I have a Nvidia RTX 3090 on my main workstation, and while it’s a great card for many types of uses, including LLM and image models outside of gaming, my model from Zotac has poor quality fans. Push the GPU a little too much and this is like a plane is taking off in your room. Turbojet sound? No, I would like to do without, please.

I was considering different options, and through my search I discovered that someone on Etsy makes custom shrouds for a number of GPUs, to make it possible to attach big ass fans to replace the existing ones. We are talking about 120 mm fans, similar to what you get on the Framework Desktop.

The shroud is just a few pieces of plastic with some screw holes - that match exactly the position of the screws on your GPU’s heatsink model, and allow for two 120mm fans to be fixed and stabilized effortlessly.

I gave it a go. This is a description of what the steps look like. And the results, too, at the end.

What you will need

Of course, a GPU that is causing you headaches. If you GPU is quiet, you can close this tab and go back to you regular activities. My GPU model is the Zotac RTX 3090 Trinity. A good GPU all things considered, plagued by cheap fans that are not just good enough for the heat they have to dissipate.

Now, you can look at shroud designs to match your GPU - I choose mine from Osserva but there are other options out there, and printing your own shroud is also a thing.

Then you will need 2, 120mm fans. This is not an ad, but if you really want to know what I went for: Noctua Chromax NF-A12x25 PWN.

They are kind of expensive, but there are also pricier options out there. I was getting so annoyed with the sound that the perspective of getting some quietness much more desirable than saving a few bucks.

Installation Process

Let’s go step by step. You start with the GPU as is.

First, you need to remove the screws holding the fan attachment. In my GPU there are 6 screws on the front, just behind the fans. After than, you can easily remove the attachment.

The attachment is removed, but it’s still connected to the GPU. I had then to remove the fan connectors (there were 2) from the side of the GPU. They came off fairly easily once you applied some pressure on each of their side.

There is one more RGB connector cable, that requires full removal of the heatsink as it’s not super easily reachable. TO do that you need to remove another 6 screws from the backplate. The heatsink can now gently be taken away, and you can then easily remove the RGB cable. It’s not needed anyway for normal operation. Once this is done your GPU is pretty much naked, with a clearly visible Nvidia chip. I removed the prior thermal paste.

Of course, before putting the heatsink back, repasting the GPU is a must for good cooling. I went for the X shape but pretty much any shape works.

Once the paste is on, you can put back the heatsink, and screw the backplate to it to ensure it is firmly pressing against the chip.

Now it’s time to install the shroud, using the screws of the original fan attachment, at the exact same position.

Now we are ready to install the first fan on one side of the shroud. Do not be surprised by the size, it’s huge, as expected.

Now we can add the second fan, and also attach all the cables to power and control the fans. The kit I received has a single connector that splits into two, so that the fan speed is applied the saw way to both fans.

Since the cables can get fairly messy, the kit I received has a cable cover to keep them tidy, all together. As you can see it looks great once you do that.

And we are done and now the GPU can be installed back into the PC!

Now let’s look at the results.

Temperature Control with the new Fans

To set up a proper temperature control, I use Cooler-Control (as a flatpak) which is a great piece of software to control how your fans should be triggered and what kind of fan curves they should follow.

As a quick example, let’s generate an image using the Qwen Edit model with a 8 steps LORA - here we will be turning one image into a Ghibli style image. On this video you will see at the bottom two windows, one is CoolerControl, with the information regarding how the fan reacts to the temperature rise. On the bottom right hand side is the nvtop tool showing that our GPU is being used at 100%, so it’s certainly being used at full capacity.

Typically this kind of workflow used to reach 70 C in no time with the previous fans, while they were roaring to reach 2000 to 3000 RPMs. Here the fans are at less than full speed, and manage to keep the temperate at about 50 C, and the best thing of all… is total silence. I could not even hear the fans starting to spin. I could probably find out if they did if I put my hear on the PC case, but otherwise it’s almost not noticeable.

I tried some demanding Steam games as well, like Expedition 33 at full details, which is a little tough on the GPU too, especially without DLSS. Same results. The GPU is pushed hard, but the fans manage to keep the temperatures at less than 55 C no matter what. Impressive.

As they say, mission accomplished.

I hope this helps some of you out there who want to use powerful GPUs AND have a good and quiet time.