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RX480 fan noise after update

M

Moogintroll

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 15, 2004
35
0
Dublin, Ireland
Is anybody else here having fan problems with their RX480 after updating to 10.12.6? Mine are stuck at full speed.

Usually you just run the old OpenGL extension viewer trick and things calm down but that's not working anymore. smcFanControl also does nothing.

I'd have said that there was some sort of errant process sucking down GPU cycles but the card is physically running cool.

UPDATE:

Ok, so I've reset the PRAM, the SMC, tried the card with a completely fresh install of 10.12.6 and the system is locking up along with the fan noise issue persisting. None of these issues happen with my old 4870. At this stage I have to conclude that there is a non zero probability that the latest macOS update is breaking compatibility with the RX 480.

Final Update:

I actually solved this but I'm posting the reason here for anybody who's made the same mistake that I did. So, what I failed to realise is that 10.12.6 actually added native support for the RX 480, so when I did the usual driver hacking, I was inadvertently causing a conflict. Deleted the offending PCI IDs and everything is working normally again. Thanks to everyone that offered help!
 
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Can you identify if the fan noise is actually coming from the card, or the PCIe fan?

SMC Fan Control can't do anything about it.

If it's the PCIe fan, then MacsFanControl can override the system fan setting. And usually it can be fixed by stress the card a bit. If not, try SMC reset.

If the noise is from the card, then it's totally another matter.
 
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h9826790 said:
Can you identify if the fan noise is actually coming from the card, or the PCIe fan?

SMC Fan Control can't do anything about it.

If it's the PCIe fan, then MacsFanControl and override the system fan setting. And usually it can be fixed by stress the card a bit. If not, try SMC reset.

If the noise is from the card, then it's totally another matter.
Click to expand...

I'm being a derp, yes it's the PCI fan and I'm confusing SMC fan control with MacsFanControl but now that I've fiddled with it a bit, I'm also noticing that the PSU intake is also spun up far higher than usual too. This is a new one on me
 
Moogintroll said:
I'm being a derp, yes it's the PCI fan and I'm confusing SMC fan control with MacsFanControl but now that I've fiddled with it a bit, I'm also noticing that the PSU intake is also spun up far higher than usual too. This is a new one on me
Click to expand...

That's normal, both PCIe fan and PSU fan may spin up. In fact, may be because the fan didn't go that crazy. So you missed the PSU fan also involved.

Anyway, did you try SMC reset? That usually help a bit, the fan will still spin up to something like 1800RPM after boot, but should not go full speed.

Also, you may try another benchmark to stress the card, I personally found that Luxmark is very reliable on this matter (10-15s usually good enough, if only run for something like 5s, the fan may still stuck at high RPM).

Or you may try Furmark, just let it complete the 15s benchmark should work as well. But Furmark offen make the card draw more power than it's spec (TDP). Even just for 15s, this action is not recommended for anyone who don't actually know the power draw.
 
h9826790 said:
That's normal, both PCIe fan and PSU fan may spin up. In fact, may be because the fan didn't go that crazy. So you missed the PSU fan also involved.

Anyway, did you try SMC reset? That usually help a bit, the fan will still spin up to something like 1800RPM after boot, but should not go full speed.

Also, you may try another benchmark to stress the card, I personally found that Luxmark is very reliable on this matter (10-15s usually good enough, if only run for something like 5s, the fan may still stuck at high RPM).

Or you may try Furmark, just let it complete the 15s benchmark should work as well. But Furmark offen make the card draw more power than it's spec (TDP). Even just for 15s, this action is not recommended for anyone who don't actually know the power draw.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I've been dealing with this issue every day since I started using third party cards back in 2013 so I'm used to the various sounds the machine makes. I've never seen the fan not spin back down after a stress test and I've never heard the PSU spun up like this while the system is idle. I reset the SMC before I even posted here but I'm trying a (long overdue) fresh system install now because I had a few lock ups last night before this trouble started.
 
99% of the time I read about this, it's a 4,1. I bet you have a 4,1 right?

If so, it is probably the SMC bug.
 
ActionableMango said:
99% of the time I read about this, it's a 4,1. I bet you have a 4,1 right?

If so, it is probably the SMC bug.
Click to expand...

It's a 4,1 that thinks it's a 5,1. Like I say, this isn't the normal issue that you can fix by stressing the card out a bit after reboot. The fans are spun up and they ain't settling down. The system's started locking up when I watch embedded video too. Hopefully it's not a hardware fault.
 
Since now you mention computer freeze. Do you have another GPU to test if this is GPU / GPU driver related?

And may I know if this full fan issue happen straight away after you upgrade to 10.12.6? Or few days after that?

Does MacsFanControl able to override the fan?
 
h9826790 said:
Since now you mention computer freeze. Do you have another GPU to test if this is GPU / GPU driver related?

And may I know if this full fan issue happen straight away after you upgrade to 10.12.6? Or few days after that?

Does MacsFanControl able to override the fan?
Click to expand...

So far I haven't had any freezes using the stock 4870 card. The lockups and the fan issue started right after the upgrade to 10.12.6 and MacsFanControl is able to override the fan.
 
Which brand (or exact model) of RX480 you are using?

It's more like software issue, or even unstable (buggy) driver for RX480. Before 10.12.6, did you do anything apart from enable the RX480 (e.g. unlock all CU etc)? I am thinking if those mod stays and affect the stability of 10.12.6

Obviously it's not your Mac. SMC also functioning normally. I also believe the RX480 is not coincidently fail on the same minute as you upgrade to 10.12.6.

Do you have any extra hand drive? Can you try a clean install? I think that's the very first thing worth to try, especially the RX480 require kext edit before 10.12.6.

If the flesh OS doesn't freeze, but just high fan speed, than MacsFanControl is the easy solution.
 
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h9826790 said:
Which brand (or exact model) of RX480 you are using?

It's more like software issue, or even unstable (buggy) driver for RX480. Before 10.12.6, did you do anything apart from enable the RX480 (e.g. unlock all CU etc)? I am thinking if those mod stays and affect the stability of 10.12.6

Obviously it's not your Mac. SMC also functioning normally. I also believe the RX480 is not coincidently fail on the same minute as you upgrade to 10.12.6.

Do you have any extra hand drive? Can you try a clean install? I think that's the very first thing worth to try, especially the RX480 require kext edit before 10.12.6.

If the flash OS won't freeze, but just high fan speed, than MacsFanControl is the easy solution.
Click to expand...

It's the 8GB Sapphire RX480, I've been using it since last year without any trouble at all, I might boot into windows later to test it fully with some Doom or maybe Elite Dangerous (strictly for research purposes) and yea, I'm gonna try a fresh reinstall after I get my data fully backed up.
 
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