Question EVGA 3060ti Making "Crunch" noise - EVGA says this is normal. Is it?

[bassoprofundo]

EVGA 3060 ti Crunching Noise - YouTube (can hear at 4s, 9s, and 13 mark)

My pc is mostly dead-silent except for this noise, which sounds like the 5.25 SCSI drive that sat next to one of my first PCs while it was actively accessing. Happens literally all day as the fans kick on & off. I can make it stop by setting a fan curve in Precision X1 that keeps the fans active 24/7, but I'm wondering if anyone else has the same card and can confirm if theirs behaves the same way with the fans left to default/auto?

EVGAs response->

"Hello Shawn,

Thank you for replying back with the recording of your graphics card. That sounds like it is the 0DB mode our cards come with, it will cause the fans to not spin until it reaches a certain temperature and then again when it reaches a lower temperature it will cause them to turn off depending on your ambient temperature, the sound you hear when they spin up is the motor engaging with the fan which causes no harm to the card. In order to remedy this you can override the 0db with Precision X1 to either be at a constant fan speed or set the card to only spin at a certain temperature so it does not keep turning on and off. If you have any further questions feel free to reach out and we would be happy to assist you further.

Regards,
EVGA"

 

[aigomorla]

Its the fan starting up but sort of stalling as its not getting enough voltage... the EVGA support is correct.
Think of it like a car engine starting over, but not fully starting... a fan requires a set voltage to run smoothly, otherwise the PWM will tick like that trying to start the fan.

Use EVGA precision and ramp the fan up to about 30% min... see if the noise persist.
If the noise Persist, it the blades hitting something.
If not, then its the PWM on the fan ticking as its trying to start the fan up, but does not have the required frequency to make the fan fully spin.

 

[bassoprofundo]

The noise goes away if I use EVGA Precision X1 to keep the fans from stopping, which I've done to prevent it from happening constantly. One thing, though, you said it "does not have the required frequency to make the fan fully spin". Is that a problem on my end, or were you saying that's just the nature of the stopping & starting and is as it should be? Thanks!

 

[aigomorla]

or were you saying that's just the nature of the stopping & starting and is as it should be?

Its the nature of the preprogramed fan curve.
Its nothing you have to worry about.
The card on idle most likely, or a very cold room will just trip the fan to start, but wont be enough to ramp it, hence why it ticks.

Again if you do not hear after its been fully tripped, its nothing to worry about, its just how PWM fans work.

 

[bassoprofundo]

Thanks! Glad to hear it's a normal thing. Just not something I've run into before, but if I can prevent it in software like this, I'm good!