[SOLVED] GPU buzzing sound / coil whine ?

[CadenzaBrn]

Hello everyone,
I'm a little worried by my pc's (ASUS M32CD - i5-7400 - GTX 1060 3GB - 16GB RAM) health and I'd like to ask you all for advice. Thanks in advance if you think you can help me.
A few days ago, I noticed my GPU temp were really high (like 70° idle). I decided to unplug it an clean it gently with a qtip. I removed tons of dust from the fan and proceeded to put it back into place. When I started my computer, it booted and shut down immediately. I started it again and everything went fine.
But now, whenever my GPU is under load (playing 3D games like Bannerlord), I hear a distinct high pitched sound that is exacly like the one in this video :

View: https://vimeo.com/308119553

I tried to locate it in my case and I'm still not sure if it comes from the PSU or GPU but it definitely seems to be the GPU. Lowering framerate under 60FPS or enabling VSync makes the sound weaker but it's definitely here. As soon as I enter a menu, it disappears, and it comes back as soon as I'm back in the game.
I underlined the fact that at first, my computer didn't go past the BIOS step, then rebooted successfully to windows because i was thinking... maybe something changed in the BIOS settings ? Maybe it's a dumb hypothesis, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

HWMonitor gives me the following values while ingame (for my GPU) :

Voltage : between 0.810V and 1.063V ;
Temperature : between 50 and 70°c ;
Fans : between 1800RPM and 4100RPM (mostly sitting at 2000 RPM)
Clock : between 1506 and 1800 Mhz

As for my MB, all seems well except I'm not sure about the VCore value (between 1.040 and 1.096).
I wonder if it could be coil whine. Can it suddenly appear after cleaning ? Any other lead you could think of ? Do you think this sound and these values could mean my rig could be damaged or taking damage ?

Thanks in advance ! If I should give more information, i'll definitely do it.

 

[Wayfall]

Hello there!

Aaah the good old coil whine... My first time was with a GTX 970 after about a year if used, some GPU's have it from the start thou.

What usually causes coil while is when someone uncaps the framerate, for example, CSGO, and it goes into the 200's and they 60hz monitor so 140 of the frames are being thrown away. I also notice with my current GTX 1080 that with some games if I alt-tab out of saying Witcher 3 my GPU with coil whine and when I jump back it goes away.

It isn't something you can fix really as it's not classed as a fault. Some people believe it's cheap materials that make it worse. Manufacturers don't usually refund for coil whine but some consumers are lucky and get one.

My recommendations cap your framerate. I have Gsync (enables when Vsync is turned on) so I cap to 143fps using Nvidia Control Panel or Msi Afterburner. Most games goes do 120ish or I locked to 60 for some games like Bethesda and Borderlands games.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

While it can be annoying it is not dangerous. You can sometimes coat the noisy coils in silicon to fix this, but Its a lot of hassle.

 

[CadenzaBrn]

Hello!
Thanks for your answer. That's what I thought but I'm relieved if it's not dangerous.

 

[CadenzaBrn]

Hello there!

Aaah the good old coil whine... My first time was with a GTX 970 after about a year if used, some GPU's have it from the start thou.

What usually causes coil while is when someone uncaps the framerate, for example, CSGO, and it goes into the 200's and they 60hz monitor so 140 of the frames are being thrown away. I also notice with my current GTX 1080 that with some games if I alt-tab out of saying Witcher 3 my GPU with coil whine and when I jump back it goes away.

It isn't something you can fix really as it's not classed as a fault. Some people believe it's cheap materials that make it worse. Manufacturers don't usually refund for coil whine but some consumers are lucky and get one.

My recommendations cap your framerate. I have Gsync (enables when Vsync is turned on) so I cap to 143fps using Nvidia Control Panel or Msi Afterburner. Most games goes do 120ish or I locked to 60 for some games like Bethesda and Borderlands games.

Hi ! Thanks a lot for the tip.
It's reassuring to know it may not mean my hardware is damaged. Unfortunately, it happens at any FPS setting. Even 30 fps makes the same noise, though a little weaker.
Any modern-ish 3D game, actually. RDR2, The Division 2 or even city builders like Founders Fortune. The only games without any coil whine are Rimworld-level ones !

 

[Wayfall]

Hi! Thanks a lot for the tip.
It's reassuring to know it may not mean my hardware is damaged. Unfortunately, it happens in any FPS setting. Even 30 fps makes the same noise, though a little weaker.
Any modern-ish 3D game. RDR2, The Division 2 or even city builders like Founders Fortune. The only games without any coil whine are Rimworld-level ones!

Hello!

Yes, some people unluckily pull the short straw when it comes to GPU coil whine. Out of the 4 GPU I've bought in my lifetime the only bad one was an R9 270, that was one janky put together GPU, you could see all the soldering inside. My R9 270 was very whiney. My GTX 970 and 1080 have been perfect.

It's up to you, I use earphones a lot so I don't hear the noise coming from the tower really, you can try returning it or asking for repairs or buy a new GPU.

I believe it's mainly as we are squeezing so much power onto a circuit board that eventually there is going to be some kind of frequency overlap of the sound variant.

Some people think is also to do with how clean your power coming to your PSU is and it coming out of the PSU.

 

[CadenzaBrn]

Hi,
Thanks a lot for your answer. I can indeed live with it.
Maybe one last question ! I had a last minute doubt, though, about the video I sent in the original post, which was found on YT. I recorded my own PC and uploaded it to check if it's the same thing or a different symptom. Could you confirm it's indeed Coil Whine in your opinion and not something else ?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9RkhD8-Bow


No sound until 0:08 (RDR2 - menus)
Sound starts at 0:08 (RDR2 - in game - 60FPS cap)
Sound stops at 0:15 (quick Alt-Tab)
Sound stops at 0:29 (exited RDR2)

Thanks again