1080Ti fan noise

markator · 29 Mar 2018 at 09:22

Hi, I built a new system around a month ago. A 1950x, 32GB with 2 Asus ROG Strix 1080Ti OC Edition cards in SLI. I’ve got a SeaSonic PSU 1000W Titanium Prime - I also have a line interactive UPS. Both GPUs make a whining noise when the fans hit certainly levels, it’s definitely coming from airflow not coil whine - it’s not very high pitch and it happens when I manually regulate fan speed or when it does it automatically. I thought it could be a vibration of the GPU shroud or some other item in the case, but it’s not. As both cards produce the same noise at similar levels I assume it is the card design itself. I purchased both cards a few weeks apart from different sellers (both new). Does anyone have experience of these cards? The airflow noise is fine it’s just the whine which can oscillate up and down which is a real pain...

Thanks

tres_kun · 29 Mar 2018 at 10:48

had the exact cards in sli
are you positive it is not just coil whine?
one of my cards has noticeable wine
but neither made odd sounds
i can not imagine there being something more noisy than the fans on the top card
did you try with just one card
i control the fan rpm with GPU Tweak II form asus website but it has little control for low RPM settings

Pocah · 29 Mar 2018 at 16:15

What sort of RPM are you talking about?

markator · 29 Mar 2018 at 16:28

It’s definite not coil whine. I test it when the GPU is not under load using MSI Afterburner to control the fan speed alone. It’s not very loud but it’s a continual noise with some variation. I don’t know the rpm but I hear it pretty much from 27% fan speed up to 55% or so... after that it tends to be lost in the air noise I guess. Mostly my GPU works around those fan speeds anyway when it’s under load. It does sound like some kind of resonance you get when noise passes through or into a medium. Almost as if there is a vibration associated with it. But because it’s the same for both GPUs I think it’s either a design issue, my case or power. Any other ideas? It’s just unusual for a card that’s meant to be very quiet...

Pocah · 29 Mar 2018 at 17:05

markator said:
It’s definite not coil whine. I test it when the GPU is not under load using MSI Afterburner to control the fan speed alone. It’s not very loud but it’s a continual noise with some variation. I don’t know the rpm but I hear it pretty much from 27% fan speed up to 55% or so... after that it tends to be lost in the air noise I guess. Mostly my GPU works around those fan speeds anyway when it’s under load. It does sound like some kind of resonance you get when noise passes through or into a medium. Almost as if there is a vibration associated with it. But because it’s the same for both GPUs I think it’s either a design issue, my case or power. Any other ideas? It’s just unusual for a card that’s meant to be very quiet...

Well in that case I really don't know. "Quiet cards" means they are achieving good cooling quieter. If you manually control the fans, the Asus are actually some of the noisiest around. But I am surprised that you are having issues are what is almost the lowest RPM you can go with the fans. The very fact that you get the same issue with both tends to indicate that there isn't much you can do about it. Also be very careful with your investigations here, the Asus fans are quite brittle and you will be horrified to find out what happens if you snap a fan blade off.

markator · 29 Mar 2018 at 22:33

Thanks. That makes sense. I will test further. I actually came across another website where someone described their GPU fan noise as ‘pulsating’, that’s very similar to the noise I have. Strange thing is I don’t know if I had this problem a week ago...

markator · 30 Mar 2018 at 13:02

Just a quick update on this... this is clearly an issue with the graphics card design. I found a YouTube video which perfectly shows the oscillating whine from the fans https://youtu.be/irlz14dww34?t=2m1s - after a few seconds you hear the changing whine up and down. I guess there is no way around this problem as it appears to be generated by the fan/heatsink/shroud arrangement creating a resonant chamber which causes the noise...

I don't know if that's typical of graphics cards. All reviewers of the 1080Ti Strix ROG OC Edition said it was very quiet... I guess they didn't test it enough...

I guess there's not much I can do unless anyone has any ideas?

Thanks

Pocah · 30 Mar 2018 at 16:45

Honestly it sounds really quiet to me. I mean the 970 I had used to wake the dead by comparison. When that was nearing 100% there is no way you could play a game without headphones. I still do wonder to what extent this is people manually winding up the fan and expecting it to be quiet at 2000RPM, and it's just not going to be. Having said that, I think if your fan is making odd noises at 27% which is probably about 1000RPM, well, fans should be pretty much silent at that speed. And yes, the reviews I saw of the Asus 1080ti did seem to record a very quiet graphics card! Certainly none of my previous cards have been that quiet so it leaves me uncertain.

markator · 3 Apr 2018 at 10:41

Thanks. I guess I'm going through the 'paranoid - is everything ok phase' that follows a new build! The whole system is generally very quiet. With nVidia Control Panel setting for Power Management Mode set to 'Optimal power' the fans on both 1080Ti cards don't even run when in Windows as they stay at around 45C and then fans only start at 55C. That single setting is a total MUST for all nVidia users in my opinion. I even keep it set to that when gaming because I don't see the need for more power - they are stupidly fast on Extreme/Ultra. Even when they do kick in - gaming for example, I've noticed that noise I described before has seemingly gone away...