GPUFANCTL

This is a daemon utility that automatically controls your GPU's fan speed based on your own custom temperature curve.

I originally built this utility because I found that the default fan profile of my RTX 3080Ti FE wasn't providing adequate enough cooling, and I was seeing temperatures of nearly 80C when under high load. By using gpufanctl, I'm now seeing temperatures of ~68C under similar load.

NOTE: While I've made every effort to prevent bugs and misuse, incorrect use of this utility could cause permanent damage to your GPU. Use of this utility is purely at your own risk. Before using this utility, you should consider whether the default fan profile provides adequate enough cooling for your usage. If you're happy with the default temperature control then you should consider not using gpufanctl

Current Support Status

• Supports both X11 and Wayland
• Only NVIDIA GPUs are currently supported
• I've only confirmed NVIDIA driver support for version 550.120. Older versions may still work but I haven't confirmed this.

Usage

NOTE: In temperature control mode (the default mode), gpufanctl must be run as root

Example usage from a TTY is as follows...

$ sudo gpufanctl '40:30,60:50,80:100'

This will start the utility running and will periodically read the GPU temperature at 5 second intervals. The provided argument will define a custom fan curve with two slopes...

1. From 40C to 60C the fan speed will increase linearly from 30% to 50%
2. From 60C to 80C the fan speed will increase linearly from 50% to 100%

In this example, any temperature below 40C will set the fan speed to the GPU's default profile, and for any temperature above 80C, the fan speed will remain at 100%.

The utility will exit when receiving a SIGINT or SIGTERM signal. In a TTY, this means Ctrl+C will stop the utility.

When gpufanctl exits it will reset the GPU to its default fan profile.

Running gpufanctl without any arguments is supported, and will just use your GPU's default fan profile

A full list of options can be obtained using $ gpufanctl --help

Building

The build system uses CMake. You can build from source using the following steps...

From the project's root folder:

1. $ mkdir ./build
2. $ cd ./build
3. $ cmake ..
4. $ cmake --build . -- -j$(nproc)

Installing

From the project's root folder, follow the steps above to build the source, then additionally...

• $ sudo make install

This will install gpufanctl to /usr/local/bin by default. This can be overridden by replacing step 3. with...

• $ cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<YOUR_INSTALLATION_FOLDER> ..

... replacing <YOUR_INSTALLATION_FOLDER> with the desired installation path. gpufanctl will then be installed to <YOUR_INSTALLATION_FOLDER>/bin/gpufanctl