I see. Thank you! Does this mean that this should be considered normal and I would not have much luck trying to ask for a replacement (it would have or develop the same noise)?
 
I tried the magnet trick, it indeed eliminated most of the noise but the cooling performance is now somewhat diminished (not too much though, I'd say about 5%, maybe 10% but still better than with air cooling). I think the magnet does not alter the position of the impeller inside but slows it down (I still hear the grinding noise but with a  significantly lower RPM and less loudly obviously).

fugly16

schmak01

jsallen77
My RMA was approved and I'm waiting for the replacement kit to arrive now.
 
I do have a question about radiator orientation though. I thought the general consensus was that the tubes should be at the bottom of a vertically mounted radiator. I installed my radiator that way, but then it started making this loud noise. The noise has caused me to doubt my original installation. During the troubleshooting process of my current Hybrid cooler I received two contradictory statements from eVGA support. One said to make sure the tubes were at the bottom and the other said to have them at the top.
 
So what's the deal? Tubes up top? Or tubes at the bottom? Does it really matter?
 
 
 
 
 
 

You should watch the GN video on it.  The ideal would be the whole rad above the pump, but like you, I have to front mount it.  #2 would be tubes at the bottom.  This is because the air is always going to go to the top of the loop,  when you have the tubes at the top, it can make noise, gurgling because the air can hit the tubes.  Last is tubes at top, due to this reason.

I have my tubes at the bottom. When I first turned it on there was some gurgling, as the water and air sorted through, then stabilized.  I get zero pump noise or water noise.  If you are getting noise it may be that you have air stuck somewhere.  Powering down, pulling out the card and the rad, holding the rad above the card, and rotating it, lightly shaking can get the air to move to the top, then re-install.  I think Linus or someone else showed how to do that.  Of course, DO NOT do it while powered on. Air and water are what they are, the air will get to the top without the pump with some encouragement. 

Do you have both rads intaking?  Doesn't that really make the internal case temps hot?  I've got a 280x with two rads and I've got them both exhausting, has been much better for me.

Just saw this, and no, not at all.   I have a temp sensor at the top near the CPU pump that I control my exhaust and the top front intake fan with. 


On my normal curves, my ambient never gets above 34c. Fans all on full, 32-33, not much difference, whereas my CPU is ~5-7C colder by doing intake of cold air. 

I prefer high static pressure, keeps dust out and there are more than enough holes in the case to jettison air simply due to the pressure.   The whole "convection means you need top exhaust" is grossly overstated as an issue, there isn't enough heat from the GPU and MB to cause enough convection for that to be required. 
 
Hell even my X570 PCH never gets above 65 with 2x PCIE 4.0 NVMe Drives installed. 

Bought an XC3 card in December, just developed this issue a couple of weeks ago. I'm at the "yes, I've tried dislodging bubbles" stage of support tickets. Seems EVGA needs to source some better quality pumps on their $1600+ video cards.

I haven't read this whole thread, but I just wanted to point out the FTW3 external fan header runs as variable voltage, so with the right mini-gpu adapter fan cable you can plug the pump into that header and control it to a lower speed.  EDIT:  Then you would want to run the rad fans header straight to the fans, I think, which might require a 2nd adapter cable.
 
My 3080 FTW3 Hybrid has been fine but I needed to do the pump-cable mod on my 2080 Ti Hybrid kit, ran about 7.5v at idle and 10.5v under load, with MB system temp control.

rjbarker

kevinc313
I haven't read this whole thread, but I just wanted to point out the FTW3 external fan header runs as variable voltage, so with the right mini-gpu adapter fan cable you can plug the pump into that header and control it to a lower speed.  Only problem with that is the harness then sees reduced voltage, so you would want to run the rad fans PWM signal to an externally powered fan hub.  Not the greatest but should be a fairly clean setup.
 
My 3080 FTW3 Hybrid has been fine but I needed to do the pump-cable mod on my 2080 Ti Hybrid kit, ran about 7.5v at idle and 10.5v under load, with MB system temp control.

Very good point n potential solution....I dont own this particular Card and havent had any kind of aio or hybrid as full custom loop since around 2013....but I do cringe when I see folks suggesting putting a small magnet on or near the pump....magnets n pcb's or small electronic components on pcb's dont play nice together.

Yeah I had tried the magnet, all I managed to do was stop the pump.  The cable is like $7 and all it takes is pulling the shroud/block and some cable re-routing.

Ok, my retailer took back the XC3 Hybrid Kit with the whining noise and replaced with a brand new set. This has the exact same noise... :(
 
I guess it won't make much sense to ask for a replacement again, this seems to be a common issue, almost regarded as normal as .
 
On the new set I decided not to use the magnet trick but rewire everything to have proper DC control over the pump.
 
My v1.0 solution was to simply route the the power from a DC controllable fan header from my mobo to the pump's input. But this turned out to be not enough since the pump routes through the PWM control and RPM feedback from the video card to the water cooler fans.
 
My v2.0 solution was to route the PWM and RPM signal from the video card's black socket to the pump and route the power from the mobo to the pump. This way I had GPU controlled fans. But whenerver I dialed down the DC on the mobo, not only the pump would slow down but the fans as well (since their power was reduced as well).
 
My v3.0 solution was to route the power and RPM from the video card to the fans and route the mobo DC to the pump. This unfortunatelly did not work since the video card could not control my Arctic P12 fans directly. PWM control did not work and RPM readouts wire either zero or a wierd 810811 rpm. Interestingly the original (but rather low quality) EVGA provided fans did not have this issue, so the video card rpm control must have some unique incompatibility with the Arctic fans. This only happens when I connect the fans directly to the video card, but if I use the PWM/RPM passthru of the pump, the Arctic fans are controlled properly - so my conclusion was that to properly connect a PC fan to the GPU I have to use the standard fan connector that comes from the pump instead of directly connecting the PC fans to the GPU.
 
My v4.0 solution was to route the PWM/RPM from the card to the pump, route DC power from the mobo to the pump, use the pump provided RPM signal but the original video card DC power to the fan cables. This way I now have RPM passthru with 12V DC to the fans and mobo controlled DC to the pump.
 
I used various male and female mini molex connectors and fan connectors for interconnecting things.
 
Easy! :)
 
I am now using the card "naked" (mostly because it was easier for experimentation) without the Hybrid kit shroud and the blackplate. I attached the VRM coolers (found inside the Hybrid kit shroud) to the card with thermal pads a ziptie. I think the shroud and the blackplate does not add much to the overall cooling of the card but I am not entirely sure (and having left things open might actually help since my PC case is an open air case anyway). Question: is it ok to use the card naked this way (especially with the rear fan of the hybrid kit not installed) or it might be harmful and I should put everything together properly.
 

I'm onto my second RMA now. Probably will be the last as shipping cost makes it not worthwhile. I wouldn't discount the magnet though. I tested it and if placed in the correct location, it doesn't stop the fan but slows it down, at a minimal temperature performance loss (1-2 c). The pcb is really far from the magnet so it won't mess with anything. The cable might be a better solution, but I don't have spare headers on my mobo. However I do like the idea about using the gpu's fan headers and connecting the pump to those instead, but not sure what cable would be needed for that. 

3090 hybrid was RMA'd for the same pump buzzing noise. (Serial 2014, made in Taiwan, purchased in December)
 
Replacement will be here Thursday. :D 
 
edit: oh, also, a *strong* magnet would stop the pump... and the noise... but, of course, if your pump stops spinning, it stops cooling... 

Yeah it's great when you have tinker with your $3000 graphics card's cabling or stick refrigerator magnets to its side for it just to function properly.
 
My problem is that after reducing the pump speed the performance of the water cooling system is not that much better than the air cooling (still somewhat better) and it seems like I have to rev up the fans more to compensate for the slower circulation which is not that good for noise.
 
--
 
I am now using the second kit after the first was sent to RMA because of the noise. As I mentioned, the replacement unit is just as noisy as the one before. This is a clear and consistent pump grinding noise, not related to air bubbles. I am considering another RMA and a full refund for the second unit.
 
I think a high percentage of these units are simply defective and have sub-par quality pumps installed, which is a shame (while there are reports of quiet units which do not exhibit this problem - but this is like a lottery I don't really want to participate in).

Another bump for like others here having the issue develop after a  few months [got mine in February from the queue]. Started about a month ago I'd guess. The card is standard mounted [not vertical] and the radiator is vertically mounted, tubes on the bottom on the back/side of a Lian Li Dynamic XL. Have tried doing the same as @rickrollah mentioned above, shaking the radiator and such while it is running, the sound may stop for about 5 seconds then comes back. Have submitted for a ticket/support/RMA with a request to swap with a non-hybrid FTW3 model just to not have to worry about it anymore. I'm already worried I will end up with a LHR model this close to their launch, let alone if I have to do it again 3 months from now.

rickrollah
I have the same case as you Janus67!
That being said i installed my new hybrid replacement and temps and noise are fine.
My only issue is the gpu fan2 will not spin, and i made sure to appropriately connect the headers during install also.
I wonder if i need to flash the bios again after disconnecting and then reconnecting the fan headers.
Cant get it to spin even in X1.

My replacement the fan on the shroud wasn't spinning due to the wire being a bit stiff and sticking up. Try seeing if that's obstructing the fan at all

rickrollah

Shikhee

rickrollah
I have the same case as you Janus67!
That being said i installed my new hybrid replacement and temps and noise are fine.
My only issue is the gpu fan2 will not spin, and i made sure to appropriately connect the headers during install also.
I wonder if i need to flash the bios again after disconnecting and then reconnecting the fan headers.
Cant get it to spin even in X1.

My replacement the fan on the shroud wasn't spinning due to the wire being a bit stiff and sticking up. Try seeing if that's obstructing the fan at all

That was actually the issue! Thanks so much for the advice!

I'm seeing this issue pop up a lot now, notably on the replacement kits 

I have a 3080 hybrid and a 2070 super hybrid. They use the same pumps.
 
the 3080 pump is completely silent at 100%, the 2070 super has a hum at 100%. These pump just varies from unit to unit. If your pump is loud, either use a converter and run it to the motherboard fan control in DC mode, or use a SATA to DC fan converter with one of those voltage/noise reducers

jtj50023If your pump is loud, either use a converter and run it to the motherboard fan control in DC mode, or use a SATA to DC fan converter with one of those voltage/noise reducers

 
My motherboard has an "AIO_PUMP" header and a "W_PUMP+" header.
 
Will those work for this with an adapter? ( Asus Crosshair VI Hero )

If so, I should be able to control the pump in my BIOS.

Thanks.

Had the Hybrid kit on my 3090 XC3 Ultra for 2 days now, and the pump noise has now picked up to the point that I have to listen to music when not gaming. A real shame :( Without the pump, my PC is essentially inaudible at idle, due to very good fans, CPU AIO and case airflow etc. It's just this pump spoiling the party.
 
Rad is top mounted, so not issues there.
 
I won't RMA yet, as I suspect any replacement will just be the same. I'll investigate the cable mod I guess.