GPU fan noise

[Yorkshire19931]

I have an EVGA RTX 3060 XC, its a dual fan card, and I have noticed there is a weird noise coming from one of the fans when they kick in @ 50 degrees.

 

The noise is very quiet, my PC is in the living room and when the TV is on or the children are playing, the noise is noticeable to me sat next to the PC, but only really when I listen out for it.

 I cant really explain it, other than by saying when the fans first start spinning, there is a very slight noise that sounds like a repetitive clicking, it lasts around 1 second and the noise stops whenever they get up to any sort of RPM. Its almost like the noise is just power going to the motor to get it going in the first place or the motors shaft starting to spin. After looking on that Precision X1 software it seems to be fan 2, or the one closest to the front of the case that has the noise issue. As I'm writing this the card is at 49 degrees and the PC is silent as you'd expect.

 

I've checked all the obvious, I've had the card out, cleaned it properly, made sure there isn't anything caught in the heatsink hitting the blades and no wires are loose. After speaking to EVGA they suggested laying the card down and applying a medium pressure to the fan hub with my thumb whilst turning clockwise, presumably to ensure if the fan has come off the motor it'll click back into place again.

 

 Any help with this would be a huge help. I have this constant nagging at the back of my mind that the card will end up dead and the PC I've spent so much time and so much money on building will end up unusable until I can somehow get another good deal on a decent card.

[bmx6454]

1 minute ago, Yorkshire19931 said:

After speaking to EVGA they suggested laying the card down and applying a medium pressure to the fan hub with my thumb whilst turning clockwise, presumably to ensure if the fan has come off the motor it'll click back into place again.

did you try this?

1 minute ago, Yorkshire19931 said:

Any help with this would be a huge help. I have this constant nagging at the back of my mind that the card will end up dead and the PC I've spent so much time and so much money on building will end up unusable until I can somehow get another good deal on a decent card.

you have a 3 year warranty, unless you choose to extend it even further. still not ideal for the card to fail, but at least your covered.

[Yorkshire19931]

3 minutes ago, bmx6454 said:

did you try this?

you have a 3 year warranty, unless you choose to extend it even further. still not ideal for the card to fail, but at least your covered.

I did indeed try this, the noise is still there after doing it. 

 I know I have the warranty, they've already said I can send it to them but if I do that I'm left without a card at the worst time financially whilst I need to use my PC for trying to sort work out.

 Would you send it back for this noise? I cant see the card failing because of this but it is annoying that a card that's not old has a strange noise already. I wish I could explain better what the noise sounds like or even get a recording but its that quiet my phone wont even pick it up.

[bmx6454]

Just now, Yorkshire19931 said:

I did indeed try this, the noise is still there after doing it. 

 I know I have the warranty, they've already said I can send it to them but if I do that I'm left without a card at the worst time financially whilst I need to use my PC for trying to sort work out.

 Would you send it back for this noise? I cant see the card failing because of this but it is annoying that a card that's not old has a strange noise already. I wish I could explain better what the noise sounds like or even get a recording but its that quiet my phone wont even pick it up.

a video would probably help. if it was me, probably not. i have had 4 gpu's with noisy fans(that i can think of), only 1 failed. the card in question was like 10 years old, and the fan seized up. other 3 are still fine afaik. my old gtx 1050 ti had a noisy fan exactly like your describing, would make the noise at certain rpms, but quiet at other rpms. i ignored it, and the card is still fine to this day. if its quiet enough to ignore, i probably would, chances are good imo that it will be fine for at least a good while. if it gets noisier, might be worth weighing your options then. just my opinion though.

[Yorkshire19931]

Just now, bmx6454 said:

a video would probably help. if it was me, probably not. i have had 4 gpu's with noisy fans(that i can think of), only 1 failed. the card in question was like 10 years old, and the fan seized up. other 3 are still fine afaik. my old gtx 1050 ti had a noisy fan exactly like your describing, would make the noise at certain rpms, but quiet at other rpms. i ignored it, and the card is still fine to this day. if its quiet enough to ignore, i probably would, chances are good imo that it will be fine for at least a good while. if it gets noisier, might be worth weighing your options then. just my opinion though.

I've just tried to get a video of the noise by running a game to get the fans going and you cant hear the noise at all. Ill try again using that Precision Software tomorrow when I've got a bit more time - Ill ramp then fans all the way up from idle and see if it picks up any noise whatsoever. 

Its a huge relief to read that you wouldn't send it back for that noise, Id be more concerned if you told me to rag it out the PC instantly and never look at it again haha.

Did you ever find out what caused the noise on your 1050? 

 

I'm going to chance it, not bother sending it back and if it dies on me, Ill have to figure out what I can do then.

 Thanks for the help 

[bmx6454]

13 minutes ago, Yorkshire19931 said:

Did you ever find out what caused the noise on your 1050? 

afaik, it's just a noisy bearing. i took the whole card apart, cleaned everything, still noisy. i checked to see if the hub was getting hot from friction or anything, and it wasn't, so i just learned to ignore it. gave it to my brother in-law, now my brother in-law has learned to ignore it lol. it wasn't a scraping/screeching noise or anything, just sounded like a rattle.

[Yorkshire19931]

8 minutes ago, bmx6454 said:

afaik, it's just a noisy bearing. i took the whole card apart, cleaned everything, still noisy. i checked to see if the hub was getting hot from friction or anything, and it wasn't, so i just learned to ignore it. gave it to my brother in-law, now my brother in-law has learned to ignore it lol. it wasn't a scraping/screeching noise or anything, just sounded like a rattle.

Oh cool, good stuff. A noisy bearing I can live with as long as its not going to end itself in my case, and I'm glad to hear to Brother in law is also living with it!

 Thanks for your help, if my card breaks in a month or two I'm definitely not holding you partially responsible for telling me you'd probably not return it haha