Auto fan speeds with user-controlled lower bounds feature request

Graphics / Linux Linux
1

I use Ubuntu 22.04 LTS with NVidia driver version 525.78.01 and Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme 3090.

nvidia-settings allows setting GPU fan speeds to either auto or fixed percentage:

  • GPUFanControlState=0: auto fan speed setting turns the fans off at 41°C or below.
  • GPUFanControlState=1: fixed percentage fan speed setting keeps fans speed fixed regardless of GPU temperature.

My problem is that auto fan speed results in 41°C for idle GPU, which is too hot for air-flow in my chassis. With fixed fan speed 65% the GPU idles at 31°C and that’s ideal for me. However, when the GPU gets hot under full load, the GPU fans do not spin up above the fixed GPU fan speed, which is less than ideal for me.

I would like nvidia-settings to provide a couple of extra fan speed options:

  • GPUFanControlState=2: auto-fan speed, but with minimum percentage. In my case, I would like auto fan speeds with minimum of 65% (rather than fans off).
  • GPUFanControlState=3: auto-fan speed, but with target temperature. In my case, I would set the target temperature to, say 32°C, and that would be the most ideal, as I wouldn’t need to prob/figure out the minimum required fan speed but rather let NVidia driver to do that for me in most efficient manner.

A user-configurable maximum auto fan speed could also benefit people who don’t mind fan noise up to a specific level.

Maxim

2 Likes
2

+1

1 Like
3

My case is quite similar. I’m on 22.04 and I have two gpu (4060 ti, and 3060).
ubuntu-drivers autoinstall uses the 535 recommended version, which does not identify properly the 4060 ti. So I installed manually the 550 version of the driver. However, the fans are not working. No mather the temperature of the gpus, the fans are booting at 0 (they work, because you see them moving at bios). I have to set them always manually with “sudo nvidia-settings -a GPUFanControlState=1 -a GPUTargetFanSpeed=30”. If I put GPUFanColtrolState = 0, they never work.

1 Like
4

My similar issue:

  • Pop_OS! 22.04
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti
  • If set to auto (GPUFanControlState=0:) it’s always off, no matter what temperature it reaches
  • If I manually change it (e.g. using CoolerControl app) the minimum (lower bound) is always 30%/33% (too much for me, I’d like to also get to 0% when temperature is really cool e.g. 30°C)

Please, it’s really annoying not to be able to change the lower bound and not having a “default” behavior that is working or at least customizable!
I’m thinking about switching to different brand here…