20 replies to this topic

[sirbow2]

in this guide i will show you how to modify your discrete ATI Graphics bios Fan control settings to keep your GPU cool if OSX doesnt!

                                                              WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

It is a very simple process and unless YOU really mess up, this guide cannot mess up your GPU. You will need to boot into windows, until i find a ATI bios program for OSX/Linux. i may also update this guide for Nvidia   users.

Basically, what you are doing in this guide is modifying your ATI GPU bios with a better Fan Control Profile. it is all by GUI, so it is very simple.


--ATI Discrete Graphics

1. Boot in to Windows
2. Download ATI RBE from HERE NOTE: ATI RBE stands tor ATI Radeon Bios Editor
3. open the RBE.exe
4. Click on Aquire/Flash... button

5. Click on Analyse button in the new window

6. Click on Acquire Bios

7. You should have a window similar to the picture below

8. Click Fan Settings

9. Should look like the picture below

10. In the Fan Settings Tab, you have several options to set your fan speeds
      A. Move the dots around on the picture Similar to option "C" but on a graph
      B. Use transfer function (i dont know how to do this)
      C. Use Look up a table (i like this one), you simply enter the speed you want the fan at near a certain Temperature

11. After you are satisfied with your Temp to Fan Speed ratio click on Acquire/Flash button

12. In the window that pops up select the "Flash Bios" Button

13. You may get a similar warning as below, ignore it, and click yes

14. After the bios is flashed a window will pop up asking to reboot, you do not need to do it immediately, but for the new bios to work you need to restart, who would want to stay in Windows any way?!

You should have a nice cool GPU in OSX, (if thats the way you set it)  

--Nvidia Discrete Graphics coming soon, gunna be hard as i dont have a Nvidia gpu

[binh514]

does it work with hd4890 ?

[sirbow2]

it will work with any Radeon / radeon Hd card  for sure but it will probably work fro all ATI cards.

[miloszfalinski]

Thanks for the tutorial! I can confirm (with 4890) that it at least doesn't break your card Didn't work for me however. I copied your settings, tried mine, read through the RBE documentation. OS X seems to override my bios gpu fan speed and sets it to about 20% no matter what happens with the card :<
In gpu bios settings I used minimum value of 70% so I could tell the difference and as soon as osx loads up fan goes back to 20%(or so) speed.
So when I load up a game or stuff like OpenCL, fan stays on 20% speed and everything dies after a while - artifacts on screen/ black display - usual overheating symptoms.
Any idea if there could be a kext responsible for this behaviour?
I have xfx 4890, intel i5 750 and snow leopard 10.6.4 and it's running in 64bit.

[Captain Dunsel]

Works Great...Dropped my HIS 4870 512 gb from 82 to 48.Great work!!!!! Now i wish there was a fix for the slight mouse stutter.

[xpertvision]

sirbow2, on Aug 7 2010, 05:01 PM, said:

it will work with any Radeon / radeon Hd card  for sure but it will probably work fro all ATI cards.

doenst work for gigabyte radeon 4850 1GB (comes with a zalman by default) the default fan speed is fixed in 100%

the noise is infernal! i have tried everything... bios drivers softwares and nothing...

if anyone have a solution please say something or send me a PM


i read somewere i need cable to control de fan?

this is the cable im using:


what kind of cable i need to buy?

[sirbow2]

xpertvision, on Feb 10 2011, 06:52 AM, said:

doenst work for gigabyte radeon 4850 1GB (comes with a zalman by default) the default fan speed is fixed in 100%

the noise is infernal! i have tried everything... bios drivers softwares and nothing...

if anyone have a solution please say something or send me a PM


i read somewere i need cable to control de fan?

this is the cable im using:


what kind of cable i need to buy?

that cable is for supplying power to the whole GFX card, you dont need a fan adjuster cable to change the fan speed, it is adjusted by the card itself and its bios in the card.

that is why i made this guide, to help people change the bios in their card, so that they can have different fan speeds.

But it could be that since  your GFX card has a fan that only has two wires(power only ) and not three wires( power and data for fan speed etc) that the GFX bios cannot change the fan speed, and you woulld need to jerry rig a adjustable fan knob to the GFX fan.

see your GFX card only two wires...
http://www.guru3d.co...php?image=14925

hope that made since (it did for me)

[el lissitzky]

thanks for this tutorial. i successfully changed my bios following your instructions but how can i monitor my temp and fan speed in osx? i don't hear my fan chugging away. :\

[sirbow2]

el lissitzky, on Jun 3 2011, 02:59 AM, said:

thanks for this tutorial. i successfully changed my bios following your instructions but how can i monitor my temp and fan speed in osx? i don't hear my fan chugging away. :\

you have to get a FakeSMC kext with the correct temp plugins and then just use any OSX temp monitor APP like iStat Pro

[el lissitzky]

sirbow2, on Jun 3 2011, 02:45 PM, said:

you have to get a FakeSMC kext with the correct temp plugins and then just use any OSX temp monitor APP like iStat Pro

Thanks for the info.

So I followed your instructions, ended up flashing it out of windows. When I retrieve the BIOS using the same method you initially instructed it shows up as having the new fan settings, great. But when I go into windows and monitor the temperature, it seems like the fan isn't even budging in windows...

Am I doing something wrong here?

 fan_not_working.JPG   182.43K   98 downloads

[sirbow2]

hmm thats weird flash it to the GPU again and see if it helps, idk.

[el lissitzky]

I already tried it 2x and no luck! Pretty strange huh? After the flash process "atiflash" definitely says that it as successful and I can retrieve the new settings from the bios that is now on the card, weird.

[el lissitzky]

I ended up reverting to the BIOS's default which uses the transfer function setting and modifying it slightly to be more sensitive. Windows now works fine, maybe the table setting just doesn't work on my card. However I seem to have the other users same issue of it sitting at 20% in OSX.

[r4nkin]

In 'Fan Settings' I have no option to select or use the 'Lookup Table'.

My card -> Gigabyte 4850 512mb (GV-R485-512H-.

I bought and installed a new Accelero Twin Turbo Pro today and the fans run at a constant 100% in 10.6.8 and Vista. Luckily I can manually change the fan speed in Vista with CCC, but I've spent the last 6 hours trying to find a solution for 10.6.8 or Lion.

It seems that my card supports PWM only with my stock fan for some reason.

[sirbow2]

i think you need a nvidia bios editor use google.

[r4nkin]

sirbow2, on Aug 1 2011, 10:12 PM, said:

i think you need a nvidia bios editor use google.

So, for my ATI 4850 I need to use an nvidia bios editor and not radeon bios editor (RBE)?
Seems a strange proposition, but I'll google it I guess.

I've looked at other 4850 bioses in RBE and some of them have the lookup table in Fan Settings, but my card doesn't.
Spent the entire day yesterday reaching such dead-ends

[sirbow2]

oooh wow i didnt see that fro some reason i thought you had nvidia sorry bout that.

umm im not sure why, try reloading the bios into RBE, or try finding another bios editor, i dunno why it wouldnt work.

[KariNeko]

RBE's fan profile modification does work with any card or only with reference design ones?

I also saw problems at techpowerup forums where users modifying their BIOS couldn't get Windows desktop loaded anymore (BSOD).

[sirbow2]

im pretty sure it will work with non reference. and for those who get BSOD they are dumb and probably messed up some of the settings in RBE when changing temp stuff etc. or it could not be their fault, maybe a bios flash error but HIGHLY unlikely that its not their doing that caused issue.

thanks for the ques, have fun !

[mikeo97]

Thanks for the tut. Unfortunately as soon as I boot into SL it lowers the fan speed.
As Im in bios you can hear the gpu fan increased speed, but once booted in SL it goes back to normal. Around 20%?

Any ideas? Or if someone could point me in the right direction. Thanks


EP45T-UD3P
ATI Raedeon HD5870