Question Buzzing sound coming from 1660 Ti

[Ixron]

I attempted to record the sound in this video:

GIGABYTE GTX 1660 Ti Mini ITX OC - coil whine / strange sound? - YouTube

Edit: video of a different GPU making a very similar noise: weird GPU noise - YouTube

After running for a few minutes playing a demanding game (in this case, playing RDR2, but it happened with Death Stranding as well), the GPU will start making this sound. Most audible between 0:01 and 0:04, as well as 0:17, despite the cooler above running at 100%.

There are no performance issues whatsoever; the game was running at 60 FPS. I've only ever seen a black artifact once while watching Netflix.

Is it just a dust issue, or it could be something else entirely? Perhaps the PSU, which I've been told is horrible?

Edit: it also doesn't appear to be related to fan speeds, as I've tried changing them with MSI Afterburner to no avail. The GPU has to be under load for the sound to occur.

System Configuration:

• Operating System: Windows 11 (clean installation)
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600, no overclock, PBO set to Auto
• CPU Cooler: Arctic Freezer 34 eSports Duo
• GPU: GIGABYTE GTX 1660 Ti Mini ITX OC
• Motherboard: MSI B450 GAMING PLUS MAX with E7B86AMS.H50 (11/07/2019) BIOS
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 MHz (2x8), XMP enabled
• PSU: Corsair VS650 (2018) 650 W
• Monitor: BenQ GL2450
• Case: Thermaltake V200 Tempered Glass (modded for proper airflow - front panel removed, mesh filter installed)
• Fans:
  • Front intake: 3x120mm Arctic P12 PWM PST CO
  • Rear exhaust: 1x120mm Thermaltake stock
• Power plan: Ryzen Balanced

 

[LinuxDevice]

I don't see an audio file URL, but coil whine is common among this type of power supply which basically pulses power across a magnetic coil winding. I can't say for certain, but likely there is nothing wrong (although it would be annoying).

 

[Ixron]

I don't see an audio file URL, but coil whine is common among this type of power supply which basically pulses power across a magnetic coil winding. I can't say for certain, but likely there is nothing wrong (although it would be annoying).

It's in this video: GIGABYTE GTX 1660 Ti Mini ITX OC - coil whine / strange sound? - YouTube

Wasn't sure how else I could upload it here

 

[LinuxDevice]

It is hard to say for sure since the fans make so much noise, but I suspect it is just VRM circuits under load. One would normally think of a transformer for changing voltages of a sine wave, but one can also use a single coil winding and pulse voltage across it, then extract a new voltage at another tap/winding point in that coil. This is a switching mode power supply where it pulses current across a coil instead of using a pure sine wave. The pulse characteristics allow some adjustment of voltage by a regulator. The coil is not so different from a speaker's coil and can sometimes be heard. A typical switching mode supply will actually have several coils with pulses at different timing across all coils, and then combine their final output for a smoother and better regulated output. Mixing two or more coils with the pulsing introduces harmonics, and can make this even easier to hear (it isn't unlike two fans close in rotation speed right next to each other having an effect on the noise which is in addition to what any individual fan noise would create).

If it turns out that a coil or capacitor is breaking down, then yes, this is imminent hardware failure, but the whine itself would have to start getting much louder over time to imply there is any kind of failure approaching. You can't really say without "wait and find out", but some whine is expected on either (A) cheaper products which don't glue down or isolate coils, or on (B) higher power circuits which pulse higher currents (and thus are expected to have more coil noise from the stronger current pulse).