gpu antics

attached please see two screenshots, care of cpuid hw monitor.
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so, bought and installed a zotac 1030 gt low profile card into a dell optiplex 3010 low profile chassis.

first week and a half was smooth sailing, though I noticed higher fan speeds on the card than I thought should be seen.

zotac said 85% at idle is normal for this card.

bear in mind..she's NOT under load, just sitting there on a chosen splash screen for ms edge(pic of arcee from tf bumblebee live action), so theres NO WAY this is considered under load. card's even body temp(96.8).

also..it sounds like I've got a particularly irate bee in the system chassis.

so I download and install zotac firestorm, and try to manually set the fan speed.

the card point blank REFUSES to go any lower than 85% of rated speed. it'l go to 100 no questions asked, but never below 85%.

then it locks up out of nowhere, as in all I can move is the mouse cursor. nothing else loads, nothing else responds or visually updates. now I know I have a problem card.

ok, reach back out to zotac. they tell me they can RMA it, but I'll need to pay shipping to, they cover the return by default and its a 30 day turnaround, and the agent suggests I'll have a faster response from the place of purchase(amazon) so off I go to amazon.

they offer a returnless replacement..cause I cant get to a ups store(no car, nearest is 20 minutes by car).

new card arrives, I swap the normal bracket for the low profile one and install the card.

boots right on up.

right away theres a difference. fan speed's at 29% of rated maximum, and the temp is sitting at a nice and reasonable 95F.

also..no irate bee sound.

so, I figure, go right ahead, throw the hammer and anvil at it with kerbal space program with a decent selection of part mod packs.

this replacement card tanks the load bearing test.

next I give it the beans with sims 4, handles that.

startrek online? pass

starwars the old republic? pass.

note, under load, the new card hits 45%-50% of rated fan speed and never goes ANY higher, and the temps never go above 120F. now, whilst under load I do have a faint fan noise but no irate bee sound.

so, to whomever is reading this long winded waffle, who here would say the original card is likely the problem?