Question Grinding GPU fan noise

[JohnnyTubesocks]

My PC has developed a weird grinding noise with GPU fan spin ups. I originally thought it was one of the fans from the liquid cooler so I purchased some new noctua fans to swap out for the liquid cooler and installed them. Oddly enough they did make a difference but I kept hearing this grinding noise during game play for Baldur's Gate 3. It has happened on Diablo 4 as well during helltide events, and oddly enough sometimes with Destiny 2 which I have way turned down for PVP frame rates.

The noise

I did some checking around and I installed NZXT to watch my fans and temps. When this noise is happening in game the GPU fan is speeding up from around 2k RPM to 2800+ RPM. The GPU temp when running BG3 sits around 86-88 degrees C, with a near 100% GPU load. I know BG3 is a pretty resource hungry game so I've tuned down my settings quite a bit. Can you advise me on what to do next? I'm not confident I can fan swap on a GPU without breaking it, but I'm pretty confident I can take it out and clean it or lubricate the fans or do other stuff following your advice. Software like MSI afterburner? Tuning the fan speeds? I'd really like to not have to buy a new GPU right.

Thanks in advance

 

[Cyberat_88]

Those are high temps, I would look to higher CFM fans and set 100% at 65C, don't worry, you will exceed that, point is not by much. 1 of my 2 AMD cards had fans break down at ~3yrs. time, just out of warranty as always. Make sure you have good silver thermal paste and re-apply, since you're pulling the assembly off.
Do everything nice and gentle, if it doesn't pull off, look for hidden screws and holes.

 

[JohnnyTubesocks]

Those are high temps, I would look to higher CFM fans and set 100% at 65C, don't worry, you will exceed that, point is not by much. 1 of my 2 AMD cards had fans break down at ~3yrs. time, just out of warranty as always. Make sure you have good silver thermal paste and re-apply, since you're pulling the assembly off.
Do everything nice and gentle, if it doesn't pull off, look for hidden screws and holes.

Hey I have never done my own thermal paste, can you explain to me a little more what this process would entail? I just got done taking the gpu out and cleaning it with an air can and checking for damage. Thing looks fine, the action on the fans is frictionless.

 

[Cyberat_88]

Once you unscrew and unhook the case from the board, it may or may not come off with the heatsink. Heatsink may have screws onto the card itself, you want to check first, as sometimes they use the same screws to close the outer shell case. The thermal paste is optional, if the card is under 5yo. you should not have a problem, if the heatsink stays on the card or is individually mounted, you can skip it.
But for fan replacement, look for the power plugs as you open the case, take those out gently, once the fans are off, you can stow the card in a static bag, for the time being. Put in the new fans, plug them in, close the case. Not complicated but suggest you at least use surgical gloves to avoid static zapping.

 

[thestryker]

I checked 3 reviews of the Gigabyte Eagle RTX 3060 Ti and the temps topped out at low 70s. Your temperatures seem extremely high to the point where even a hot room wouldn't explain it. What case are you using and what is your cooling setup?

It could of course be something faulty with the card/cooler/thermal paste/pads.

The noise sounds like some sort of vibration sound, now whether that's because it's hitting something or it's a rotational rattle I cannot tell.

 

[JohnnyTubesocks]

Here's the specs relevant to your question. I did swap the noctua fans and I have good air conditioning in my apartment. Most of the reddit stuff on this card say they run it in the 80s temp wise (celsius of course). The sound is coming with the gpu fans spinning up. Cleaning the card does seem like it made it quieter and a geforce experience driver update came out that I installed. I tuned down the game a little and it's running smooth but the noise still happens sometimes. So three times before (once with baldur's gate and twice with Diablo 4) I think the card has straight up overheated, both monitors went black, sound was till coming through the speakers showing that both the game and the audio I was playing was still running. I reset and let the computer cool down for a while before turning it on again.

CAS: CyberPowerPC AMETHYST 240V Mid-Tower Gaming Case w/ Front & both Side Tempered Glass + 3x ARGB FANS (White Color)
CPU: Intel(R) Core™ Processor i5-12600K 6P/12 + 4E 3.70GHz [Turbo 4.9GHz] 20MB Cache LGA1700
FAN: CyberPowerPC DEEPCOOL Castle 240EX ARGB 240mm AIO Liquid CPU Cooling System w/ Copper Cold Plate (2 x Noctua 120MM Fans)
MEMORY: 32GB (8GBx4) DDR4/3600MHz Memory (Team T-Force Delta RGB)
MOTHERBOARD: MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4 ATX ARGB 2.5GbE LAN 3 PCIE X16, 1PCIE X1 6 SATA3 3X M.2
OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
POWERSUPPLY: 750 Watts - CoolerMaster MWE GOLD 750 - V2 80 PLUS GOLD Ultra Quiet Full Modular Power Supply
VIDEO: GeForce RTX™ 3060 Ti 8GB GDDR6 Video Card (Ampere)

Last week I extensively cleaned the case and every fan when I replaced the cooling fans on the liquid cooler's radiator (or heat sink, whatever you call it). And it did seem to make the whole computer run quieter and the rattling noise less frequent. But It's still happening so do you think it's the card itself? What other info do you need from me to help diagnose this?

 

[thestryker]

CAS: CyberPowerPC AMETHYST 240V Mid-Tower Gaming Case w/ Front & both Side Tempered Glass + 3x ARGB FANS (White Color)

This is likely a big problem for the internal temps as the majority of potential intake appears to be blocked.

Last week I extensively cleaned the case and every fan when I replaced the cooling fans on the liquid cooler's radiator (or heat sink, whatever you call it). And it did seem to make the whole computer run quieter and the rattling noise less frequent. But It's still happening so do you think it's the card itself? What other info do you need from me to help diagnose this?

If you cleaned it then I'd have to say it's probably the fans themselves for the GPU. I'm sure if it was hitting something you'd have likely noticed while cleaning it up. If the card is still under warranty I'd very much say RMA even though it's something you could resolve yourself with pulling it apart and replacing the fans.

 

[JohnnyTubesocks]

This is likely a big problem for the internal temps as the majority of potential intake appears to be blocked.

If you cleaned it then I'd have to say it's probably the fans themselves for the GPU. I'm sure if it was hitting something you'd have likely noticed while cleaning it up. If the card is still under warranty I'd very much say RMA even though it's something you could resolve yourself with pulling it apart and replacing the fans.

What's weird is ever since I cleaned it tonight and made some adjustments to BG3 based on the driver update I haven't heard it. I've been playing for a few hours now while consulting you. GPU temp is lower, in smaller zones its was 60 C, right now in the city it's hovering at like 77C and the GPU load is substantially lower at 50-60%. I am baffled as to this development. I have MSI afterburner on as well but I literally made no changes to the settings there.

All three stock case fans are clean and run quiet, cooler noctua fans too. Tell me your thoughts about intake, what can I do better here?

 

[thestryker]

What's weird is ever since I cleaned it tonight and made some adjustments to BG3 based on the driver update I haven't heard it. I've been playing for a few hours now while consulting you. GPU temp is lower, in smaller zones its was 60 C, right now in the city it's hovering at like 77C and the GPU load is substantially lower at 50-60%. I am baffled as to this development. I have MSI afterburner on as well but I literally made no changes to the settings there.

I'm running on the assumption that the sound is really only kicking in above a certain fan RPM. Sounds like the settings changes you made dropped usage which is directly impacting temps and in turn the fan usage. In Afterburner you can switch it to manual from curve then adjust fan speed percentage to verify the RPM/sound causation.

All three stock case fans are clean and run quiet, cooler noctua fans too. Tell me your thoughts about intake, what can I do better here?

With all of the glass panels there really isn't much you can do aside from replacing the case with something that has mesh panels. Where is the cooler installed in the case? I have a case with semi blocked off intake which worked best with the cooler mounted in the top with fans exhausting. It causes the CPU to run a bit hotter since there isn't clean intake, but it was much better for my GPU.

 

[SorryBella]

To me it sounds like a dying chirp from the fan. Does the fan look fine when its spinning or does it wobble on its own compared to other fan?

Also make sure no cables or any other solid item are hitting the fans.