30xx Series Founders Edition

[Purgatory]

How's this for coil whine?

How bad is this in others' opinions? The noise isn't being picked up that well, IRL it's about that loud with the case closed.

Welcome to 3090 FE models... they all do that and some much worse than yours, we had some at work that would sound like a hive of bees in the room and then some that sounded like high piched scraping a chalkboard. Thats why we returned some and sold the rest that we tried to fix with new pads and hot glue on the chokes but made no difference.

Some start out loud and get a bit better and some just got louder and some well decided not enough noise so started to have fans that would make noises too from the bearing or rubbing against the cooler.. We had over 22 of them and all gone now because they drove us crazy even after we exchanged some of them, they would come back with new issues, if it whined before now the fan rattles and screams or fan rattle we got a whining card. We returned the ones we could for AIB blower cards or 3 fan AIBS in the end to save our sanity in the office.. Imagine 2 x 3090 in each machine doing that as all our workstations are 2 x 3090 in NVLINK or RTX Titan cards in NVLINK. The RTX Titans when we got them we never had this issue with them.

3080 FE and 3080Ti have it too.. It's some sort of design issue or the cards really hate high FPS, it's a lottery with them, that's why I stayed well clear when I got my own 2 x 3090s for my workstation at home, mine don't make any of them noises and you have to put your ear right up to them to hear electrical sounds but the 3090 FE still is the best looking 3090 . Not sure why the FE cards are worst for it as I have a 3060ti FE and that dosn't coil whine, something with the GA102 chips power design and clearly something now up with the 3090Ti too as they told AIBs to stop production till they fix some issues with the cards.. guessing power related..

https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/r...-bios-and-hardware-snags-and-thats-fine-by-us

 

[philo-sofa]

I can vouch for the nvidia RMA process being very smooth and easy if you want to try your luck. The replacement card I got has ever-so-slightly less coil-whine...
Bigger "win" for me is that it also seems to have better thermal pads, as the VRAM temps are lower than even my re-padded card where.

Thanks chap. I've started an RMA with the Nvidia distributor based on your experience...

Welcome to 3090 FE models... they all do that and some much worse than yours, we had some at work that would sound like a hive of bees in the room and then some that sounded like high piched scraping a chalkboard. Thats why we returned some and sold the rest that we tried to fix with new pads and hot glue on the chokes but made no difference.

Some start out loud and get a bit better and some just got louder and some well decided not enough noise so started to have fans that would make noises too from the bearing or rubbing against the cooler.. We had over 22 of them and all gone now because they drove us crazy even after we exchanged some of them, they would come back with new issues, if it whined before now the fan rattles and screams or fan rattle we got a whining card. We returned the ones we could for AIB blower cards or 3 fan AIBS in the end to save our sanity in the office.. Imagine 2 x 3090 in each machine doing that as all our workstations are 2 x 3090 in NVLINK or RTX Titan cards in NVLINK. The RTX Titans when we got them we never had this issue with them.

3080 FE and 3080Ti have it too.. It's some sort of design issue or the cards really hate high FPS, it's a lottery with them, that's why I stayed well clear when I got my own 2 x 3090s for my workstation at home, mine don't make any of them noises and you have to put your ear right up to them to hear electrical sounds but the 3090 FE still is the best looking 3090 . Not sure why the FE cards are worst for it as I have a 3060ti FE and that dosn't coil whine, something with the GA102 chips power design and clearly something now up with the 3090Ti too as they told AIBs to stop production till they fix some issues with the cards.. guessing power related..

https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/r...-bios-and-hardware-snags-and-thats-fine-by-us

but seems it's going to be a lottery as to what I get back hopefully the replacement is something with a better level of coil whine that a game can drown out.

Cheers for the summary; I've read some stuff online which aligns with this but there's nothing better than a single person with the experience of dozens of cards. Can't imagine having 22 of these in a single room though, no wonder you got AIBs. Based on your experience, what would you say the odds are of me getting a card back which doesn't make too much noise now and over the next year?

As you say, visually it's a stunner and I don't want to go back.

 

[xPETEZx]

What, really? It's that loud buzzing sound that sounds like a cable header is bouncing over a fan blade... is that not audible?

Had another listen with headphones, could hear it then! Sounds exactly like both of my 3090s.

Yep, I've got a frame rate cap. The sound is quieter when the game is paused, louder when unpaused. It seems to be related to load more than framerate.


Undervolted and it helps a bit: slightly quieter with a lower pitch. But even at 1200 MHz with low volts it's still buzzing like an adult novelty toy.

I noticed this too. Unlike cards I have had before where the whine was linked to FPS, on these it seems linked to power.
For example when playing an older game, or even the Halo Remasters, I get very little if any whine at all. But the GPU power is below 200W.
Anything which pushes the power up above 250~, and it whines, regardless if its 144fps+ or barely 50...

Undervolting reduces it slightly, but can only tell the difference if you apply the UV while already in game. You can hear it change pitch and get less. But its just as annoying as without really... Its the loudest part of my system...

So as said... you can try an RMA. That video would be more than enough to get it rolling. I sent them my video and had pre-paid shipping labels the next morning..

 

[Metalface Mark]

I had coil whine on both my 3090FE (why i got rid of them both). The only 3090 ive had out of about 6 that has zero coil whine is my zotak one.

 

[philo-sofa]

....For example when playing an older game, or even the Halo Remasters, I get very little if any whine at all. But the GPU power is below 200W.
Anything which pushes the power up above 250~, and it whines, regardless if its 144fps+ or barely 50...

Undervolting reduces it slightly, but can only tell the difference if you apply the UV while already in game. You can hear it change pitch and get less. But its just as annoying as without really... Its the loudest part of my system...

Same, for me Mass Effect Remastered sits around 10% usage at 144Hz and gives zero whine. But anything with usage makes it by far the loudest part of the setup. Ahh well, they're picking her up tomorrow.

I had coil whine on both my 3090FE (why i got rid of them both). The only 3090 ive had out of about 6 that has zero coil whine is my zotak one.

Am really rolling a set of dice here aren't I? If worst comes to worst I can take up gaming on headphones.

 

[xPETEZx]

I had coil whine on both my 3090FE (why i got rid of them both). The only 3090 ive had out of about 6 that has zero coil whine is my zotak one.

What where the ones you tried? How was performance between them all?
I dont think I have the will-power to source that many different 3090s to find a unicorn without whine... Esp given the insane cost of AIB models...

Same, for me Mass Effect Remastered sits around 10% usage at 144Hz and gives zero whine. But anything with usage makes it by far the loudest part of the setup. Ahh well, they're picking her up tomorrow.


Am really rolling a set of dice here aren't I? If worst comes to worst I can take up gaming on headphones.

Yea... its a dice roll. When I asked over on the nvidia sub, people pretty much said I was wasting my time and "coil whine is just a thing now"... I guess in my case they where right :/

It sux, as the coil-whine aside, I love the FE cards. They look fantastic. They cool very well. The RGB is just right.

I was always after a Suprim X... as those apparently have less whine... but the cost of them is just silly.

 

[Metalface Mark]

What where the ones you tried? How was performance between them all?
I dont think I have the will-power to source that many different 3090s to find a unicorn without whine... Esp given the insane cost of AIB models...

Yea... its a dice roll. When I asked over on the nvidia sub, people pretty much said I was wasting my time and "coil whine is just a thing now"... I guess in my case they where right :/

It sux, as the coil-whine aside, I love the FE cards. They look fantastic. They cool very well. The RGB is just right.

I was always after a Suprim X... as those apparently have less whine... but the cost of them is just silly.

2 3090FE , 1 x GameRock OC 3090, Zotak Trinity, Suprim X (i still have the last 2) I think ive possibly forgot about another one i had Actually the Suprim doesnt really have coil whine either but its in my garage so i cant hear it anyway.

 

[philo-sofa]

Update: @xPETEZx @Metalface Mark @Purgatory @exhashdotdot - got the replacement card today and it's a huge improvement! Most games the coil whine is unnoticeable, for the worst offender (RDR2) I can hear it but it doesn't put me off the game as the sound is maybe 4/10 of what it was.

Plus memory temps are lower (I think you mentioned this Pete) down to 80-86 from the low hundreds the last card had in game. It can also manage this without pushing the fans past 50%, which means it's also a much, much quieter card (no screaming second fan). Even when I set the thing to mine in downtime it pushes 105 MH/s without mem temps going beyond 96 or the fans being audible.

In short thank you guys so much for sharing your experiences; they gave me the up-and-go to try the 3090 FE lottery again and this one seems to be a definite keeper

 

[rumple9]

Nvidia increases prices of FE cards by 6%
https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-...force-rtx-30-founders-edition-cards-in-europe

 

[uscool]

Yes just preparing us for the 40 series price increase

 

[Trig]

Still the same price on the Nvidia website

 

[.Lethal]

Still the same price on the Nvidia website

Hasn't come into affect ...yet.

 

[Falkentyne]

Welcome to 3090 FE models... they all do that and some much worse than yours, we had some at work that would sound like a hive of bees in the room and then some that sounded like high piched scraping a chalkboard. Thats why we returned some and sold the rest that we tried to fix with new pads and hot glue on the chokes but made no difference.

Some start out loud and get a bit better and some just got louder and some well decided not enough noise so started to have fans that would make noises too from the bearing or rubbing against the cooler.. We had over 22 of them and all gone now because they drove us crazy even after we exchanged some of them, they would come back with new issues, if it whined before now the fan rattles and screams or fan rattle we got a whining card. We returned the ones we could for AIB blower cards or 3 fan AIBS in the end to save our sanity in the office.. Imagine 2 x 3090 in each machine doing that as all our workstations are 2 x 3090 in NVLINK or RTX Titan cards in NVLINK. The RTX Titans when we got them we never had this issue with them.

3080 FE and 3080Ti have it too.. It's some sort of design issue or the cards really hate high FPS, it's a lottery with them, that's why I stayed well clear when I got my own 2 x 3090s for my workstation at home, mine don't make any of them noises and you have to put your ear right up to them to hear electrical sounds but the 3090 FE still is the best looking 3090 . Not sure why the FE cards are worst for it as I have a 3060ti FE and that dosn't coil whine, something with the GA102 chips power design and clearly something now up with the 3090Ti too as they told AIBs to stop production till they fix some issues with the cards.. guessing power related..

https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/r...-bios-and-hardware-snags-and-thats-fine-by-us

Hive of bees in a room Scary.
Reminds me of Silent Hill 3....

 

[malachi]

Yes just preparing us for the 40 series price increase

That's the way I see it.

Nvidia said its due to exchange rate fluctuation but it automatically gives Nvidia the way to overprice the 4000 series.

Still the same price on the Nvidia website

Until they get stock again.

 

[shamus21]

Still the increase is small compared to 100 /200% mark up on AIB`s

 

[xPETEZx]

Update: @xPETEZx @Metalface Mark @Purgatory @exhashdotdot - got the replacement card today and it's a huge improvement! Most games the coil whine is unnoticeable, for the worst offender (RDR2) I can hear it but it doesn't put me off the game as the sound is maybe 4/10 of what it was.

Plus memory temps are lower (I think you mentioned this Pete) down to 80-86 from the low hundreds the last card had in game. It can also manage this without pushing the fans past 50%, which means it's also a much, much quieter card (no screaming second fan). Even when I set the thing to mine in downtime it pushes 105 MH/s without mem temps going beyond 96 or the fans being audible.

In short thank you guys so much for sharing your experiences; they gave me the up-and-go to try the 3090 FE lottery again and this one seems to be a definite keeper

Result!

Glad yours is so much improved.

I am wondering wehter to spin the wheel again... as mine is only *slightly* better...
And I am having an issue where fan-stop barely ever kicks in... I thought it was software... but not so sure. Plan to confirm by testing on a clean install of Windows 11.

 

[g67575]

I hope there's a drop this week. Has there ever been a gap of more than 3 weeks between drops?

Also, considering the performance of the rtx 3080 TI is only around 10% better than the rtx 3080, I think the price on this card is pretty whack.

So, 10% performance improvement, plus more VRAM, for a 61% increase in price!

Seems like that card will lose value quickly, by the end of the year, with 5nm cards likely to be released.

So, the idea of FE cards being reasonable value is really only true for the RTX 3080 and below.

 

[alec]

Nvidia increases prices of FE cards by 6%

AIB vendors were saying it from day 1, that it is impossible to build cards at FE MSRP prices. And that was before shortages and demand made all prices and availability go *******.

 

[Gavster]

Nvidia increases prices of FE cards by 6%
https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-...force-rtx-30-founders-edition-cards-in-europe

This is only for cards sold in the EU, apparently it's to do the the value of the € against the $.

 

[bigmike20vt]

So, the idea of FE cards being reasonable value is really only true for the RTX 3080 and below.

its all relative, i mean sure, £1050 or £1400 is a horrendous amount of coin, but they are *better* value than the 3rd party equivalents.... hell some vanilla 3rd party 3080s cost the same as the 3080tiFE, and i dont care how good the cooling is or how pretty the lights are, there is no plain 3080 which i would choose to own over a 3080tiFE.

but i totally agree the 3080FE and below are far far better value.