Deshrouding a EVGA XC3 3080 - Advice Please

[Brackle]

For sure. I get similar results with my 3080 when cranked to the max with ~350w dumped into the radiator (needs mo powah). I set the fan speed at 50% under load, with temp ~65c, and the noise seems noticeably less than the stock fans. Interesting idea to swap out the fans, but for my setup I don't think I'd gain much. I'm a big fan of AIOs in general. Easy to use and nice performance.

If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.

ed- I just ran precision and it updated the bios to 94.02.26.40.CC. Apparently there's a hybrid bios. I'm confused by the whole thing. Apparently the power limit was increased to 400w, but I'm not seeing that. It's still maxed at 350.

Curious did you update the bios using precision?

 

[exlink]

For sure. I get similar results with my 3080 when cranked to the max with ~350w dumped into the radiator (needs mo powah). I set the fan speed at 50% under load, with temp ~65c, and the noise seems noticeably less than the stock fans. Interesting idea to swap out the fans, but for my setup I don't think I'd gain much. I'm a big fan of AIOs in general. Easy to use and nice performance.

If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.

ed- I just ran precision and it updated the bios to 94.02.26.40.CC. Apparently there's a hybrid bios. I'm confused by the whole thing. Apparently the power limit was increased to 400w, but I'm not seeing that. It's still maxed at 350.

Where did you read that it was increased to 400W? EVGA reps confirmed they won’t be increasing power limits on XC3 cards due to “hardware limitations”. Which is probably BS as they’re most likely not increasing it due to product segmentation.

 

[Sh0ckwaveFlash]

Ok I have taken off all the screws and therefore are 4 connections on the GPU (1 for each fan and 1 attached to the case).

1) Will disconnecting all of these cause a problem?

2) Am I better attaching the 2 Noctua fans to the gpu or motherboard?

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Can you measure the length of the card without the shroud, for me? Would be incredibly useful, thanks!

 

[SilverSliver]

Why would you get an AIB with better fans just to rip off the shroud and do some sort of ghetto fan setup? If you are absolutely trying to squeeze every ounce of performance, or limit the noise of the cards, just pull off the air cooler and put on a waterblock.

 

[Furious_Styles]

I finally got to printing my shroud, and tried it on the card. It does fit on my card pretty good, the boltholes line up (some variation due to printing tolerances) and the fans fit with the noctua rubber anti-vibration mounts.


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Right now I'm using NF-S12A-FLX on there, which are not optimal. I have ordered a pair of NF-A12x25 PWM for more static pressure. Right now my clock speeds and temps under load are about the same as with the standard fans, maybe just a litte bit worse, but much less noise (Standard fans run at 2000RPM on full load with my custom low noise fan profile. These noctuas cool the card just as well with just 1200 RPM, so they are much quieter).
Idle temps dropped a lot (~45 °C ⇾ ~30 °C), since I can run the Noctua fans on 600 RPM all the time without noticing.

I control the fan speeds with a free software "Fan Control" from within windows.


So for anyone wondering: It does fit and work! The overall height of the mod should be a bit less than what kill8r showed since the original shroud is a waved and the fans won't fit flush to the mounting tabs. Unfortunately I had to loosen and remount the whole cooler since the connector for the RGB EVGA-nameplate on the shroud plugs in under a heatpipe, and you can't really disconnect it without loosening the whole cooler. I used the opportunity to change the thermal paste. The original paste is pretty dry and hard, maybe some idle temp changes come from changing the paste.

If you wanted this to look good you should have gone with the chromax black noctuas. God knows you went the extra mile with sleeved fan cables, lol.

 

[magoo]

Yikes, this is alot of messing around to replace three fans with two.

What have you all got against a waterblock?

 

[Dan_D]

Why would you get an AIB with better fans just to rip off the shroud and do some sort of ghetto fan setup? If you are absolutely trying to squeeze every ounce of performance, or limit the noise of the cards, just pull off the air cooler and put on a waterblock.

Well said. This ghetto shit makes no sense to me.

 

[Rizen]

Don't want the constant pump noise

I have twin D5 pumps and even at 70% pump speed I cannot hear them over my fans, which spin at 1000rpm. Good pumps are basically noiseless. I think you are going down the wrong avenue here if you want quiet.

You can certainly choose to do whatever you want with your own hardware, but I think you might have some misinformation about watercooling.