Question Question about temperatures - Palit RTX 3080 12GB GamingPro

[DroP90]

I recently bought a Palit RTX 3080 12GB GamingPro and I have some questions about temperatures

1. I couldn't find any review of this card (12GB version) so I guess I need to compare with the 3080 Ti variant, since they are same chip? Palit 3080 Ti GamingPro seems to be a hot card, averaging 51º idle and reaching 78º at full load (per TPU review).

2. My card at full load reaches high 70's temperatures, but after a under-volt it stabilized at 68~72º, default fan settings.

3. Idle temperatures are bothering me, they stay at 40's if my PC is completely idle, but when I use it for web browsing and other low intensity stuff, idle temperatures shoot up to ~55º and sometimes reaches 60º, when I can hear the fans turning on and they bring temps to 40º before turning off, then the cycle repeats.

1st question: This is common to happen? My last card was a Gigabyte Gaming OC 6700 XT and idle temperatures stayed at 40~45 depending on my room temps, with AC on it never went above 40, while this Palit card goes up even with 22º climatized room temp.

2nd question: Would be ideal to make a custom fan curve and let fans working non-stop? At 30% they are barely audible but I kinda like the idea of them not working all the time, this is designed so they last longer and bring less dust into the heat sink, right?

 

[Karadjgne]

Idle temps are representative of ambient temp. It's impossible to cool something by mechanical means to a temp lower than the ambient temp. Most mistake ambient to mean room temp, and for some things it is, but for Any heatsink or heat exchange used as exhaust, ambient temp is the temp of the air Inside the case.

There's 2 major and several minor heatsources inside a case. The cpu and gpu. If their exhaust is not removed from the case sufficiently, it collects and makes the case air hotter.

Right now, even with a 22°C room ambient, you have a low 40's°C case ambient, a Delta of 20ish°C. That's lousy airflow in the case. Even a mediocre airflow case will average 8-12°C and the best airflow cases average closer to 2-6°C. And you are at 20°C.

Fix your case airflow issue and idle temps will come down, load peaks may come down, depending on the load, saturation point and heatsink airflow.

Your gpu is set for fanless/eco mode. The gpu fans shut off to conserve energy and promote fan longetivity (according to the advertising) and at @ 60-65°C they kick in and operate according to the preset fan curve. Which is usually pretty steep at that temp, so the fans spin high for a bit, then shut down.

There should either be a physical switch on the gpu or a software activated switch that returns the gpu to standard mode, which will spin the fans normally, which has a side affect of keeping the gpu cooler at idle, prevents the sudden on/off ramp up.

Eco/fanless mode is essentially a gimmick for most ppl, only those who have extended idle periods will have any benefit. The hardest and most amount of wear on a motor is at startup, so like a diesel motor, it's often better to just let the fans run and stay lubricated. Constant in/off isn't promoting longetivity in the slightest. A constant 600-1000rpm for an hour doesn't use any less power or more power than a fan that's kicking in at 1200-2000rpm and staying there for 5-10 seconds, on a 5-10 second cycle. Twice the speed at half the time is the same thing.

Personally, I dislike gpu fanless/eco mode, I'm not a fan of the ramp up.

 

[DroP90]

Idle temps are representative of ambient temp. It's impossible to cool something by mechanical means to a temp lower than the ambient temp. Most mistake ambient to mean room temp, and for some things it is, but for Any heatsink or heat exchange used as exhaust, ambient temp is the temp of the air Inside the case.

There's 2 major and several minor heatsources inside a case. The cpu and gpu. If their exhaust is not removed from the case sufficiently, it collects and makes the case air hotter.

Right now, even with a 22°C room ambient, you have a low 40's°C case ambient, a Delta of 20ish°C. That's lousy airflow in the case. Even a mediocre airflow case will average 8-12°C and the best airflow cases average closer to 2-6°C. And you are at 20°C.

Fix your case airflow issue and idle temps will come down, load peaks may come down, depending on the load, saturation point and heatsink airflow.

Your gpu is set for fanless/eco mode. The gpu fans shut off to conserve energy and promote fan longetivity (according to the advertising) and at @ 60-65°C they kick in and operate according to the preset fan curve. Which is usually pretty steep at that temp, so the fans spin high for a bit, then shut down.

There should either be a physical switch on the gpu or a software activated switch that returns the gpu to standard mode, which will spin the fans normally, which has a side affect of keeping the gpu cooler at idle, prevents the sudden on/off ramp up.

Eco/fanless mode is essentially a gimmick for most ppl, only those who have extended idle periods will have any benefit. The hardest and most amount of wear on a motor is at startup, so like a diesel motor, it's often better to just let the fans run and stay lubricated. Constant in/off isn't promoting longetivity in the slightest. A constant 600-1000rpm for an hour doesn't use any less power or more power than a fan that's kicking in at 1200-2000rpm and staying there for 5-10 seconds, on a 5-10 second cycle. Twice the speed at half the time is the same thing.

Personally, I dislike gpu fanless/eco mode, I'm not a fan of the ramp up.

I really don't think is about my case temps, airflow is good with 3 intake and 3 exhaust fans, also my case has mesh front.

All other temperatures (MB, processor, SSDs) are normal, the same it was before I changed the GPU.

My older GPU would sit at ~40º idle and only got higher on really hot days when my room temperature got high, never seen went above 50º tho.

This TPU review from the same chip (3080 Ti) on the same cooling project shows that the card is hot even at idle, so I think it's really the card, not my case airflow.

The only thing that is bothering is the fact that sometimes it will get to 60º, this is too hot. But anyways, I guess I will have to live with it.

 

[Karadjgne]

Turn off the fanless mode. It'll help as even at idle there's some active cooling, whereas with fanless mode it defaults to passive cooling until the due reaches @ 60-65°C.

 

[DroP90]

Turn off the fanless mode. It'll help as even at idle there's some active cooling, whereas with fanless mode it defaults to passive cooling until the due reaches @ 60-65°C.

Yes, my card activate the cooler when reaches 60º, staying at 30% capacity until it cools the card to 40º, turning off again.

If I'd maintain it on at 30% all the time, this would short the cooler life span? Other problem I see is more dust getting into the heat sink.

 

[Karadjgne]

Nope. Won't affect lifespan of the fans, nor put more dust in the heatsink. The constant start/stop of the fans does just as much wear on the motor as letting it run, and default won't be 30%, but lower.

You don't have to worry about dust accumulation, you should be doing regular maintenance anyway, even if just for the cpu cooler, so blowing out dust from the gpu is no different. You'll still be blowing out any dust.

I vac the dust out of my rads every 3-4 months and have Zero dust filters in the case. I'd vac them out every 3-4 months even if I did have dust filters in place.

 

[DroP90]

Nope. Won't affect lifespan of the fans, nor put more dust in the heatsink. The constant start/stop of the fans does just as much wear on the motor as letting it run, and default won't be 30%, but lower.

You don't have to worry about dust accumulation, you should be doing regular maintenance anyway, even if just for the cpu cooler, so blowing out dust from the gpu is no different. You'll still be blowing out any dust.

I vac the dust out of my rads every 3-4 months and have Zero dust filters in the case. I'd vac them out every 3-4 months even if I did have dust filters in place.

I think I'll give it a try, at least they are very quiet at low usage.

Thanks for your assistance!