Loud 3060. Change out or mod?

[EmilN]

I made the stupid decision a couple of years ago to buy a pre-built acer desktop, due to a sale that gave me good hardware for a smaller price. Since then i've upgraded everything except my CPU and GPU. I am running a i5-12400F and a 3060 GPU. Problem with the GPU is that it's from the pre-built. It has one singular fan with a small diameter, and probably other specs causing it to perform badly. 

The biggest problem i have with the card is the loudness of the fan. You notice it at idle, and when in a game that's more demanding than runescape, it sounds like a gaming laptop. It disturbs me and especially my girlfriend, when she's gaming at the desk next to me. I know it's not the case fans making sounds, since i upgraded my girlfriends computer with the excact same case, and a louder CPU-fan than mine. Her computer also running a 3060, but a dual-fan OC version from a different seller, is almost complete silence.

 

My question is; do anyone have any tips and possibilities to mod the card, changing out the fan? If not, any tips on a new GPU that wouldn't break my bank, being a solid upgrade from what i have? Should i get something now or wait half a year due to the unstable GPU-market at the moment?

 

Love any advice i can get.

 

Picture of case:

 

Edit:

I have little to none documentation or information on the Acer OEM RTX 3060 card. I have found one youtube channel doing a teardown of one.

 

[FireLegend]

Just now, EmilN said:

I made the stupid decision a couple of years ago to buy a pre-built acer desktop, due to a sale that gave me good hardware for a smaller price. Since then i've upgraded everything except my CPU and GPU. I am running a i5-12400F and a 3060 GPU. Problem with the GPU is that it's from the pre-built. It has one singular fan with a small diameter, and probably other specs causing it to perform badly. 

The biggest problem i have with the card is the loudness of the fan. You notice it at idle, and when in a game that's more demanding than runescape, it sounds like a gaming laptop. It disturbs me and especially my girlfriend, when she's gaming at the desk next to me. I know it's not the case fans making sounds, since i upgraded my girlfriends computer with the excact same case, and a louder CPU-fan than mine. Her computer also running a 3060, but a dual-fan OC version from a different seller, is almost complete silence.

 

My question is; do anyone have any tips and possibilities to mod the card, changing out the fan? If not, any tips on a new GPU that wouldn't break my bank, being a solid upgrade from what i have? Should i get something now or wait half a year due to the unstable GPU-market at the moment?

 

Love any advice i can get.

Temporary could be bringing down the temperatures so changing thermal paste and pads wouldn't hurt but would void warranty and changing out the fan is also another good idea! Depending on where you buy the fan is difficult but again changing them out are as easy as changing the paste and pads based on my experience. 

[EmilN]

2 minutes ago, FireLegend said:

Temporary could be bringing down the temperatures so changing thermal paste and pads wouldn't hurt but would void warranty and changing out the fan is also another good idea! Depending on where you buy the fan is difficult but again changing them out are as easy as changing the paste and pads based on my experience. 

Thank you for good advice. If i'm not mistaken the warranty is running out soon or already has. My worry has been the fan shroud and the way the card is built for one singular fan. Would love to change out the fan and thermal pads, if i can find some sort of advice on that particular area. 

[Thomas53]

Can you take the computer off the desk to get it further away from your ears as noise level is logarithmic and the further away from your ears it gets much quieter. If not, try moving the computer to the opposite side of the desk, so the fan noise is aiming away from your ears.

 

Also, can you lower the speed fan?

 

I realize that neither of these are a great solution, but, its not going to cost you anything but a couple of minutes of trial and error and it's free to at least try.

 

One other thing, clean the fan and oil the bearings.

[TatamiMatt]

15 minutes ago, EmilN said:

Thank you for good advice. If i'm not mistaken the warranty is running out soon or already has. My worry has been the fan shroud and the way the card is built for one singular fan. Would love to change out the fan and thermal pads, if i can find some sort of advice on that particular area. 

Its the design of the card being a blower fan, whch are a lot smaller fans and work differently than normal

 

[EmilN]

1 minute ago, TatamiMatt said:

Its the design of the card being a blower fan, whch are a lot smaller fans and work differently than normal

 

Thank you for the info!

[EmilN]

3 minutes ago, Thomas53 said:

Can you take the computer off the desk to get it further away from your ears as noise level is logarithmic and the further away from your ears it gets much quieter. If not, try moving the computer to the opposite side of the desk, so the fan noise is aiming away from your ears.

 

Also, can you lower the speed fan?

 

I realize that neither of these are a great solution, but, its not going to cost you anything but a couple of minutes of trial and error and it's free to at least try.

 

One other thing, clean the fan and oil the bearings.

The computer is on hardwood floor (so no dusty carpets) under the desk. Tried different ways of putting it, but still a good temporary solution until i get a new one. I have already tweaked the curve of the fan speed, but i don't want to over-do it and overheat the card. I can go through and oil the bearings of the fan though. Haven't done that!

[leclod]

I've had a 3060 with only one fan and it was fine.

The guy I sold it to also said it was quieter than he expected.

(Oh ! it wasn't a blower fan though)

I think one cooler can cool a 3060 quite quietly.

But you need to undervolt the card, same perf but less heat. I had mine at 1920MHz/0.850V for reference and it's easy to do.

(you could even underclock slightly if you really needed to)

Also you need to tune/check the fan curve.

Use MSI Afterburner for those.

Also it'd be good to check the heatsink for dust. Maybe a can of pressured air with a straw can do that without needing disassembly.

Edited April 18 by leclod

[Poinkachu]

8 minutes ago, EmilN said:

The computer is on hardwood floor (so no dusty carpets) under the desk. Tried different ways of putting it, but still a good temporary solution until i get a new one. I have already tweaked the curve of the fan speed, but i don't want to over-do it and overheat the card. I can go through and oil the bearings of the fan though. Haven't done that!

Can I have a pic of the pc case ?

[EmilN]

4 minutes ago, leclod said:

I've had a 3060 with only one fan and it was fine.

The guy I sold it too also said it was quieter than he thought.

(Oh ! it wasn't a blower fan though)

So I think one cooler can cool a 3060 quite quietly.

But you need to undervolt the card, same perf but less heat. I had mine at 1920MHz/0.850V for reference and it's easy to do.

Also you need to tune/check the fan curve.

Use MSI Afterburner for those.

Also it'd be good to check the heatsink for dust. Maybe a can of pressured air can do that without needing disassembly.

I'll look into that!

[EmilN]

6 minutes ago, Poinkachu said:

Can I have a pic of the pc case ?

It's added to the original post.

[TatamiMatt]

11 minutes ago, EmilN said:

It's added to the original post.

Do you have all the front fan slots populated? Blower fans work much better with a constant flow of fresh cool air

[EmilN]

21 minutes ago, TatamiMatt said:

Do you have all the front fan slots populated? Blower fans work much better with a constant flow of fresh cool air

no, i have one singular 92mm fan.

[TatamiMatt]

1 minute ago, EmilN said:

no, i have one singular 92mm fan.

Definitely fill the front slots with as many fans as there are slots, and the bigger the better, 120mm or so. Constant stream of fresh cool air will keep the GPU cooler which means it can turn down the fan speed

[Salted Spinach]

These all help:

• Clean the card's heatsink and fan
• Grease the GPU fan
• Replace thermal compound on the GPU
• Undervolt the GPU so less heat and the fan don't have to work so hard
• Modify the fan curve so that it only works as hard as it needs to (it might have been going full turbo when temps are not very high)
• Have every case fan except the one at the rear, be an intake fan. This forces positive pressure in inside and makes the job of the GPU fan easier
• Strap sound and vibration dampening material on the card and inside walls of the case
• Reposition the case to be as far away as possible
• Reposition the case to a more well ventilated part of the room
• Reposition the case to be in the coldest spot of the room
• Re-orient the case so that you face a side that is less noisy
• If the sound is being reflected off the wall or some surface, cover it with sound dampening material
• Get some closed headphones

 

Edit: Because your girlfriend is also gaming in the same room, there might be heat accumulation raising ambient temperature over time. This can cause the fans to work harder. Look for ways to ventilate the room so that it is more comfortable for the 4 heat generating bodies inside (2 humans and 2 gaming PC)

 

Remember to also clean the case fan filters. This helps to ensure positive pressure inside the case

[EmilN]

1 minute ago, Salted Spinach said:

These all help:

• Clean the card's heatsink and fan
• Grease the GPU fan
• Replace thermal compound on the GPU
• Undervolt the GPU so less heat and the fan don't have to work so hard
• Modify the fan curve so that it only works as hard as it needs to (it might have been going full turbo when temps are not very high)
• Have every case fan except the one at the rear, be an intake fan. This forces positive pressure in inside and makes the job of the GPU fan easier
• Strap sound and vibration dampening material on the card and inside walls of the case
• Reposition the case to be as far away as possible
• Reposition the case to a more well ventilated part of the room
• Reposition the case to be in the coldest spot of the room
• Re-orient the case so that you face a side that is less noisy
• If the sound is being reflected off the wall or some surface, cover it with sound dampening material
• Get some closed headphones

thank you!

[jaslion]

Is this their blower or a different version? If blower fan mods are NOT possible

[leclod]

1 hour ago, Salted Spinach said:

• Grease the GPU fan

There's no such thing.

 

 

[Salted Spinach]

24 minutes ago, leclod said:

There's no such thing.

I meant lubricant for the bearings. I admit I should not have said grease because its too thick and not meant for the mentioned application.

[leclod]

1 hour ago, Salted Spinach said:

I meant lubricant for the bearings. I admit I should not have said grease because its too thick and not meant for the mentioned application.

Same,

Ok, Im not used to blower fans but still, I doubt you can re-lubricate that/those bearing(s).

[EmilN]

5 hours ago, Salted Spinach said:

I meant lubricant for the bearings. I admit I should not have said grease because its too thick and not meant for the mentioned application.

Also read it as lubricant, but thanks for the info

[EmilN]

7 hours ago, jaslion said:

Is this their blower or a different version? If blower fan mods are NOT possible

It's their blower. I also figured it would be hard/impossible to change on the blower design  thanks anyways!

[EmilN]

Based on the info i've gotten i've decided i'm gonna just live with it and find a new GPU. Making a new thread asking for some advice on that side. Thanks for the support  

[Mark Kaine]

8 hours ago, jaslion said:

Is this their blower or a different version? If blower fan mods are NOT possible

Something like this won't work?

 

https://www.raijintek.com/en/products_detail.php?ProductID=180

 

 

(You'd need one that's compatible with RTX 3060 obviously)

[jaslion]

15 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

Something like this won't work?

 

https://www.raijintek.com/en/products_detail.php?ProductID=180

 

 

(You'd need one that's compatible with RTX 3060 obviously)

Far as I can tell the blower oem 3060 is like super non standard so basically no chance.

 

1 hour ago, EmilN said:

It's their blower. I also figured it would be hard/impossible to change on the blower design  thanks anyways!

Yeah basically no chance. Even when doing a 3d printed ducting thingy it's not gonna help much and often the fan won't have enough pressure. A gpu change would do the trick the 3060 still holds decent value atm even a blower