Aurora R6 GTX 1080 Ti Cooling

something went completely wrong with your System. all Fans shuld always be running. your GPU is a Founders Edition Model with one Fan, right? the Fan runs usually at 30% Speed while the GPU is Idle. it should never stop.

run the EPSA Test first and then we will see. hit F12 during Boot.

EVGA cards have a flaw where they are missing thermal pads  

EVGA GTX 1080 FTW Thermal Pad Mod and Unboxing! - YouTube 

EVGA - EVGA Thermal Pad Mod Request 

The Thermal Controller in Alienware Command Center DOES NOT control the GPU fan. It just displays it there (with the others) to be convenient.
 
Do you have a pre-installed Dell OEM GTX-1080ti, or did you install your own Evga card?

Pre-installed Dell OEM GTX 1080 Ti.  Fan does not run at all; unless I download and install the EVGA software.  To get the fan turned on is the only reason I have the EVGA software on it at all.  Without it; zero fan.  Never on.  Not ever.  The smell is pretty distinct at about 81c -- even though it doesn't throttle until 84c.

As soon as I get back on the system I'll run that EPSA test (later tonight).

Thanks for the responses!  This has me concerned that I have to download someone else's software to enable the fan.  

My suspicion is when the system was upgraded for liquid CPU cooling (no longer a CPU fan) Dell disabled all fans except for case fans and didn't consider the GPU fan at all.

Additional question on cooling and Alienware:

ThermalControl and ThermalControlWindowsService (name and spelling may be slightly off I'm not on the system right at the moment) are by a very large margin my largest network bandwidth consumers.  Much more bandwidth then even MMOs or Discord..... a LOT of bandwidth.  To the extent it causes lag.

Is there a reasonable explanation for this?

No. nothing makes Sence here.
your Fans should run automatically, the Command Center and Thermal Controls Software is actually good (Minor Flaws but okay).

Run the EPSA Test first and then we will see.
you should Download and Update your BIOS to the latest Version. BIOS Reset after Update would be nice. then Run the Test again.

Tiny Side Note:

the EVGA Thermal Accidents happened before the GTX 1080TI Cards were released. it is unlikely that EVGA made the same Mistake twice in a Row.

MarkK25 wrote:

1. Pre-installed Dell OEM GTX 1080 Ti.

2. Fan does not run at all; unless I download and install the EVGA software.  To get the fan turned on is the only reason I have the EVGA software on it at all.  Without it; zero fan.  Never on.  Not ever.  The smell is pretty distinct at about 81c -- even though it doesn't throttle until 84c.

 

3. This has me concerned that I have to download someone else's software to enable the fan.  

 

4. My suspicion is when the system was upgraded for liquid CPU cooling (no longer a CPU fan) Dell disabled all fans except for case fans and didn't consider the GPU fan at all.

1. Ok. Then it's likely this MSI Aero or very close to it:

GeForce GTX 1080 Ti AERO 11G | Graphics card - The world leader in display performance | MSI USA 

2. Weird. Sounds like this new card's default fan-profile is not quite right. But maybe MSI Afterburner would be better choice (completely uninstall EVGA first and reboot). 

Not sure if MSI Aero-series cards have Zero-Frozr, but if they do, maybe it was incorrectly defaulted the wrong way. MSI Gaming App controls that normally.

3. On my Aurora-R6 with Dell OEM GTX-1070 it works fine without any extra software. And yes, I have heavily stressed it. I also play Fallout-4 weekly (and it's rock solid).

4. No, that is not the case. 
 
I think you have a problem with your GTX-1080-TI's firmware or drivers ... mostly stem-ing from it being so new and all.

i considered to make a "download RPM" Joke earlier today....

MarkK25 wrote:

ThermalControl and ThermalControlWindowsService (name and spelling may be slightly off I'm not on the system right at the moment) are by a very large margin my largest network bandwidth consumers.  Much more bandwidth then even MMOs or Discord..... a LOT of bandwidth.  To the extent it causes lag.

 

Is there a reasonable explanation for this?

Where are you looking to gets this data?

ESPA tested out all good.  Also ran their support software service diagnostics; tested all good.  The ESPA was worthless from a GPU perspective since it only recognizes the onboard GPU and not the Nvidia card.  The Dell Service Diagnostics recognizes the Nvidia... and even spins up the GPU fan!  Unfortunately that's the only time the GPU is properly managed without additional 3rd party software (EVGAS, NZXT Cam, ...).  

I run Windows Resource Monitor to see whats eating up my system - and the Alienware stuff starts out using a whole lot of internal network comm (my god what a disaster if you're wireless!!!!!) and it goes from really bad to catastrophically bad over time until it's bottoming out (topping out?) around 1Gbps.... at which point I notice it and have to hard kill all the Alienware software and/or reboot.  Takes it over 12 hours to totally bury the network - so if you don't ever have hardcore gaming sessions you'd probably never notice.

After running the Alienware diagnostics I started up a game and the system immediately went into meltdown with the GPU at 85c when I locked up; and I frantically had to hard power off to save the comp.  

Restarted it; made sure the 3rd party GPU thermal software was running (had it off for the Alienware tests), and everything is all good again.

Very, very, very annoyed.  I really need this working 100% for what I paid for it. 

The card is great, the computer is great, but they are not playing nice together.  I think the real problem is the Alienware thermal management software - it just doesn't work - and it's an absolutely horrendous system hog I would grade on a system virus scale.

I didn't get the MSI software since I don't know exactly which card is in the system and Dell's website has lost my order information so I can't look it up... plus they don't publish that.  So I need to get into the case and read the card myself or Dell will have to tell me exactly which card.  All I know is how it's ordered Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti with 11gb.

alright. what about BIOS and Drivers Update?

and yes, open the Case and take a Look at the Card.

about the Bands probably Dell Update Utility trying to download all the new Drivers you need.

MarkK25 wrote:

1. I run Windows Resource Monitor to see whats eating up my system - and the Alienware stuff starts out using a whole lot of internal network comm (my god what a disaster if you're wireless!!!!!) and it goes from really bad to catastrophically bad over time until it's bottoming out (topping out?) around 1Gbps.... at which point I notice it and have to hard kill all the Alienware software and/or reboot.  Takes it over 12 hours to totally bury the network - so if you don't ever have hardcore gaming sessions you'd probably never notice.

 

2. I didn't get the MSI software since I don't know exactly which card is in the system and Dell's website has lost my order information so I can't look it up... plus they don't publish that.

3. I think the real problem is the Alienware thermal management software - it just doesn't work - and it's an absolutely horrendous system hog I would grade on a system virus scale.

4. So I need to get into the case and read the card myself or Dell will have to tell me exactly which card.  All I know is how it's ordered Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti with 11gb.

1. Yeah, as I thought. Back when we had discrete MIO-Boards, users would ask about that. That's just communication between the system and the MIO-Board. Not much has changed now that the MIO-Board hardware has been virtualized. I think you can also tell because the Address is "ipv4-Loopback".

I don't see how this communication traffic could cause any kind of network congestion because it never leaves the machine. If you are having network issues, I would look elsewhere.

2. As you wish.

3. Again, the Alienware Command Center and/or the Thermal Controller sub-app DOES NOT control the fans or thermals on the video card. It simply monitors it (much like those other programs you mentioned). I'm not saying its perfect or not getting bloated, but it does many things. Maybe it is an Alien Conspiracy, but it could also just be Dell Proprietary software.

4. If you look on the back of the video-card (should be easy because it just so happens to be facing up) you will likely see a MSI sticker or two. MSI makes some cards for Dell. But it ends-up being a fairly basic copy of "Reference Design Card" because Dell doesn't want any expensive changes (like MSI's own Aero-series cards).

1) Correct; the internal 'loopback' io doesn't hurt the overall network it only becomes a problem when the traffic is so high it buries the board itself causing it to lag and start dropping packets.  Wireless is another story since it'll broadcast - it'd take more details on that to know for sure.  But I can say for sure the loopback io does kill the system when it crosses the threshold of what the network card can reliably handle.

2) I decided to go ahead and installed the MSI software for the card we believe it to be; and it sort of worked.  Until the GPU got put under load and then the system would constantly freeze up.

3) So... I re-installed the NVidia control panel, re-installed the GPU drivers direct from NVidia, re-installed EVGA's XOC - and all is good again.  I attempted all of that w/o the XOC and everything ran fine it just pushed the GPU to it's throttle point (84c).  Note I'm using no features in the XOC it's only to manage the fan speed.

4) All drivers have always been completely up to date according to Alienware's tools.

Since you've pointed out the alienware command software doesn't do anything with the GPU's fan (which my observations show to be correct) then this is apparently the only way to keep the GPU cooled down.  Dell is selling a system they know will overheat as delivered.  That's what I'm struggling with.  Basically if I'd known this I would not have purchased a video card thru Dell and would have sorted out a system and card with proper thermal management.

MarkK25 wrote:

1. Since you've pointed out the alienware command software doesn't do anything with the GPU's fan (which my observations show to be correct)

2. then this is apparently the only way to keep the GPU cooled down.

3. Dell is selling a system they know will overheat as delivered.  

4. That's what I'm struggling with.  

1. Correct

2. Wrong. The video card and it's drivers keep the video card cool with some "reference" fan curves. No additional software should be required.

3. Wrong

4. I understand. Without knowing what exact card it is (maybe it is a Evga or some other non-MSI-made card) I can't really help you much more. I was just trying to help you get on the right track ... looking at the right parts.

Sounds like you have a bad card. I suggest you call Alienware Phone Support for a replacement.