cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Strix RTX 3090 Fan vibration issues

morph_
Level 11
Multiple people on various forums from where I frequent have reported fan vibrations on the Strix shroud more specifically the left fan on load... I have one on order and am nervous about it now since its more than one person having the exact same issue... Seems to be easily reproduced and can be mistaken for coil whine.... here is a video demonstrating it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cUDftttNuw&ab_channel=%ED%99%A9%EC%88%9C

Some of the quotes:
"When play the game , fan start to spin with high RPM. The noise sounds like coil whine , so I thought it was coil whine and ignore the sounds. Last night the noise got worse so check the card , and the sounds came from the LED cover. When I press the LED cover noise disappear. So it seems the fan may contact the LED cover on high RPM. For me it happen when card is under load so fan start spin. Around 70% of fan speed is makes the noise. I found the left fan makes the sound for me(to find out I have stop the fan with my finger)."


"I noticed the same issue on my 3090 Strix OC last night too.

I can replicate it 100% of the time by just turning up the fan speed with the card at idle. It seems loudest for me at about 65% and the middle fan seems to cause it more.

Pushing on the lightbar doesn't make it go away completely but does decrease the sound significantly. Unlike in your video it decreases the vibration sound when I push on the lightbar on the right hand side (power plug end) of the lightbar about a third of the way along. Pushing where you did does nothing for me.
In all other respects the card works fine it's just a ****ty design/QC."
346 Views
205 REPLIES 205

It's actually quite disappointing about how silent ASUS has been about this issue. This is literally one of the most expensive variants of the Ampere line and yet the support given is abysmal. I will definitely think twice about purchasing ASUS moving forward.

cerbie80 wrote:
@blake any updates please?

At this kind of premium product I would expect a more involved response. Appreciate the acknowledgement of the issue, but we need an official solution that does not involve DIY solutions and pushing combustible materials near heat/electrical sources as suggested by fellow members who are trying to find a solution in lieu of a response.

Thanks in advance.



The official solution will be when eventually they reply to us about having to send the cards back in for the service and they will most likely replace the full shroud. What scares me about that is that will they even other to test the new one, or just get same PCB back with a new shroud which hopefully does not have the issue.

On a more positive note, I don't recall any of the newer cards (since a month or so) having issues (i've look on the net for issues), so hopefully the issue has been resolved and was down to bad first few batches.

But yes, the silence is appalling, we all want silence, on the card, not about the issue 😉

Whats sad is that some of us (myself included) had to spend more to buy more sag holders/brackets to at least get rid of some of it, so compensation would be great too, also sad I have to reduce the power limit and don't let the card boost as high so it does not reach the temps that cause the buzzing 😞

curthard89 wrote:
The official solution will be when eventually they reply to us about having to send the cards back in for the service and they will most likely replace the full shroud. What scares me about that is that will they even other to test the new one, or just get same PCB back with a new shroud which hopefully does not have the issue.

On a more positive note, I don't recall any of the newer cards (since a month or so) having issues (i've look on the net for issues), so hopefully the issue has been resolved and was down to bad first few batches.

But yes, the silence is appalling, we all want silence, on the card, not about the issue 😉

Whats sad is that some of us (myself included) had to spend more to buy more sag holders/brackets to at least get rid of some of it, so compensation would be great too, also sad I have to reduce the power limit and don't let the card boost as high so it does not reach the temps that cause the buzzing 😞


To be honest I would personally really much prefer not to have to send my card in for a shroud refit - I am happy to do this myself and it is quite straightforward. Also sending my card in would leave me without a graphics card for (most likely) weeks which would represent an unacceptable loss of productivity to me.

If fitting a shroud ourselves in not an option, an advanced replacement would be fine in that regard. I could not do that with a retailer and there is an ongoing issue with availability but for over £1700 worth of card from a partner retailer (not scalpers) I do expect the company to stand behind their product. One way or another we need a definitive answer soon. Depending on your individual location/country you may have different customer protection laws, so time could be of the essence.

I like Asus as a vendor that builds good quality hardware and I like my card, noise aside. I am trying to be patient but I need an indication that this is taken seriously and we, as customers, will be taken care of and so far there is little in the way of any reassurances.

Also I wonder what the legal complications would be if certain people in their attempt to silence their cards end up pushing combustibles into what amounts to be a 500W heat source and god forbid this leads to a fire and property damage or worse. Pretty sure that won't be a good PR day for anyone.

cerbie80 wrote:
To be honest I would personally really much prefer not to have to send my card in for a shroud refit - I am happy to do this myself and it is quite straightforward. Also sending my card in would leave me without a graphics card for (most likely) weeks which would represent an unacceptable loss of productivity to me.

If fitting a shroud ourselves in not an option, an advanced replacement would be fine in that regard. I could not do that with a retailer and there is an ongoing issue with availability but for over £1700 worth of card from a partner retailer (not scalpers) I do expect the company to stand behind their product. One way or another we need a definitive answer soon. Depending on your individual location/country you may have different customer protection laws, so time could be of the essence.

I like Asus as a vendor that builds good quality hardware and I like my card, noise aside. I am trying to be patient but I need an indication that this is taken seriously and we, as customers, will be taken care of and so far there is little in the way of any reassurances.

Also I wonder what the legal complications would be if certain people in their attempt to silence their cards end up pushing combustibles into what amounts to be a 500W heat source and god forbid this leads to a fire and property damage or worse. Pretty sure that won't be a good PR day for anyone.


I asked Blake on a DM, he confirmed the cards will have to be sent back, as like you, I am happy at just replacing it myself, I would be happy to open my card up to see what the issue is, but don't want to void the warranty on it, so waiting for Asus to sort them.

If you are like me and from the UK, UK law states the manufacture has to completely at no cost to me sort the issue out, consumer law states for uptown 6 years for the products life if it's faulty.

So under absolutely no circumstance must a cost be incurred to me, that includes postage and labour.*

curthard89 wrote:
I asked Blake on a DM, he confirmed the cards will have to be sent back, as like you, I am happy at just replacing it myself, I would be happy to open my card up to see what the issue is, but don't want to void the warranty on it, so waiting for Asus to sort them.

If you are like me and from the UK, UK law states the manufacture has to completely at no cost to me sort the issue out, consumer law states for uptown 6 years for the products life if it's faulty.

So under absolutely no circumstance must a cost be incurred to me, that includes postage and labour.*


JFYI doing such a simple task yourself should not be an issue - my understanding is that ASUS is happy to and confirmed that they will honour warranty in cases where customers choose to watercool their cards (which is more involved than simply removing the shroud, as it includes cooler removal, repasting, etc) as long as in the event of a fault/return the client can reinstall the original shroud. Obviously the warranty would not cover any damage a client potentially did to the PCB, but if you have not caused any damage and dealing with any kind of manufacturing defect, your rights/warranty are not affected.

Also, I appreciate there may not be postage/labour costs incurred, but what about the inconvenience of not having a graphics card for god knows how many weeks? With the current hardware shortages it may become impossible to find anything else remotely relevant in stock if you need anywhere near that spec for work for example. I would also say that buying a graphics card to be able to use your machine while your ~2k card is being repaired is a bit of a problem too.

hi_am_muza wrote:
Reposting my fix from the 3080 thread.


This works for me! Now the noise is gone. Ty!

pk1209
Level 8
I'm honestly shocked that people are putting something as flammable as paper towel directly onto something that is designed to get to 80 degrees and beyond! Surely a bit of silicone or even some folded up electrical tape would make more sense and have the same affect?

I just got a Strix 3090 Christmas week (purchased from newegg with next day air shipping). I had already been researching the card and had found this thread so I was eager to get my card in and test it. Its now been just shy of 2 weeks in my system, and I have tested the card extensively, stress tested it, overclocked it, and put some heavy use on it. I have had NO fan noise issue, no vibration as mentioned in this thread, or like I have seen in several videos. The card does have some fairly strong coil whine however, that could almost mimic the sound of a vibrating fan to someone who isnt familiar with these issues, but is 100% coil whine noise.

I wanted to post however because I noticed something with my card that MAY be a fix for this issue already being implemented - but I need some response here to know for sure. I noticed when I took the card out of the packaging that my fan shroud is very loose. Like I can grip it on either side and physically slide it around. It is not super stiff like every other video card I have owned in the past. The movement is only in the shroud itself - the fans themselves do not move with the shroud, and the heatsink is rock solid, its just the plastic shell, and it appears very deliberately designed this way. The range of movement isnt a ton, but its enough that I immediately noticed it when I picked it up. It appears from all I can tell however that it was designed this way. It has enough play in it however that with my vga support bracket on the end of the card, it pushes the shroud up on that end, and almost makes the card look slightly crooked in the socket, as if Im pushing up too hard on the card, but its just because of the slight play in the shroud makes it appear that way.. again Im not talking about massive range of movement here but at least a couple millimeters of play. I want to know if anyone can verify how solid your shroud feels on your strix 3090? Is it super sturdy and rigid or does it have a little play in it?

I have tried pressing and moving the shroud as the card is running full tilt and I cant make it produce any fan vibration noise. My card seems to not have this issue at all. Hopefully it doesn't develop it, but I've put hours and hours of stress testing on it so far, with fans running between 70-95% the whole time. I have of course forced other fan speeds under load to look for the issue, and its simply not present in my 2 week old card.

EDIT: also just to add for those who may be curious - my card had plastics to remove EVERYWHERE. Lightbar, front face plate, backplate, and may have even been on the fan motors but I dont recall 100% if it was on the fans. I add this because many mentioned not having plastics to peel off.

KMagic wrote:
I just got a Strix 3090 Christmas week (purchased from newegg with next day air shipping). I had already been researching the card and had found this thread so I was eager to get my card in and test it. Its now been just shy of 2 weeks in my system, and I have tested the card extensively, stress tested it, overclocked it, and put some heavy use on it. I have had NO fan noise issue, no vibration as mentioned in this thread, or like I have seen in several videos. The card does have some fairly strong coil whine however, that could almost mimic the sound of a vibrating fan to someone who isnt familiar with these issues, but is 100% coil whine noise.

I wanted to post however because I noticed something with my card that MAY be a fix for this issue already being implemented - but I need some response here to know for sure. I noticed when I took the card out of the packaging that my fan shroud is very loose. Like I can grip it on either side and physically slide it around. It is not super stiff like every other video card I have owned in the past. The movement is only in the shroud itself - the fans themselves do not move with the shroud, and the heatsink is rock solid, its just the plastic shell, and it appears very deliberately designed this way. The range of movement isnt a ton, but its enough that I immediately noticed it when I picked it up. It appears from all I can tell however that it was designed this way. It has enough play in it however that with my vga support bracket on the end of the card, it pushes the shroud up on that end, and almost makes the card look slightly crooked in the socket, as if Im pushing up too hard on the card, but its just because of the slight play in the shroud makes it appear that way.. again Im not talking about massive range of movement here but at least a couple millimeters of play. I want to know if anyone can verify how solid your shroud feels on your strix 3090? Is it super sturdy and rigid or does it have a little play in it?

I have tried pressing and moving the shroud as the card is running full tilt and I cant make it produce any fan vibration noise. My card seems to not have this issue at all. Hopefully it doesn't develop it, but I've put hours and hours of stress testing on it so far, with fans running between 70-95% the whole time. I have of course forced other fan speeds under load to look for the issue, and its simply not present in my 2 week old card.

EDIT: also just to add for those who may be curious - my card had plastics to remove EVERYWHERE. Lightbar, front face plate, backplate, and may have even been on the fan motors but I dont recall 100% if it was on the fans. I add this because many mentioned not having plastics to peel off.

I can confirm your findings. At first I didn't think anything of it, but now since you've mentioned, there is a slight shroud movement as if it's not tight enough.

I also got my card at Newegg and the whole card incl. the centre of the fans had plastic protective film. Unfortunately my card has fairly loud vibration sound regardless of vertical or horizontal placement.

I have 35 days left to return the card to Newegg for full refund or replacement. I don't want to end up without card so for now I'm still keeping it, but if I won't be able to get another strix 3090 from Newegg within 35 days as the stock isn't there I will return my current Strix and probably move to different AIB I don't want to end up with faulty card design since ASUS seem to ignored that and we, effected customers have been put on the back burner

BTw. This is my first Asus card and from the looks of it, it might be my last.

Megascrypt wrote:
I can confirm your findings. At first I didn't think anything of it, but now since you've mentioned, there is a slight shroud movement as if it's not tight enough.

I also got my card at Newegg and the whole card incl. the centre of the fans had plastic protective film. Unfortunately my card has fairly loud vibration sound regardless of vertical or horizontal placement.

I have 35 days left to return the card to Newegg for full refund or replacement. I don't want to end up without card so for now I'm still keeping it, but if I won't be able to get another strix 3090 from Newegg within 35 days as the stock isn't there I will return my current Strix and probably move to different AIB I don't want to end up with faulty card design since ASUS seem to ignored that and we, effected customers have been put on the back burner

BTw. This is my first Asus card and from the looks of it, it might be my last.



It is definitely a design flaw. After putting some shim to lift fans a bit away from the heatsink, vibration noise is gone. I am holding a bit with RMA with newegg as the coil whine for my unit is minimal. Trying to get another one before I sent this one back.