[SOLVED] Every GPU i get, it has coil whine

[DeanTH23]

As the title says, every gpu i owned for the last 2-3 years had serious coil whine, meaning that i can easily hear it while the GPU is in the case...Sometimes with headphones too, depending on the game.

Today i got a new Asus-Noctua 3070 and it has it too...My previous 2070 Super had it aswell etc...All had a common thing, the PSU (RM650x)

Rest of the system:
5600X
32GB RAM Vengeance RGB Pro
500GB 970 Evo Plus, 1TB Crucial MX500
Arctic Liquid Freezer 360mm
X570 TUF, BIOS 4002
Windows 10, 21H2

Do you think i should let it be or maybe seek RMA options or replace the PSU although i never had any power issues ?
What would you do?
(V-Sync it's not an option, i hate it)

Thanks.

 

[Ralston18]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

How old is that 650 Watt PSU? History of heavy gaming use?

Are you certain that the source of the whine is the GPU(s)?

FYI:

Coil Whine

Investigate a bit further - something else may be going on.

 

[DeanTH23]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

How old is that 650 Watt PSU? History of heavy gaming use?

Are you certain that the source of the whine is the GPU(s)?

FYI:

Coil Whine

Investigate a bit further - something else may be going on.

The PSU is 3 years old, my systems are for gaming use, 1440p.
Coil whine comes from the GPUs, 100% sure about it, because it changes when a scene in a game changes.

Build specs included now on the post.

 

[Ralston18]

That 3 year old PSU could be part of the problem. Especially with a history of heavy gaming use.

Perhaps nearing its' built-in EOL (End of Life) and starting to falter and fail and unable to provide the necessary power be demanded by the GPUs. Especially at some peak demand.

Two suggestions:

1) Read the following link not with the immediate intent of purchasing a new PSU. But to simply get a sense of how much power your build requires and allow some extra wattage just to be sure.

Best Power Supplies of 2022 - Top PSUs for Gaming PCs | Tom's Hardware (tomshardware.com)

Run the calculators and do your own manual wattage total. If a component provides a wattage range then use the higher value wattage. For GPUs' I use the recommended PSU wattage value. Likely raises the wattage to more than necessary but that is not harmful per se.

2) Do you have a multi-meter and know how to use it? Or know someone who does?

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-manually-test-a-power-supply-with-a-multimeter-2626158

Not a full test because the PSU is not under load. However, any voltages out of tolerance make the PSU suspect.

 

[DeanTH23]

That 3 year old PSU could be part of the problem. Especially with a history of heavy gaming use.

Perhaps nearing its' built-in EOL (End of Life) and starting to falter and fail and unable to provide the necessary power be demanded by the GPUs. Especially at some peak demand.

Two suggestions:

1) Read the following link not with the immediate intent of purchasing a new PSU. But to simply get a sense of how much power your build requires and allow some extra wattage just to be sure.

Best Power Supplies of 2022 - Top PSUs for Gaming PCs | Tom's Hardware (tomshardware.com)

Run the calculators and do your own manual wattage total. If a component provides a wattage range then use the higher value wattage. For GPUs' I use the recommended PSU wattage value. Likely raises the wattage to more than necessary but that is not harmful per se.

2) Do you have a multi-meter and know how to use it? Or know someone who does?

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-manually-test-a-power-supply-with-a-multimeter-2626158

Not a full test because the PSU is not under load. However, any voltages out of tolerance make the PSU suspect.

650W with top notch quality is more than enough, both the 2070 super and the 3070 are hard limited to 240W, so i'm good at that.
Now about a multimeter, i will have to check and see what's all this about, never heard of it.

 

[geofelt]

I have no solution on coil whine.
But, you can reduce the impact by placing your pc box more distant from your ears.
You can do this with a remote power switch, perhaps like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Computer-LIT...cphy=9011564&hvtargid=pla-1479562963606&psc=1

 

[Cowgoesmoo2]

Yeah that's a very difficult problem to resolve. I've had the same issue with an old 7870 radeon. Is it a radeon only problem? I.. don't know honestly. But the best guess I saw was a PSU issue. or maybe a motherboard issue....?

The good thing is that coil whine is a very well documented and popular issue. So if you struggle enough with google searching (try searx.space which can beat google nowadays tbh) you may be able to at least find an explanation.

 

[InvalidError]

Coil whine comes from the GPUs, 100% sure about it, because it changes when a scene in a game changes.

That doesn't really mean anything.

Coil whine is caused by magnetostriction (basically the windings and/or ferrite core acting as a speaker) excited by variations in inductor current. The current variations can be caused by changes in load current, variations in supply voltage, marginally stable control loops, interactions between components, etc.

While the coil whine may be correlated to on-screen activity, every VRM and the PSU needs to cope with supply rail and load transients from the different computational tasks between user input and monitor output. Unless you sound it out using something like a plastic or wooden chopstick touching somewhere close to the suspected noise source, you cannot be 100% certain the sound truly comes from there. And even if it does, there is still the possibility the GPU coils are being noisy in response to something else such as the CPU's VRM causing electrical noise on the 12V supply. Some PSUs all the way up to the AX/AXi series are also known to have a hard time coping with some GPUs for whatever reason.