[workaround] Annoying design fault with expensive Zotac GTX 1080 AMP! Extreme cards

[qubit]

Zotac have released the 1070 Ti version of my card, which looks the same. Now, with all the fan design trouble that plagues my card, you'd think that after more than a year, Zotac would finally be able to fix what's actually a simple problem, right? Wrong!

This card doesn't switch off its fans, but instead keeps them running at a noisy minimum speed of 39%, or 1250rpm. With its custom always-on fan profile, at least my card is barely audible regardless of whether it's idling or being thrashed with Furmark. Oh and it performs better with its better GPU.

Finally, the most damning thing about this new Zotac is that it's priced at $500, the same as cheaper 1080 cards making it totally pointless.

It's a total lemon, steer clear.

Read all about these problems in this review.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/zotac-geforce-gtx-1070-ti-amp-extreme,review-34130-6.html

 

[sjungermann]

New vbios for 1080 amp! Extreme - 86.04.60.00.7F - Maybe we can have our problem solved. https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/197492/197492

 

[qubit]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm gonna pass. That BIOS isn't verified and this card doesn't have a dual BIOS, so the chance of bricking it is significant. If it was off the Zotac website for this card then it would have been a different story. I don't recommend that you try it either.

 

[RejZoR]

Zotac have released the 1070 Ti version of my card, which looks the same. Now, with all the fan design trouble that plagues my card, you'd think that after more than a year, Zotac would finally be able to fix what's actually a simple problem, right? Wrong!

This card doesn't switch off its fans, but instead keeps them running at a noisy minimum speed of 39%, or 1250rpm. With its custom always-on fan profile, at least my card is barely audible regardless of whether it's idling or being thrashed with Furmark. Oh and it performs better with its better GPU.

Finally, the most damning thing about this new Zotac is that it's priced at $500, the same as cheaper 1080 cards making it totally pointless.

It's a total lemon, steer clear.

Read all about these problems in this review.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/zotac-geforce-gtx-1070-ti-amp-extreme,review-34130-6.html

I liked the looks of ZOTAC, but luckily I spotted the fan problems and ditched it as an option. The AORUS I have now is pretty much perfect.

 

[qubit]

I liked the looks of ZOTAC, but luckily I spotted the fan problems and ditched it as an option. The AORUS I have now is pretty much perfect.

I think you were right to do that. I wish I'd seen that Tom's Hardware article before I'd bought it.

At least with the always-on workaround it works just fine and keeps the VRMs that bit cooler too, so the situation isn't all bad.

 

[RejZoR]

Though it's incredibly lazy from ZOTAC side to be so damn lazy and just repeat the same idiotic mistake on a brand new card released what, a year later? Two already? Shows how much they care about their products and customers...

 

[qubit]

Yeah, quite. I think the 1080 Ti version is better, but what's with the 1070 Ti and the noisy, always-on fans? It's like they took the workaround from this thread and made a worse version of it that you can't fix. To screw up flagship cards with something idiotic like this and keep perpetuating it is inexcusable.

Most of the cards I've bought have been Zotac over the last 9 years and they've been fine, but this shakes my confidence in them.

 

[RejZoR]

Companies in general make rubbish fan profiles. They often make default RPM higher than actually needed "just to be sure". If you stick a massive heatsink that can take away 350W of heat, why do you need to run it a insane speeds to trake away 180W of heat. I just don't get them sometimes...

 

[sjungermann]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm gonna pass. That BIOS isn't verified and this card doesn't have a dual BIOS, so the chance of bricking it is significant. If it was off the Zotac website for this card then it would have been a different story. I don't recommend that you try it either.

I can confirm to you that this vbios is working. I flashed yesterday with nvflash and is working fine till now. Also have played some games and couldn´t identify the issues. Zotac never put their vbios in the website. Also this is a non verified file because it was uploaded 6 days ago in TPU. So it´s very new.

 

[qubit]

hmmm... great it works for you, but I'm still leery of doing it, regardless. A dual BIOS would have made all the difference here.

The number of days ago that it was uploaded isn't what determines whether it's verified, either.

 

[sjungermann]

hmmm... great it works for you, but I'm still leery of doing it, regardless. A dual BIOS would have made all the difference here.

The number of days ago that it was uploaded isn't what determines whether it's verified, either.

There are few chances that this is a non legit one as we do not have a pascal bios editor. But I can understand you. Regards.

 

[tkdoherty]

I can confirm to you that this vbios is working. I flashed yesterday with nvflash and is working fine till now. Also have played some games and couldn´t identify the issues. Zotac never put their vbios in the website. Also this is a non verified file because it was uploaded 6 days ago in TPU. So it´s very new.

Does the new bios offer any fan improvements?

 

[sjungermann]

Does the new bios offer any fan improvements?

Yes. At least for me was working well. Unfortunately I think I’m the only one who flashed this new vbios. I tested it during one week in standard and still using it. But if you want to keep your clocks higher you must use some OC tool (adjust fan profile) like afterburner to keep your card cooler. If you use any of these tools you don’t need to update your firmware. I just did because I didn’t want a factory broken fan profile and I have an extra vga just in case of failing to flash.

 

[qubit]

Yes. At least for me was working well. Unfortunately I think I’m the only one who flashed this new vbios. I tested it during one week in standard and still using it. But if you want to keep your clocks higher you must use some OC tool (adjust fan profile) like afterburner to keep your card cooler. If you use any of these tools you don’t need to update your firmware. I just did because I didn’t want a factory broken fan profile and I have an extra vga just in case of failing to flash.

So to check, your fans now start and stop as they should with this BIOS, without any of that revving?

 

[sjungermann]

So to check, your fans now start and stop as they should with this BIOS, without any of that revving?

Yes. For me is working as they should.

 

[tkdoherty]

Just wondering: has anyone else tried this bios? I have dual Zotac 1080 Amp Extreme cards (for GPU rendering of 3D animations) and the fans have stated revving a lot recently. I was planning to sell them (and take the loss) to upgrade to AORUS Ti cards, but given the sky-high price of high end graphics cards right now, I'll probably hang onto them for a while. I'm reluctant to try flashing sjungermann's new bios without knowing if others have had success.

 

[qubit]

Just wondering: has anyone else tried this bios? I have dual Zotac 1080 Amp Extreme cards (for GPU rendering of 3D animations) and the fans have stated revving a lot recently. I was planning to sell them (and take the loss) to upgrade to AORUS Ti cards, but given the sky-high price of high end graphics cards right now, I'll probably hang onto them for a while. I'm reluctant to try flashing sjungermann's new bios without knowing if others have had success.

That revving is annoying, isn't it? Why should it start doing it more, though, have you changed anything about your system?

A safer alternative, is to try the always-on profile that I settled on in the end. Unfortunately, despite this card's high end price and features, Zotac didn't think to equip it with a dual BIOS, so flashing it is risky, a risk I'm not willing to take.

 

[carajan]

So i had this problem for quite a while aswell and just ended up living with it, and having a fan profile at 32% from start.
But decided that i wanted to try the "new" vga bios that sjungermann posted. it installed without any problems.
I'll test it out a bit this evening and let you know the results.

Update: didnt help, im back to the 32% fan curve

 

[qubit]

Well, at least you tried and glad it didn't brick the card. Thanks for reporting it.

 

[qubit]

I'm beginning to really hate this graphics card. For all its high performance in framerate and noise, it's troublesome.

First, I have to use a custom, always-on profile as suggested by @newtekie1 to get round the start/stop problem that I created this thread about. Now, this card has been rendering just the boring old desktop for most of its one-ish year life, with those fans spinning at around 970rpm (just about the slowest they'll got without stalling) so it hasn't been exactly stressed out and I've only overclocked it once to see how far it would go (not that far).

The other day, I go to play a game I'd been gifted, Forza Horizon 3 (it's fantastic btw and also runs on my xbox one s) where I notice the fans doing that start/stop thing again. That just turned out to be the default fan profile in the VBIOS being used for some reason and an easy fix with the FireStorm software. However, there was a clear rattle coming from the card whenever they spun up and this is not a spin-up to a fast speed, either. They make a constant rattling sound too, at lower volume when the fans are spinning steadily, even at idle, in contrast to when they were new. It's annoying as hell, especially as the card is designed to be whisper quiet, even at max GPU load and one of the main reasons for choosing this model. Ruins it completely and can easily be heard above games sounds.

Today, I get round to troubleshooting it and see that all three fans have this problem, with the middle one being the worst by far. I haven't tried cleaning out the card yet and physically inspecting it (will try to do this on the weekend) but most likely it's knackered bearings due to low quality fans. I'm so pissed off about this and I've now lost confidence in Zotac as a brand after buying several decent cards from them over the last decade. I should have stuck to the MSI that I'd bought for comparison at the time, which was a bit slower. Here's to wishful thinking.

I think it's got a two year warranty, but I'm not sure if I got round to registering it with Zotac at the time. I'll have to check this and will try to claim from either Amazon or Zotac. If I can't claim, I'll have to see about trying to lubricate them, or get replacement fans - if I'm lucky and they're available. Or maybe just sell the card if I have no joy.

@dorsetknob @eidairaman1 @jboydgolfer @newtekie1 @rtwjunkie, you guys are handy with fixing things, so do you have any suggestions for me, please? Everyone else is welcome to help out too, obviously.

Moral of the story: if you discover a significant design flaw in a product, return the damned thing asap for a refund, or it will bite you in the ass sooner or later. I've certainly learned my lesson with this one.

 

[rtwjunkie]

I unfortunately don’t have any fixes. It’s under warranty, so either try to get new fans or get it replaced. Then sell the working replacement and buy a brand using better bearings.

No matter what, make use of the warranty:

 

[qubit]

Oh yeah, I'll certainly try to do that in the first instance. Thanks rtw.

 

[eidairaman1]

I'm beginning to really hate this graphics card. For all its high performance in framerate and noise, it's troublesome.

First, I have to use a custom, always-on profile as suggested by @newtekie1 to get round the start/stop problem that I created this thread about. Now, this card has been rendering just the boring old desktop for most of its one-ish year life, with those fans spinning at around 970rpm (just about the slowest they'll got without stalling) so it hasn't been exactly stressed out and I've only overclocked it once to see how far it would go (not that far).

The other day, I go to play a game I'd been gifted, Forza Horizon 3 (it's fantastic btw and also runs on my xbox one s) where I notice the fans doing that start/stop thing again. That just turned out to be the default fan profile in the VBIOS being used for some reason and an easy fix with the FireStorm software. However, there was a clear rattle coming from the card whenever they spun up and this is not a spin-up to a fast speed, either. They make a constant rattling sound too, at lower volume when the fans are spinning steadily, even at idle, in contrast to when they were new. It's annoying as hell, especially as the card is designed to be whisper quiet, even at max GPU load and one of the main reasons for choosing this model. Ruins it completely and can easily be heard above games sounds.

Today, I get round to troubleshooting it and see that all three fans have this problem, with the middle one being the worst by far. I haven't tried cleaning out the card yet and physically inspecting it (will try to do this on the weekend) but most likely it's knackered bearings due to low quality fans. I'm so pissed off about this and I've now lost confidence in Zotac as a brand after buying several decent cards from them over the last decade. I should have stuck to the MSI that I'd bought for comparison at the time, which was a bit slower. Here's to wishful thinking.

I think it's got a two year warranty, but I'm not sure if I got round to registering it with Zotac at the time. I'll have to check this and will try to claim from either Amazon or Zotac. If I can't claim, I'll have to see about trying to lubricate them, or get replacement fans - if I'm lucky and they're available. Or maybe just sell the card if I have no joy.

@dorsetknob @eidairaman1 @jboydgolfer @newtekie1 @rtwjunkie, you guys are handy with fixing things, so do you have any suggestions for me, please? Everyone else is welcome to help out too, obviously.

Moral of the story: if you discover a significant design flaw in a product, return the damned thing asap for a refund, or it will bite you in the ass sooner or later. I've certainly learned my lesson with this one.

Sewing machine oil for bearings. Replace the cooler with aftermarket cooler whether aio or not. Sounds like you got a lemon cooler unfortunately, perhaps that is why the learning part wasn't working correctly. Id dust those fans really good before putting the oil in. Also maybe rubber grommets for provide vibration absorption. You could see if there is a OEM fansink online too.

 

[qubit]

Ok, so I've just checked the Zotac website for their warranty policy, which states that the product must be registered within 28 days of purchase to qualify for the 2 year warranty. Yes, this idiot forgot all about this and has learned another hard, and possibly, expensive, lesson <facepalm>. I'd remembered for the two previous Zotac cards though, so I'll just put this one down to human error.

Also, as far as I can see, Amazon only give 1 year as there's no option to return the card on the order page, so it looks like I'm out of luck for warranty.

I'll see if I can sweetalk Zotac and then Amazon into giving me warranty, but I reckon I'm out of luck. I'll do this on the weekend, though.

@eidairaman1 I'll see about oiling the fan bearings, or seeing if I can get replacements from Zotac. I don't want to pull that huge cooler off it and will likely sell the card if I can't get a satisfactory fix on it. Dodgy fan bearings aside, it works fantastically well and looks great. Aside from the annoying noise, the card still works just fine.

 

[eidairaman1]

Ok, so I've just checked the Zotac website for their warranty policy, which states that the product must be registered within 28 days of purchase to qualify for the 2 year warranty. Yes, this idiot forgot all about this and has learned another hard, and possibly, expensive, lesson <facepalm>. I'd remembered for the two previous Zotac cards though, so I'll just put this one down to human error.

Also, as far as I can see, Amazon only give 1 year as there's no option to return the card on the order page, so it looks like I'm out of luck for warranty.

I'll see if I can sweetalk Zotac and then Amazon into giving me warranty, but I reckon I'm out of luck. I'll do this on the weekend, though.

@eidairaman1 I'll see about oiling the fan bearings, or seeing if I can get replacements from Zotac. I don't want to pull that huge cooler off it and will likely sell the card if I can't get a satisfactory fix on it. Dodgy fan bearings aside, it works fantastically well and looks great. Aside from the annoying noise, the card still works just fine.

I hope Zotac will have a little bit of mercy on you for this. Yeah I was just trying to give you all possible solutions to this problem and it does happen I actually managed to get 2 fans from Antec stop working altogether