is probably the wrong term to use here (but only because I don't know EXACTLY what is causing the fan to kick on during the loading screen), but I think the question clarifies to:

    "Why does a loading screen require such a large amount of GPU power that it is creating unnecessary temperatures, the severity of which are forcing my fan to automatically kick on to full blast"

    or:

    "Why does the loading screen force my fan to full throttle"

    Those of you saying that the driver kicks the 280 on while rendering any 3D content are wrong. I have a 280, and like this guy my fan kicks on during the loading screen of STO, while other 3D games do not make it come on full blast, such as WoW). Also, 3D rendering in After Effects does not cause the fan to come on full blast. There may be an option for the driver to do so, but it is certainly not the "norm".

    You are correct that the fan speed is a method of cooling the GPUs, however this process is typically throttled based on a number of factors. The fan speeds up in certain situations, but a login screen should not be one of those situations unless the application is forcing the fan to that state.

    You honestly don't know that it's not a memory leak causing the CPU/GPU load. I actually found the description rather appealing.

    Most of those languages will never dissapear entirely, but our tools for coding them have come quite a long way.

    Perhaps a less subjective phrasing: Memory leaks are dramatically less common today than over a decade ago when the term was common place. Further, the term "Memory Leak" is most frequently used today incorrectly or in error.

    While this and all the other issues blamed on "Memory Leaks" could in fact be attributed to exactly that, that doesn't make it probable. I could also win the lottory, but I wouldn't bet on that either ;)

    My suggestion here, in lieu of all of the subjective observations, is to eliminate the most likely causes first. The first and most common is always dust accumulation, next up would be to check temp in the driver to see if the fan is a result of direct control or response to heat production (generally GPU load).
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    its not some memory leak that causes the issue.. read the million other threads regarding heat problems and look for the solution there..

    hint: start the launcher -> options -> add "-maxfps 60" in the bottom line and ur graphics card will remain cool and silent
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