FGLRX Driver - noisy fan

trx · 2007-02-17 00:26:10

Hi,

after reinstalling arch i installed X and the fglrx driver and kde
i tested kde with both fglrx and vesa drivers. everything works with the vesa drivers, but i cant use 3d of course.
everything works with the fglrx drivers, too, even xgl/beryl!
BUT
everytime i startup X (using the fglrx drivers) , the fan of my Radeon X850XT increases its speed and its noise... i'm afraid that my graphics card is screaming for help

this fan noise is so loud and so annoying, could you please help to get rid of it?
i dont know what to do right now...

thanks

Last edited by trx (2007-02-17 12:38:07)

karmapolice · 2007-02-17 03:34:14

try underclocking your card:

aticonfig --lsp

to check if you can switch powerstates and then if any modes are listed:
aticonfig --set-powerstate=1,2 or 3

trx · 2007-02-17 09:58:16

Thanks for your Quick reply!
but i think im not able to change powerstates with this graphics card

# aticonfig --lsp
Error: Unable to obtain POWERplay information.

# aticonfig --set-powerstate=1
Error: Unable to obtain POWERplay information.
aticonfig: parsing the command-line failed.

is there any other way how to underclock my card?
or just to stop that noisy fan?

thanks

proc · 2007-02-17 10:21:29

trx wrote:

Hi,
[...] even xgl/beryl!
BUT
everytime i startup X (using the fglrx drivers) , the fan of my Radeon X850XT increases its speed and its noise...

The fan speed on your card is adjusted according to the temperature (and maybe even workload) of the GPU. This is not related to the drivers!!
You are having this issue with the fglrx drivers because they allow you to use 3D and so to stress the GPU more.

At least this is what is valid for the majority of video cards... I hope ATI didn't insert some "fan ramp speed up" routine in their drivers. Try using the fglrx drivers with a 2d only DE and see (hear ) if the fan become noisy or not.

trx · 2007-02-17 10:36:55

Hi!
that's what i was trying to express with

everytime i startup X (using the fglrx drivers)

my fan becomes noisy even in 2d mode! (when i start kde without xgl)
i have used xgl/beryl on ubuntu with an older fglrx version for a very long time without any noise...
so i think this has something to do either with X, fglrx or arch itself.
when i use the vesa driver, my fan is pretty silent, so it must be a problem with fglrx...
so how can i underclock the card or how can i downgrade my fglrx to the version i used with ubuntu?

thanks

edit: my graphics card becomes very hot when i use the fglrx driver! it has to be a problem with the driver!
how can i downgrade it?

edit: i tried the radeon drivers. no fan problem here, but i guess i cant use 3D with an x850xt, can i? aiglx isnt working with beryl.

Last edited by trx (2007-02-17 13:01:32)

karmapolice · 2007-02-17 16:24:32

oh I didn't read you were using XGL, when you use XGL depending on how you set it up you can try

DISPLAY=:0 aticonfig --lsp

This works for me when I run it XGL as a session with GNOME, I don't know about KDE though.

Arch Linux

#1 2007-02-17 00:26:10

FGLRX Driver - noisy fan

#2 2007-02-17 03:34:14

Re: FGLRX Driver - noisy fan

#3 2007-02-17 09:58:16

Re: FGLRX Driver - noisy fan

#4 2007-02-17 10:21:29

Re: FGLRX Driver - noisy fan

#5 2007-02-17 10:36:55

Re: FGLRX Driver - noisy fan

#6 2007-02-17 16:24:32

Re: FGLRX Driver - noisy fan

Board footer