3090 FE thermals and fan noise

WolfHauser · 28 Jan 2021 at 19:59

RTX 3090 FE
Core i7 6700k
32GB ram
Noctua NH-U9S CPU fan
Fractal define R6 with 3 stock fans. Front two fans configured to suck air into the case and back fan as exhaust (default setup).

Hi all, I'm wondering what to expect thermals and noise wise from the 3090 FE. When I play Control on max settings with ray tracing and dlss rendering around 2k upscaled to 3.5k I get sections where the card ramps up to 2200rpm. Temp wise it never goes over 70 degrees C but it's flipping loud! Is this usual? If so, would putting some more/better fans in mitigate this? Kind of feel like Nvidia are asking a premium price for this graphics card so it should be perfect! I mean the game runs like a dream but I'm not able to enjoy it because of the fan noise! Any help would be greatly appreciated! My 970 was pretty much silent. I know it's probably half as powerful.

WolfHauser · 28 Jan 2021 at 21:36

Nice on thanks all.

RE driver - says I'm on 461.40

I seem to be able to run control with DLSS with ray tracing both on and off with this driver fine

Dontrocktheboat said:
Dude download msi afterburner, invest some time into the power curve of the card.

.950 volts = 1900+++mhz permanent boost clocks.

Enjoy the card with 300W max quiet temp and fastest performance on the market right now.

Thanks dude. I'm a noob and haven't undervolted before - is it quite straight forward if I set it at .950 v and then I'm good?

WolfHauser · 29 Jan 2021 at 09:48

That's great - thanks @newuser and @Radox-0 a good few things for me to try. I do have a couple of spare fans so will stick them on the top of the case this weekend and have a play with the voltage too if the fans don't help much. Will report back in case my findings prove useful to anyone else.

WolfHauser · 29 Jan 2021 at 11:06

@Ravenger Yeah I bought the R6 as I need the drive bay too for work. If you ever have time and wouldn't mind, would you mind seeing what rpm your fans get up to under load with something like Control or that Quake RTX demo? No worries if not but would be interesting to see and would help me out! I'm finding Control is such a stress test for the machine - even when I'm in unreal engine in a ray traced scene the 3090 fans don't go as nuts.

WolfHauser · 29 Jan 2021 at 12:33

@Ravenger Amazing thanks so much I really appreciate it. I've been rendering at 2293x960 super sampled to 3440x1440.

@TT158 That's really good to know. If that is the case then I don't really feel comfortable doing that with such an expensive card I'll have to RMA it. Seems like on Nvidia's forums there are people with similar issues.

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforc...cards/5/401115/thermalfan-issue-with-3090-fe/

WolfHauser · 29 Jan 2021 at 14:38

You guys are amazing! That guide looks awesome - cheers. @TT158 thanks mate - really appreciate it!

WolfHauser · 3 Feb 2021 at 10:12

So I've been doing lots more reading and it sounds like there are a number of other people with the same issue as me. I think it's the temperature of the memory. The gpu itself stays well below 70c. I downloaded HWiNFO64 and it says the memory gets up to 104c and that's when the fans ramp up a crazy amount to 2000rpm. No idea if this is true but, the internet (and my intuition) seems to think that generally triple figures is bad for a components longevity. 3090 has a 3 year warranty so that's some reassurance.

In terms of what I have tried, put an extra fan in at the top of the case and removed a wifi card above the graphics card (just in case it's stopping heat dissipating - doubt it but worth a shot!), have the top air vent on the R6 open and the front panel open too. It has improved things very slightly but not much. I'll try and under-volt next and I have some better case fans coming. This post has some interesting things to say on fan profiles, case fans, thermal pads and undervolting.

Thanks @Ravenger

https://linustechtips.com/topic/129...hwinfo64-now-shows-hot-vram-for-rtx-30803090/

WolfHauser · 3 Feb 2021 at 10:35

Also this?! https://youtu.be/oVrp6mvwPBk

WolfHauser · 3 Feb 2021 at 11:25

TT158 said:
I will say that my memory junction temp reads around 100 degrees and all is fine. Even when I forced it to hit 110 I didn't get fans ramping up. So still a bit of mystery there.

Better case fans is a good shout. I've got 3x Arctic P14 COs at the front of my case and they're great. The stock fans from fractal are really weak and the low static pressure doesn't work well with the restrictive front door.

Very interesting - perhaps I've just got a bum card. Cool, that's good to know - those are the fans I bought too so hopefully they will help. Yeah the R6 fans feel really weak - just thinking about how hot the summer was last year and how the card will cope if it's struggling in the winter!

WolfHauser · 4 Feb 2021 at 16:50

Just got this back from the retailer I bought the card from;

"The VRAM chips reaching high temperatures are unfortunately normal for the FE 3080/3090, as this is consistent across more or less all of these cards, this isn't deemed as a fault as it is a design flaw on behalf of NVIDIA."

Great! They also suggested a fan profile.

WolfHauser · 4 Feb 2021 at 17:05

https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/new...some testing with the,TJmax for GDDR6X is 95C.

This as well. Seems a bit silly that you buy a card because it's marketed for creatives (got it for gaming and my job) and I'm going to have to throttle it...

WolfHauser · 10 Mar 2021 at 14:05

Just an update on this. The new fans, I have really tried to cleanup the airflow in the case by using an open layout as well as installing a new processor and huge noctua D15S. Temperatures seem a lot better. GPU is super cool around 50oC and memory maxed at about 92 oC - usually it was around 86oC. Fans stick around 800rpm in Control. Put my case fans on 800rpm when I game. Sound is much more acceptable! Thanks for your help everyone.

WolfHauser · 4 Jun 2021 at 12:05

An update to the update. I think I was a bit too eager before. Although better - memory temps still would push 104 after prolonged use. I took the plunge and re-did the thermal pads and paste. Well, the difference is night and day. Fans never go above 1200rpm even with my case fans on low and temps seem to max at 92 in Quake RTX which really stressed the card before. Rendering in Blender - the card doesn't even break a sweat - just wish it had been like this by default.

WolfHauser · 5 Jun 2021 at 13:16

@newuser - unforgiveable! No worries mate, I didn't take any offence from your other post - I knew you were trying to help but appreciate the apology anyway.

@Purgatory - sure here's some pics of how it is now.

WolfHauser · 7 Jun 2021 at 16:59

@Purgatory @CuriousTomCat Thanks mate. Even though it was stressful - I feel really proud of it and feel like I have a much better understanding of how my computer and GPU work. It was nice to spend time trying to make it neat and quite addictive. Sometimes I think I'd quite like to build people PCs and then I think about the inevitable technical support and shudder so best to stay away.

There's so many awesome resources online (not least overclockers) now with tips that I didn't really have/know about when I built my last pc 5 years ago.

I'd like the fans to be black but they didn't have any in stock at the time so white it is!

WolfHauser · 7 Jun 2021 at 17:24

@xPETEZx Yeah totally - same for me. Feel for you. Not sure if the coil whine was there before and just covered by the fans but it is noticeable if I'm under my desk. When I'm sat up though I can't really hear it. I do have a Define R6 case which I think filters out some of the noise once the panels back on. Sounds a bit like my machine's come out of Chernobyl. But I'll take it over those redic temps and jet engine. Pretty solid 91 and the fans never go over 1200rpm now.

WolfHauser · 7 Jun 2021 at 17:26

Will try and do a video if I can - it won't be very scientific though

WolfHauser · 9 Jun 2021 at 09:52

Haha. Yeah, my card whines similarly when under any sort of load. I have to say under the desk it's not noticeable but yeah I can imagine on the desk it would be really annoying. I guess it's on your desk for a reason?

WolfHauser · 9 Jun 2021 at 11:35

I get ya. I have a pair of noise cancelling Sony in ear headphones and just tried putting my head next to the machine and couldn't hear anything - especially over the in game audio. To be honest mine is barely audible with the panel on - even with my head right next to the machine. Can definitely hear it with the panel off though. Here's a video;

https://youtu.be/veR8S7QSAKM

WolfHauser · 9 Jun 2021 at 12:58

Cool yeah, I should probably say I'm fine with the noise as I can hardly hear it - was just posting to help xPETEZx.