Been working on this for some time and it's finally done, so I thought I should share this with everyone else.
 
This guide is intended for modifying EVGA 3080 TI FTW to use Noctua fans (NF-A9x25 PWM) instead of the stock fans. This might work for all the EVGA FTW 30 series. Not sure if the screw positions for the fans are the same for the XC3 30 series.
 
Disclaimer: If you intend to follow this guide, then you will do this at your own risk. If you are not sure of what you are doing and you don’t want to accidentally loose warranty, it’s better to not do it. I will not assume responsibility for any damage of your card if you follow this guide and something happens in the process.
 
For some reasons, links do not show in the post, so please add an "https://" to access them.
 
Final result will be something like this:
"imgur.com/a/SgicS2h"
 
 
Step 1: For this you will need a few things first, before modding it:
A) 3D printed fans mounting system (3 copies). I created the 3D models using blender, and since I’m a noob at that, they might seem not polished enough, but they do the job. Link for the prints: "www.thingiverse.com/thing:5158834"
B) 92mm case fans. I used the Noctua fans (NF-A9x25 PWM)
C) (optional) if you want to connect the fans directly to the GPU fans connector, you will need the 4 pin fan connectors for the board. After a lot of research I found out the name of the connector, the specks, and where to find it. The name of the connector is “HY-4Y”, and I barely found this information about it after stumbling upon this on aliexpress: "de.aliexpress.com/item/1005001267367684.html?spm=a2g0x.12057483.detail.3.386d709b3bV6MG"
D) (optional) Second alternative for point (C) is the “Grove 4 pin conversion cable”. It’s important to note that this comes prewired, so it should be a little bit less of work. This can be found easier and it’s also on amazon: "www.amazon.com/Cables-Grove-Female-Jumper-Grove-Conversion/dp/B01CNZ9EEC/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Grove+4+pin+Conversion+Cable&qid=1638986348&sr=8-2"
 
 
Step 2(Needs A and B from step 1)
Step 2.1: When you have the fans, check that they are working properly using the motherboard, before proceeding to next steps. When you have also the 3D printed mounts, you can start disassembling/checking if everything is fitting in the proper spots. After removing the shroud and the stock fans, check to see if the prints fit the mounting system. If everything looks good you can proceed to the next step.
Step 2.2: Next step is to cut/remove the shroud of the Noctua fans which is the most painful part/thing to do, since this will also remove the warranty for the fans.
Step 2.3: Mount the prints to the radiator. Before mounting, I recommend using a paper sheet between the prints and the radiator(this will prevent accidental glue-ing the prints/fans to the radiator). After this, mount the plastic shroud.
"imgur.com/aRMusGD"

Step 2.4: This was the crucial one for me, and it took some time. You need to glue the fans to the prints and make sure the fans blades don’t touch any side of the shroud. There’s only around 1mm space between the fans blades and the shroud, so precision is required. What can be useful is a spacer, so when inserting the fans to glue them, they would be forced to be centered. Also, since I used SuperGlue, once commited/glued, there was no going back. I left the card for a day like that to make sure the glue cured up entirely.
"imgur.com/LMoioQl"

Step 2.5: Disassemble again the shroud/fans and remove the paper sheet. After this you can mount back the fans, and you can do the ‘fun’ wire management, which took me a lot of time. You can zip wire the excess of cables on the end of the GPU.
Note: an extra step that you can do here is to remove the Noctua fans cables shield rubber/braid to make it easier to do the wire management.
Step 2.6: You can directly connect the 3 fans to the AuxFan connector that is at the end side of the GPU, which is a standard case fan connector, and you can control the fans speed using EVGA Precision X1 (Fan control 4). The other option is to connect the fans to a motherboard fan header and control it using the BIOS.
Note: The Noctua fans have a max 2000 RPM, so make sure that it does not exceed that fan speed.
 
Step 3: If you go for (C or D) then you first have to check if the 4 pin male connector(HY-4Y) ordered fits the board’s female fan connector. Then, if everything looks good, you might need a soldering gun to rewire some cables.
Note 1: Power rating of the 3 fan headers of the GPU of +12V is 1A. As you look at the GPU Fan headers(Black/White/Blue), from left to right the pins are: 1. GND, 2. +12V, 3. FAN_Tech, 4. FAN_PWM.
Note 2: Check and see if you need to rewire/solder any cables. Noctua fans wires have the next setup: Black: Ground(GND), Yellow: +12V, Green: RPM Speed Signal(FAN_Tech), Blue: PWM Signal(FAN_PWM)
"imgur.com/cL7OufK"

Note 3: The Noctua fans have a MAX input power of 1,2W and a MAX input current of 0,1A so, even if you connect all 3 fans to the same GPU Fan Header, will result in a MAX 0,3A, so there should be enough headroom up to 1A. I believe the stock fans have a 0,55A rating, which is more than all 3 Noctua fans put together.
From here on, you have all the necessary info, and it’s your choice if you want to have each fan connected to a GPU fan header or all 3 connected to the same header, how you do the wire management and how long you want the wires to be.
Extra note: The Noctua fans have a max 2000 RPM, so make sure that it does not exceed that fan speed. For me it seemed that when connected to the GPU fan header, at around 66% fan speed, it got close to 2000 RPM, so I kept that percentage as my max fan speed in MSI Afterburner, and from there I adapted the fan curve accordingly.
 
A final look inside the PC case:
"imgur.com/4GaT2Gb"

 
 
edit Cool GTX fixed images

Thanks for the fix. I thought that's what I did. I used the small icon from the editor "Insert/Edit Image", and pasted the url. Maybe it's because I don't have the minimum required number of posts.

For the temps, I guess there was around a 5 degree decrease, but aniway, not realy much ... for, noise, that's a different story ... before(airplane in hose), after('almost' inaudible is you keep the fans under 45-50%)

Noctua Fans are my go to for my Radiators....have been for several years....get a bit of bashing from the RGB crowd that just "dont get those ugly brown fans"....truth is they were the best fans you could get in 2014 and they're still one of the best low RPM high static pressure fans around!!!

Thanks OP, this is pretty interesting to me, as I hate the sound of the stock fans on my 3080Ti above 65%
 
Any reason you chose the fans that you did? I see several different Noctua options and wonder what the performance differences might end up being in this application. 

Bonus: if you connect the +12v and ground to any other power supply pin, you can use higher amperage fans without damaging the video card. Splitting the signals correctly, you can connect a preposterous number of fans to one header.

cpt00
I did try to plug PWM fans on the GPU header (3060ti xc) and speed control wont work. On PC reboot fans are 100%, then modulating down. But after that , no matter the slider position in precision x1, fan will remain on the low speed.
 
Tried to put back the EVGA fan to see if the board is ok, and indeed, EVGA fan on header 1, and PMW fan on header 2, and only the EVGA was modulating.
 
fan pin-out has been rechecked many time , anyway, not much chace to screw it up, if fans are running, that means G and 12v+ are ok, then PWM is on the last pin...
 
Might be the brand, I have Sirius loop fans, 120mm, 0.2A at12v, pwm control is incompatible with evga controller.
 
I've ended up to plug them on the mobo, and my Asus mobo can modulate the fans with 'speedfan'. At the end, I have a better control with this setup, 'speedfan' is more advanced than precision x1 for fan controls. , and in bonus I got a better cable management.
 
I did not completed a extensive T° comparison, but I would say I got 4°C decrease on the same xx% speed, and a lot of noise reduction. Open case, noise was important for me.

If you are using multiple fans on one header, you have to make sure that whatever adapters you use, only one fan has tachometer feedback to the header. If more than one fan are hooked up to the same tachometer feedback, they will go crazy. You have to split the PWM signal to all fans, but only get tachometer feedback from one fan.

irocziv:
I chose this model because, as far as I know, they are the best from Noctua when it comes to static pressure. In simple terms they are made to push the air through radiators. There is the option of 15mm height fans, but they are a bit noisier and I believe the static pressure is a bit lower. They also have a bigger max fan speed, to compensate the smaller height form factor, but even so, the static pressure is a bit lower. There are other models, but for example the models with less fan blades are intended for case airflow where there is no obstruction for the air.
 
 
cpt00:
The behaviour you are saying is kind of weird. First of all on powering up the PC, if the fans go 100%, but then they go to a lower speed, then it means the PWM should work or at least that is how it feels. If the PWM would not work, then I would assume the behavior to be one of the two: 100% or 0%(no power). My guess is that Precision X1 is bugged or the setup is not set correctly. Precision X1 is known for it's unconventional/messy way it works. I don't know what to say, except to remember to select the “Fan Curve Control” checkbox. Should be blue when selected. Other than that, you can try with MSI Afterburner and see if you get better results. 

Also, what ty_ger07 said is true. All/Most fan splitters use one of the fans to track the fan speed. If you look at the splitter you will see that one of them has 4 pins, and the others have 3 pins(one missing), and that's intentional.
 
Since I don't know how the 3060 looks, I can just assume it only has two fans, and the colors would be from left to right: black and white-ish. You can try connecting to the left most connector which I would assume is the black one.
 
One other thing you could do is check the Sirius fan pin configuration. Maybe it's different that Noctua, even though I strongly doubt about that.
 
Even if you don't find what the issue is, connecting the fans to one of the motherboard fan headers is a great alternative anyway, as long as you have a way of controlling them.

thanks for the reply Zepus .
 
I did not use the fan splitter;
- 2 Sirius fans on the 2 EVGA sockets : both running @ lower speed, no modulation.
- 1 sirius on left socket and 1 EVGA fan on 2nd socket : EVGA fan modulate and Sirius wont.
 
here what I think, I should have swap the sirius fan and EVGA one to see if I have the same behaviours, but I doubt.
Assumption : PMW from sirius is not compatible with EVGA one.
 
I did try to swap the RPM and PWM cable , and hope not to burn anything (shouldn't, its signal only), and same thing no speed variation.
 
Anyway, wont look further, since its hard to hide the fan adapters and achieve a nice cable management. Having the fan power cable on the mobo is way easier to hide all the mess.
 
Found a way better software than 'fanspeed' : https://github.com/Rem0o/FanControl.Releases
Now my PC is silent !!!
 
(full spec : 12600k, z690 asusprime D4, ddr4 32gb 3600, 3060ti xc) 
 

Hey guys - I gave this mod a try and unfortunately I'm seeing worse temps on my card. I think it's because the fans stick out of the shroud therefore the flow is probably turbulent and not optimal. One of the key features for the Noctua fans is the tight tolerance between the fan blades and the housing. Once you take the fan out of the original housing and place it on the GPU you are loosing efficiency. I've also tried taking the shroud of the GPU and running it like that seeing no additional benefits even with three additional bottom case fans aiming at the card.
 
The only thing that might work better is if someone designed a fan shroud that helped with the air flow. Someone designed one for either the 3080 XC3 or the 3080ti XC3 for two 120mm fans. I would give this a go but there is an overhang from the shroud that would hit the side panel in my pc case.
 
One last thing, this did reduce the fan noise significantly! I wish EVGA would invest in quieter fans, the high pitch whine is awful.
 

 people are crazy about temps, but 95% of them don't realize that the card might not even throttle , of if it does, it will loose 0.856% of performance in a fraction of time in a game scene.
 
in a synthetic benchmark it might affect the score on turbo speed, agree, but this idea on ''you mustttt run 35°C @100% load'' are from tech youtubers, and remember , like it or hate it, those guys are ''influencors''.
 
anyway, gaining 3°C < Less noise.
 
 

Natterman

irocziv
 
How much worse are the temps? I'm mostly just worried about sound, so a degree or 2 hotter, as long as it is stable might be acceptable. 

I finished this mod on Sunday so I only have a few days on it. I usually game a few hours every night but haven't over the last couple of weeks because I'm working on a side project in Unity, so take this at your will. While what I'm doing in Unity is not graphically demanding, I'm testing out some crypto mining (going to get some shade for this). So the card has been under heavy load with the stock fans and the Noctua fans. 

On the stock fans - I run the card at 600+mem, 0-100+core, and power limit at 65%. The stock fans run at about 60% and the card temp sits at 59 C
On the Noctua fans - I run the card at 600+mem, 0-100+core, and power limit at 65%. The Noctua fans run pegged at 100% and the card temp ranges from 60-64 C
 
I've raised the power limit to 100% and the temps keep rising. Since the fans are already at 100% there isn't much that I can do with those. The only thing that will help lower temps on the card is if I run the bottom case fans at 100%, I have EK fans and they aren't the quietest at 100% so I don't like to do this.
 
I also understand that while gaming the card isn't always under heavy load but I would expect the same results. Even setting the card back to stock clocks. With the stock fans at 80% and stock clocks, my card would range from 60-70C depending on the game. I never see spikes higher than 72C.

Thanks, good to know.

Thanks for this guide, I have the FTW3 Ultra 3070 ti, im assuming this will guide will work on it so i ordered the same fan in black, also the 3d printed parts online since I dont have a printer. Going to post on this thread and reddit when im done if anyone wants to know if it works out.

austin86
This cable may help

Might not be as clean as a custom made wire on the fans but its a lot simpler. 

That is a solution but it will require some extra work. There are two issues with that cable. First one is the fact that you will still need to rewire the cables, because I believe the order is not correct(I believe they are in the opposite way). The second issue is that the gpu connector is different(has a bigger width) and will not fit. To fix the second issue you could sandpaper the connector until it fits. It's not a really clean way, but it can be done, even though you should be careful with the dust to not go into the plug holes.
 

RyanMooreTech
Welp, just did this today on my 3070 ti and it did work, however at max speed it cant satisfy a 300w load (also is really loud), any idea why im getting bad temps? Literally all I did was replace the gpu fans

It seems that more people are saying that this mod does not help as much as intended, and the final results are worse than with the original stock fans, whick is a sad thing. When I originally posted the mod, I did not compare them side by side(apple to apple) to see the results. I just went with my own desires to just make the board quieter, even if I had to peg the board by undervolting it and making a custom fan curve. In this regard, maybe I was a bit biased and made it sound better than it is, so I apologize if things did not go as expected.
 
The only thing I can do is just make some assumptions and come with some other ideas for you to try, if you feel comfortable with spending more money and time on trying other stuff that might or might not work.
I believe @Natterman mentioned something interesting that might be the issue with the current setup, and that is the shroud combined with the fans height. And so, maybe he is right and the issue comes because the 25mm fans are not working properly with the shroud, since they do go outside of the shroud for a bit. And if that is the issue, the only thing that I can think of is to try the 15mm fans. But that is another amount of money and time that you have to spend without knowing if it really helps or not. There's also the noise part, where if I'm not mistaken, the 15mm ones are a bit noisier.
And there are also a lot of other things to take into consideration like your case airflow, space between bottom of card and the next thing you have under it, fan curve, voltage curve, etc. 
The only other option is to find a custom shroud 3D print for the card. And as far as I know there is one for the XC3 card, but not for the FTW3 variant. You could try to find someone that is good at making this kind of things, leave the card to them to take measurements and make the shroud, and if you feel like you wanna be helping others share the 3D model on some platforms.
 
Side note: As I was saying a month ago, I got the Hybrid kit for the card, but that didn't solve the issue, since the pump is noisy, and the radiator fans are also not the best. I did a RMA with replacement but the difference was very small between the kits, so I kept the second kit and I gave up on trying to make this card silent. This generation of cards seem to be a pain to keep quiet. The only other option for me is a custom water cooling solution which is pretty expensive and I don't feel going that route. I actually ended up with moving the PC into a different room, and now it's quiet :D.
I personally spent way too much time tinkering with this card, and I don't intend to spend any more.