GPU, Coil Whine, and a Quirk or Two. Is This Something to Worry Over?

[electro_neanderthal]

So, recently I got a brand new (unused, box never opened) "MSI 390x Gaming" graphics card and have been doing two things with it: Gaming, and mining when I'm not gaming. Mining takes about 2-3 GB of the memory, but maxes out the stock GPU clock (which I've left it as). It's quiet and doesn't make a fuss (though it does stabilize at around 83C with the fans at 95% according to MSI Afterburner).

Here's the thing, when I play a less intensive game like Secret World Legends on Direct X 11 or Rocket League, I get a bit of whine that's noticeable despite my loud CPU cooler (more on that in a bit).

With a more graphics intensive game like GTA V on Ultra settings and full diversity, I get coil whine that's significantly louder than my Corsair H50 120mm AIO cooler in push configuration.

(I assume that prickly, scratchy sound is coil whine)

Is this alright? I know a bit of coil whine is fine, but louder than a cheap, small room heater (my AIO is about that loud)?

Here's another odd thing, in Secret World Legends, when I sell something to an NPC, the whine goes away completely for a second. It's consistent, and happens every time I sell something to an NPC.

So, I know the coil whine is NOT connected to my core clock, and probably comes from more extensive memory use.

But what's up with the volume of the whine and a seemingly random way to silence it for a second?

My power supply is a Corsair HX750 (still another year under warranty).
My CPU is an i7-4770K (stock clock).

I may have repeated myself, I apologize, I'm tired. I'd appreciate any insight.

 

[jr9]

If it's coming from the GPU or PSU it is safe to ignore. Coil wine varies from part to part. It comes and goes. Usually the more voltage or load on the part the more coin wine you will hear. I'd try isolating where the noise comes from. Listening around the back of the PC to both the PSU and GPU vents is a good method.

 

[electro_neanderthal]

If it's coming from the GPU or PSU it is safe to ignore. Coil wine varies from part to part. It comes and goes. Usually the more voltage or load on the part the more coin wine you will hear. I'd try isolating where the noise comes from. Listening around the back of the PC to both the PSU and GPU vents is a good method.

A little hard to tell, but the whine is coming from my PSU. The whine seems to go away when my framerate drops in that game... is my PSU dying? Testing Assassins Creed Origins next since it's a more stable game. Will update once this card meets it's stable match.

 

[electro_neanderthal]

There's an echo in the case, but it's loudest from my PSU and there seems to be an audio dead zone just above the card, so I assume it's the PSU.

As an update: When the frame rate drops in the loading screen (game freezes for a second in the Assassin's Crees playable loading screens, as well as occasionally in Star citizen) the whine disappears completely.

Not sure what to think about that. Any ideas? I'll consult a professional when I can.

 

[pedrodd]

I was going to guess that your PSU was from Corsair! Welcome to the Corsair Coil Whine Club buddy! 🙁

Solution to GPU coil whine: Do NOT use a Corsair PSU.

My case:
PSUs model:
- Corsair HX620W
- Corsair RM750i

- GPUs: Zotac GTX. G1 Gigabyte GTX 970. Galax GTX 1070 Ti.

All combinations results is very loud coil whine !!

Solution to my case: EVGA 600 W. No more (loud) Coil Whine.

Good luck!