Ask GN 50: Fixing EVGA Hybrid Pump Whine, Why Pascal is Volt Limited

This episode of Ask GN, now that we’re back on a bit of a roll (see: Episode 49), features a shorter list of questions with more detailed answers. We don’t plan to always run them like this, but some of the questions – like the one about Hybrid liquid cooler pump whine – have been common enough to deserve detail.

It’s more of an FAQ this week, in that way. We’re starting off with a discussion on how to fix pump whine on EVGA Hybrid GPU coolers, then talking Pascal voltage & power limitations, then laptops for deployment in extreme environments. We later talk liquid vs. air cooling on GPUs.

Episode here:

Timestamps:

1:21 - André Zabuscha: “My EVGA Hybrid Kit has horrible coil whine noise, it is the same used for GN Hybrids :(“

5:52 - Mikah Mitchell: “Ask GN: Why were power limits put on the Pascal architecture specifically? It seems that the 1080 series is amazing, but the only thing holding it back in overclocking is the voltage limitations. As a bonus, how would you speculate the overclocks to be if there were no limits? How much of a difference would it really make?”

11:53 - ssgsmith51: “question: so long story short I deploy early next year with the US Army. I want to get a gaming labtop so when I have some down time I can forget I am in a hot and sandy place by playing games and watching movies. my question is what should I be looking for in a gaming labtop that would be durable and cool enough that I can use it over in the desert without sand or heat destroying it? this encompasses not only build quality but also how it cools and how much heat it produces. thanks steve!”

16:50 - Notwist: “@Steve Burke a follow up question for ask GN regarding air vs water cooling: what makes a 120mm CLC more effective than a heatsink/fan combo at cooling something? Considering high end GPU heatsinks seem to have more nickel plated copper compared to the aluminum-finned radiators uses in standard CLCs, wouldn't it stand to reason that the heatsinks would be better overall at dispersing heat? It seems the primary use for CLCs is redirecting the heat, but unless you're using a mini itx where ambient temps might be an issue, it doesn't seem like it would matter. Additionally, the FTW3 or similar cards have 3x 100mm fans vs. the one fan on a 120mm radiator (2 fans if you setup push/pull), which should also allow for quieter operation by running the fans at a low RPM. Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm curious about this. Thanks again Steve!”

22:27 - Bocete: “#askgn-questions How do you cope with Senior AMD Analyst Snowflake around the office? Don't things go missing all the time?(edited)”

Editorial & Host: Steve Burke
Video Producer: Andrew Coleman