I modded the bios of my Gigabyte GTX570 OC with the FermiBiosEditor, after saving it with GPU-Z
Set the minimum fan speed to 15%, from the factory 40%
Then dragged the .rom file onto the latest NVFlash which automaticly burns the bios onto my card while in desktop
Rebooted, and now with an ambient of 15 degrees (winter) the card idles at 32-37 degrees or so and with a fan speed of 22-25%
So quiet now!
Even under 100% GPU load when rendering using SLG GPU renderer (which games never quite achieve) it hits 60+ degrees and doesn't go above 45% fan speed under auto bios control.
At 50% it's quite audible, so I can avoid that region if I program in a custom fan curve with MSI Afterburner
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The top fan on the Silverstone FT02 is the most audible noise maker.
I also replaced the top Scythe S-Flex SFF21E on my FT02 case (I originally replaced the Silverstone fan with it), which had a strobbing hum and ticking sound even at 5-7v, with Scythe Slip Stream which is way quieter at 6v, but does have a hum at higher voltage.
Massive reduction in noise now, just the three 7200rpm Samsung drives add a bit some hum/whine.
My old Seasonic 850w M12D powersupply seems pretty quiet and the FT02 case fans run so slow and quiet, since I connected it directly to my fan controller, instead of to the motherboard. And even at 12v, the case fan speed switch doesn't make any difference - maybe the controller can't only supply it with enough volts???.... I can't feel much airflow directly above the case fans, but on the top vents of the case I can feel a slight breeze.
And even at this minimal speed it does cool the CPU more than the massive dual fan Noctua NH-D14 heatsink fan combo!
I did a rendering test with 99% CPU load on all cores, and my OC'ed i7 at 4 ghz would hit 62 degrees. If I dropped the case fan controller voltage to 10v, the temps of the CPU cores and chipset would rise 3-4 degrees, with no audible difference. That surprised me, that the FT02 case fans would help the CPU that much at such a slow speed!
I guess it's the positive air pressure and vertical venting nature of the case coming into action
Still not so quiet that I can't tell if it's on, but a step in the right direction. The Noctua 120mm fans that came with the NH-D14 heatsink have a bit of pulsing noise or something now, but not so noticeable with the case shut - I was going to use the Slipstream in their place originally but the fan clips don't fit and it's difficult to get any other fan in there. Maybe a set of newer Noctua fans might do the trick
Once the drives are swapped out for an SSD and one Eco storage drive and maybe one of the new power supplies that have fans that rarely spin up I will be there I think.....
Oh, the case interior was so clean in the FT02 after about a year+ of running - just some gunk on the bottom intake and filters, and top case fan - positive pressure FTW
I love this case....