AMD to release hotfix for low fan speeds on Radeon GPUs

[tal onzy]

Matt Porter pcgamer

AMD will be releasing a hotfix today, November 30, for Radeon Software Crimson. Radeon Software is AMD's new replacement for the Catalyst Control Center. Since its release last week, there have been sporadic reports of graphics card overheating due to low fan states

AMD is aware of the problems, and says that its "engineering teams have identified and addressed this issue, and AMD intends to release a hotfix on amd.com this coming Monday."


Some users on Reddit saw that fan speeds were being locked to 20 percent, even under high load. This has reportedly resulted in some cards becoming incredibly hot, and in some cases even burning out. "So, after installing the drivers and playing around 30-45 min of CS:GO my computer turned off and the GPU is burnt," wrote one user. We can't verify if the driver is actually causing cards to burn themselves out—normally we'd expect a card to throttle back before sustaining any real damage—but if AMD's putting out a hotfix, we'd recommend grabbing it to be safe.

Until the hotfix becomes available, you may want to check your fan speeds in Radeon Software.

 

[tal onzy]

Latest AMD graphics drivers can lock fan speeds, overheating cards to break point
ben barrett pcgamesN

The latest series of AMD Crimson drivers and software have been causing some outrageous issues for users who downloaded them over the last few days. A bug in the update caused control software to force cards to only use their fans at 30% speed, skyrocketing operating temperatures towards and sometimes over three figures, leading to some burn outs.

Reports of problems started hitting around four days ago and have continued since then. When downloaded, the new Crimson software will reset some settings, one of which is the control for fan speed. Locked at 30%, it can't keep the card cool and temperatures will rise quickly under any amount of stress. Naturally, computer components are not designed to run at 100 degrees celsius and that's when problems start to occur.

However, reports of large numbers of cards insta-burning seem a little far-fetched. All modern GPUs are equipped with hard-coded safety measures to throttle themselves when overheating, or shut down totally in the worst scenarios rather than simply running until they melt. Anyone with a fan locked at 30% should have noticed some serious heat coming off the card and bad drops in performance once throttling began. The temperature should have stabilised around 95C, an unsafe but non-fatal level, and it would have been very obvious to anyone trying to game that things weren't as normal.

Obviously that doesn't mean people are lying or that it's their fault, but other problems have occured somewhere along the way - cards already being on their last legs, problems with their components or safeties not tagging in when they're meant to. That, and AMD's announced hotfix that should arrive today, is little comfort to those who've lost usage of their PC due to a software update and the latest in a long, long line of driver issues I've heard of or personally experienced relating to AMD cards.

If you're worried, having problems or just want to know more, the AMD subreddit has information from more knowledgable individuals than I. For now, check your card's fan speed if you've upgraded.