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Gigabyte RTX 2080 Ti Windforce sounds like dishwasher

I have spent several days and a silly bit of $ reconfiguring my chassis. Unfortunately MSI Afterburner with 10C hysteresis is the only serious solution.

- I have tested with all the sides off of the case.
- I have tested with one monitor or two.
- I have tested at different ambient temperatures.
- I have removed my CPU Kraken 61 cooler from the front and replaced it with a Noctua DH-15 for better air flow. The Noctua isn't as nice and consistent for noise, though; it jumps up under load.
- I have installed three intake fans and one exit fan.
- I have not tried installing a separate pair of fans in a casing inserted below the GPU into a PCI slot because I've thrown enough money at this problem.

The extra fans and the DH-15 resulted at first in a noisier solution than just running the card with Afterburner at 33%. Using CPU Step Up in the BIOS settings helps to ensure that the CPU fans don't jump all over the place. I had to run at low speeds and eventually remove the side and bottom intakes in the end to prevent weird fan noise from harmonic resonance caused by the hexagonal gaps in the casing. I know that sounds strange - one fix is supposedly to space the fan a little from the filter, but I don't have the parts for that right now.

With added fan curves and CPU step up, it is quieter than my Kraken by quite a bit and 5+ degrees cooler under load. That much is pleasant, but all of this did not solve the GPU problem.

Unfortunately the GPU still wants to heat up to 50+ unless I have it or other fans on high. The problem does not appear to be not case air flow, but that the card is incapable of idling below 50 degrees. i.e. the 3D Active Fan feature for idle/light load silent running is either false advertising or my product isn't working as intended.

There appear to be one or more of several problems:

- An overheating problem on the Gigabyte video card which should be idling somewhere cooler than the 3D Active Fan cut off. This may only be replicable on cards of similar build quality.
- 3D Active Fan no longer does what it says it does, even though it used to on my 980 TI.
- BIOS firmware has fan curve that tries to power the fan at speeds below what it requires to actually function, resulting in the pulsing behavior. This should be replicable on all other cards with the same firmware unless there's some other fault.
- A lack of a significant enough hysteresis setting in the BIOS.

The latter two are the only sensible way so far to fix this, so until Gigabyte fixes their firmware to match the hardware, third party software really is the least hassle. I sent in a GPU-Z log file of the event: Gigabyte customer support claim the log file didn't show it happening. Not to be too rude, but I fear for the hardware when employees don't know how to scroll down a text file. :rolleyes:

Using MSI Afterburner with a 10 degree hysteresis setting means that the fan kicks off only once every thirty minutes or so, and runs continuously for a bit instead of pulsing. This renders it unnoticeable enough that I wouldn't have picked up on it to begin with, and should really be written into the GPU's BIOS to avoid customer complaints.
 
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Scribblette said:
The latter two are the only sensible way so far to fix this, so until Gigabyte fixes their firmware to match the hardware, third party software really is the least hassle. I sent in a GPU-Z log file of the event: Gigabyte customer support claim the log file didn't show it happening. Not to be too rude, but I fear for the hardware when employees don't know how to scroll down a text file. :rolleyes:.
Click to expand...

Front line support for these companies really sucks. Most of them are just following a check sheet and don't give a damn. If you get through to the support person that actually knows what they are talking about and is willing to help things go so much easier.
 
Further reading especially on the Gigabyte forums shows this is wide spread across several product lines (2080TI, 2080, 2070, apparently even the 1080TI from one thread) and has been known about for several weeks, if not longer. Their eSupport simply recommends disabling 3d active fan (which if you exit locks fan speed and you then risk tripping thermal limits) so the whole 3D Active Fan now falls under rather obviously false advertising. I've sent in a report on this to the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) to see what their evaluation is, and meanwhile am continuing to try and chase up an exchange for a different brand with the seller.
 
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Scribblette said:
Further reading especially on the Gigabyte forums shows this is wide spread across several product lines (2080TI, 2080, 2070, apparently even the 1080TI from one thread) and has been known about for several weeks, if not longer. Their eSupport simply recommends disabling 3d active fan (which if you exit locks fan speed and you then risk tripping thermal limits) so the whole 3D Active Fan now falls under rather obviously false advertising. I've sent in a report on this to the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) to see what their evaluation is, and meanwhile am continuing to try and chase up an exchange for a different brand with the seller.
Click to expand...

There is a Gigabyte rep on this forums, might be worth chasing him up. He seems like a pretty helpful guy.
 
He mentioned he'd pass it on up but I don't know if that means we'd get a solution. It looks like it has been an issue with previous fan generations as well (I don't know why I never noticed it on my Gigabyte 980TI, maybe the fan is just quieter there).

Paging @GIGA-Man - what are the chances this is honestly going to get resolved? There are quite a few of us out here with a sour taste in our mouths at the moment. My retailer has offered me a refund and at the moment judging by eSupport's lack of understanding, I have little reason left to not go in and take it. Well, besides the fact I'd then have no video card at all unless my wife is willing to let me steal parts from hers, so there's that teensy weensy hurdle.
 
Hello all,

I went over all the online and media threads I could find, reported it to my HQ asking them to create a new firmware / BIOS. They have told me they are now going to work on a BIOS update to ramp up the fans more slowly. I hope it will not take too long for them to do this. That should stop the pulsing fan noise and keep the fans at lower rpm's. However if the card is under full load the fans are still going to run at full speed but I have asked them to check what maximum RPM is needed under full load to keep the card at an optimum temp.

Once I know more I will let you all know.
 
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Oh, wow. Good on you. I'll hold off the refund but I've got eyes like a Tarsier on you now.

I have no indications of any troubles at maximum load; the fan could probably run a little faster while gaming and not bother me since I'm typically wearing headphones and the other fans have already kicked in then.

However, my observations indicate the fan is already attempting to ramp up the fans slowly, around 5 to 12%. For some reason the fan can't actually run properly below ~35% and pulses to 1100 RPM instead, only serving to shave off a degree and then we're back to doing it a minute later.

If the built in curve jumped straight to 40% and actually 'held' for a minute or so, temperatures would drop enough for it to stay off for the next thirty minutes, at least in my case. That's infrequent enough that I wouldn't have a problem with it or notice it.
 
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I have just mailed the HQ team again pushing for the new BIOS update and explained you are holding off on returning the card. I will make sure to keep chasing them for you all....Tarsier eyes!? That's one freaky looking primate, that's a mental image I could have done without :-)
 
Re the Tarsier image: Haha! Intentional! Now if no fix arrives you'll dream of all us customers staring at you, just like so. @_@

I have the Gaming OC model myself, but it looks like the fan setup and shroud is identical between them.
 
There's been no word from Gigabyte on their forums, but there have been interesting discussions made by others with the same problem. http://forum.gigabyte.us/post/25434/thread

For now I have had to refunded my Gigabyte 2080 TI Gaming OC card; the retailer wouldn't have accepted it any later. I've gone back to my Gigabyte 980 TI which is able to cool down without requiring fans, is quieter and cooler under load and also doesn't interfere with my sound system. I'm torn; on the one hand, my 980 TI was fantastic. On the other hand, the 2080 TI has demonstrated how Gigabyte's low level customer support will respond: denial.

Unlike Gigabyte, who claimed they had no reference for what idle temps should be, EVGA responded promptly and specifically to my emails, stating that they expected idle temperatures of 30-35 degrees with the fans off (depending on ambient case temp).

For now I'm waiting for stock to show up in Australia. EVGA is likely to be my go-to in future, unless Gigabyte turns around, acknowledges their 'active fan' issue and takes public measures to correct it in the future. And I really have to remember to stop pre-ordering deluxe editions (boo, weak BF-V cosmetics) and cutting edge hardware; have to wait for the user tests to really show what things are like!
 
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