Question zotac rtx 3080 trinity oc fans extremely loud

kilo24

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in borderlands 3, during gameplay and especially in the main menu, the gpu gets so loud that its actively distracting and really obnoxious:
https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/999528306967859233/1027441553465167932/IMG_1327.mov

here's the temps hwmonitor shows during the game's benchmark (sorry about the lacking picture, i was in too much of a hurry at the time for a screenshot):
https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/999528306967859233/1027442085449703434/IMG_1329.jpg

and here there are during the benchmark with fan speed set to a static 31 in afterburner:
https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/999528306967859233/1027442101648105532/IMG_1330.jpg
this didnt fix the volume of the noise, but it did reduce the frequency of it to a few seconds at a time every 20 or so seconds. it doesnt really solve the racket, though, and as you can see, it does incur an unwanted temperature penalty

ps: sorry i didnt embed the images, that was giving me an error preventing me from posting this
 

kilo24

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Jan 31, 2019
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are none of these exhaust fans? (the psu fan is facing down)
IMG_1335.jpg

IMG_1336.jpg
 
are none of these exhaust fans? (the psu fan is facing down)
IMG_1335.jpg

IMG_1336.jpg
That looks like the front fan is setup as an exhaust which you don’t want in that position. Ideally you want at least 2 front intake 120mm fans and 2 exhaust 120mm fans. The exhaust should be with one on the back of the case and one at the top. It’s key to get cool air into the case and hot air exhausted out.
 

kilo24

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that completely ideal setup isnt feasible with my exhausted budget, but how would you say id have to reposition the fans for optimal cooling using the ones i already have in there?

also: all the diagrams i can find online show the front fan blowing air to the back of the fase, which is what my front fan is doing since its spinning clockwise. would that make it intake or exhaust?
 
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kilo24

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thought i found a fix: downloaded zotac's firestorm companion software, clicked the lock icon to unlink gpu temp target and power target, kept power at 100%, and lowered temp all the way down to 65c. then i just had to go into the program's settings to make it launch on startup and stay running minimised in the background. was really quiet, hotspot temp didn't go above 87c in quake ii rtx

then it decided to start forcing itself minimised after being open for a second until i reinstalled it (related to the "minimise firestorm on windows startup" setting?). now these settings aren't working, with my fans still loud and my hotspot temps still above 100c. afterburner didn't seem to even do anything
 

COLGeek

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That looks like the front fan is setup as an exhaust which you don’t want in that position. Ideally you want at least 2 front intake 120mm fans and 2 exhaust 120mm fans. The exhaust should be with one on the back of the case and one at the top. It’s key to get cool air into the case and hot air exhausted out.
That front fan is an intake fan and is oriented correctly. Exhaust fans should be on the rear and/or top of the case to facilitate airflow.

From what I see, there are no exhaust fans.
 

kilo24

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sorry if this is a bit of a necro (ran into life stuff and had to hold off on the fan) but i put a noctua nf-p12 redux-1700 pwm as an exhaust on the back of the case right behind my cpu cooler. the fans are still getting extremely loud, both with the side panels on and off

according to hwmonitor:
gpu: 39c min | 81c
memory: 44c min | 86c
hotspot: 49.3c min | 104.5c
(maxes reached in quake 2 rtx maxed out, but it gets extremely loud in most modern/cranked up games)

maybe it's related to fan curve? (and if so, i could never figure out how to do that right in afterburner, so i'd greatly appreciate some guidance)
 

Phaaze88

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sorry if this is a bit of a necro (ran into life stuff and had to hold off on the fan) but i put a noctua nf-p12 redux-1700 pwm as an exhaust on the back of the case right behind my cpu cooler. the fans are still getting extremely loud, both with the side panels on and off

according to hwmonitor:
gpu: 39c min | 81c
memory: 44c min | 86c
hotspot: 49.3c min | 104.5c
(maxes reached in quake 2 rtx maxed out, but it gets extremely loud in most modern/cranked up games)

maybe it's related to fan curve? (and if so, i could never figure out how to do that right in afterburner, so i'd greatly appreciate some guidance)
I see in the earlier images that this card has a good bit of its side exhaust blocked off by the fan shroud.
What was Zotac thinking..? If you're going to design a cooler to exhaust at the sides, then obstruct as little of it as possible... Here, they created an airflow issue.

What happens to fan speed and those thermals if you go into Afterburner and apply an 80% power limit? [Make sure you unlink(chain link icon) power and temperature limit before doing so.]
 

kilo24

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Jan 31, 2019
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so what you need to do is figure out what fan is making the noise and address it. from what I saw your PC doesn't have an AIO so you can set fan curves in BIOS. there should be a section in your MB bios where you can address the fan curves of your entire PC (not GPU).

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoWlNIzOO0E


this should help
well this is weird. windows 11 won't detect either my razer chroma keyboard or standard logitech keyboard until i get to the sign-in screen, meaning i can't reach the bios. i remember this also kept me from getting into safe mode and only began after doing a clean reinstall a few weeks ago

What happens to fan speed and those thermals if you go into Afterburner and apply an 80% power limit? [Make sure you unlink(chain link icon) power and temperature limit before doing so.]
the temps stay exactly the same, but the fan volume goes from extremely loud to just very loud
 

Phaaze88

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the temps stay exactly the same, but the fan volume goes from extremely loud to just very loud
No change in temperatures even with the lowered power limit? Dang, you probably need to repaste the gpu core in this situation.
The gap between gpu core and hot spot is 24C, a little higher than the 10-20C usually seen.
according to hwmonitor:
gpu: 39c min | 81c
memory: 44c min | 86c
hotspot: 49.3c min | 104.5c