I upgraded from an RX 6800 to a Zotac 5070 Ti. On my old AMD card, I could raise the zero-RPM threshold from 55°C to 62°C, and I capped lighter games at around 72 FPS. That kept the system completely silent whenever the GPU stayed cool enough.
With the 5070 Ti, the fans start at roughly 30% even when the GPU is only around 50°C. This is noticeable in low-demand games such as Terraria, Hollow Knight, or Monster Hunter World with an FPS cap, where the GPU remains below 60°C but the fans still run. Is there any safe way to change the zero-RPM temperature or minimum fan-speed limits?
3 Answers
Running the fans at 30% is not harmful, and GPU temperatures around 60–75°C during gaming are generally well within normal limits. Passive operation is mostly a noise and dust preference rather than a requirement for chip longevity. If the card's fan controller does not offer a zero-RPM option at that temperature, there may not be a safe software-based way to force it.
As far as I know, those limits are controlled by the card's firmware, and normal tuning tools generally cannot change them. A modified or different VBIOS might expose different behavior, but flashing one is risky, especially if the card does not have a dual-BIOS switch. VBIOS files also usually are not interchangeable between manufacturers or models.
Some cards simply have a hard-coded fan-start threshold. If the fans are constantly starting and stopping at idle, improving airflow around the GPU can help keep it below that threshold. A quiet case or auxiliary fan aimed at the GPU can sometimes lower idle temperatures enough to prevent the card's own fans from activating, though it will not change the firmware limit itself.
That makes sense. My goal is mainly to eliminate noise in lightweight games, not because the temperatures are unsafe. The GPU stays under about 60°C, but the 30% fan speed is still audible.