Hi all! My wife has a pre-built Asus computer with an RTX 3060 that has been working smoothly for a few years. However, recently I've noticed that it's gotten really loud, and I'm not sure why. I checked to make sure all the drivers are updated, used DDU to uninstall and reinstall the graphics drivers, cleaned out the GPU, and it's still loud at idle. The temperatures are around 30°C, and the fans are operating at about 40%. When I booted into safe mode, it was quiet, but it got loud again when I returned to Windows. I even manually spun the fans and they seem smooth and quiet. Any ideas on what might be causing this or how I can resolve it?
4 Answers
Have you looked at the fan curve settings? Sometimes adjusting it up a few degrees can help, especially if the thermal paste is getting old and drying out.
Could be some background processes running that are not disabled in regular mode. Check the Task Manager; sometimes, there are apps that cause the GPU to ramp up.
It might be time to repaste the GPU; just like with the CPU, the thermal paste can age and cause issues with cooling.
But wouldn’t that show up as higher temperatures in general?
I heard sometimes the free Copilot app can cause performance issues, but lucky for you, it seems your wife's computer doesn’t have it installed!
I'm not great at setting curves. I left it on default until I tried adjusting it today, but even when I forced the fans to 30%, it didn't get much quieter.