Question Cannot pinpoint the source of the coil whine

Nov 12, 2022
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I built my PC a year and a half ago and recently, coil whine started happening. And I am 100% sure the noise comes from the motherboard since the sound intensifies when I listen from the top of the case/near the cpu compared to near the psu or gpu.
I don't think that the motherboard alone could produce this type of sound. The problem may be coming from the psu as it probably delivers bad power to the motherboard, but I'm not 100% sure
mobo : msi b450 gaming plus max
psu : be quiet system power 9 700w
gpu : xfx 308 rx 6600xt
cpu : ryzen 5 3600
 
Hey there,

It sounds like the coil whine might be coming from the motherboard VRMs. This is not uncommon. And whilst really annoying, in general terms it's not considered dangerous, and nor does it impact performance.

Coil whine typically comes from 3 components. GPU/PSU/Mobo. To get rid of it, you may have to consider swapping out components until you find the culprit.

Maybe a local repair store, and get them to swap out one of the 3 (prob GPU/PSU first as that's easiest) Just rule them out one by one.
 
Why do you suspect the PSU?

Don't rule out the GPU just because you hear sounds from the top. The GPU VRM coils are arrayed along the board and the board can act like a speaker cone when one or more are vibrating, sending sound waves right directly to the top of the case.

GPU coil whine can start simply by updating GPU drivers since they may change GPU duty cycle and therefore affect operating points of the boards VRM circuits. The same can be said of motherboard CPU VRM. There's not much you can do about the GPU besides changing it's overclock settings if you have any...or add some if you haven't. Again, the idea is to simply change the operating point a little bit by slight changes.

If it's the motherboard you might try slight changes to PBO settings or VCore voltage. Again, just change the operating point slightly. Some motherboards have FET switch frequency settings you could alter.

In the end, it seems to be a product of modern power efficiency modes that electronics operate with. They're shutting down CPU's and GPU's periodically and that can introduce power/current fluctuations in VRM coils that generate whine.
 
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Nov 12, 2022
2
1
15
Why do you suspect the PSU?

Don't rule out the GPU just because you hear sounds from the top. The GPU VRM coils are arrayed along the board and the board can act like a speaker cone when one or more are vibrating, sending sound waves right directly to the top of the case.

GPU coil whine can start simply by updating GPU drivers since they may change operating points of the boards VRM circuits. The same can be said of motherboard CPU VRM. There's not much you can do about the GPU besides changing it's overclock settings if you have any...or add some if you haven't. Again, the idea is to simply change the operating point a little bit.

If it's the motherboard you might try slight changes to PBO settings or VCore voltage. Again, just change the operating point slightly. Some motherboards have FET switch frequency settings you could alter.

In the end, it seems to be a product of modern power efficiency modes that electronics operate at. They're shutting down CPU's and GPU's periodically and that seems to introduce power/current fluctuations in VRM coils that generate whine.
In terms of GPU drivers, i have had the 22.7.1 AMD driver for a while and no coil whine happened until recently.

in my research i also saw that the noise happens when gaming a high frame rates especially in demanding games (does not happen in 3D applications like solidworks or in less demanding games even at 144fps). I usually play at above 60 fps for most of my games and when i set the fps limit to 60fps in the demanding games the noise stopped. I don't know if it's a clue or not
 
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....

in my research i also saw that the noise happens when gaming a high frame rates especially in demanding games ...
....
That definitely points to GPU. I'd lower frame rates if playing triple-A games. Unless playing eSports it's really unnecessary.

It might even be recent Windows updates that have brought changes. I've noticed coil whine has increased on my son's 5700XT and my 6800XT systems too. There's been a concerted effort to tweak things to reduce everyone's power consumption whenever they can and that can make for whiny coils. Think of it as the sound of reducing global warming and it might not be so bothersome.
 
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