HELP.....Strix 980Ti Fan issue

[ClayR]

I built a new Skylake Desktop and things were working great till new BIOS, Windows 10 updates and Tweek updates. Now the left fan on my GPU does not spin while the other 2 are busy cooling. Today I noticed that when the card went into silent mode the middle fan is still spinning and the end ones are not. The temps are all low and ok. Is this normal or is something wrong with the card? Does this card need to go back for service?
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[Korth]

ClayR wrote:
I built a new Skylake Desktop and things were working great till new BIOS, Windows 10 updates and Tweek updates. Now the left fan on my GPU does not spin while the other 2 are busy cooling. Today I noticed that when the card went into silent mode the middle fan is still spinning and the end ones are not. The temps are all low and ok. Is this normal or is something wrong with the card? Does this card need to go back for service?

Yes, it's normal. The fans won't ramp up until temps rise enough to require added cooling, they'll power down when the GPU card idles. Asus has invested a lot into their version of "improved" GTX980Ti cooling, and their Patented Triple Wing-Blade 0dB Fan Design clearly emphasizes quiet operation (Asus proudly advertises "30% Cooler and 3X Quieter Performance").

Asus wrote:
Patented Triple Wing-Blade 0dB Fans - Max Air Flow with 105% More Air Pressure!

DirectCU III features triple 0dB fans engineered with a patented, new wing-blade design that delivers maximum air flow and improved 105% static pressure over the heat sink, while operating at 3X quieter volumes than reference cards. The 0dB fans also let you enjoy games like League of Legends® and StarCraft® in complete silence — because the fan stops completely when the GPU temperature remains below a set level*. This makes DirectCU III the coolest and quietest graphics card in the market.

* performance vary from system configuration and usage

Learn more about 0dB fan design here.

There are some options to reconfigure the fan curve in GeForce Experience and MSI Afterburner software. You can specify "unlocked" fan curves outside the software limits only by flashing a custom VBIOS (which carries risks and voids Asus warranty).

I expect this Strix GTX980Ti card would indeed run cooler than a reference GTX980Ti in a single-GPU system, I think it cools itself more efficiency by exhausting heat off itself and into the rest of the system (where a rear exhaust fan will then suck most of it out of the chassis). But I think it would run hotter than GTX980Ti cards with reference NVTTM coolers in a multi-GPU system.