On my 3rd RMA, am desperate for help. MSI GTX 970 problem

[Xander Konrad]

Ok, so I'm on my third replacement for my MSI GTX 970. All three have had some problem with it and at this point I'm not sure if it's another component or MSI is just dropping the ball.

The first card had an intermittent display issue where the output would switch between the onboard video and the gtx 970, as well as an annoying ticking noise from the fan.

The second card had a buzzing, squealing stuttering noise coming from within the card itself. It is NOT a fan problem, since this still happens even when the fans are off. I must add that this happens only under load, this thing is dead silent when not gaming.

This third card that i got not an hour ago has the exact issue as the second, expect it's louder in the stuttering, buzzing and squealing.

I'm not too picky here, and I'm not exaggerating either, this noise is very loud and very annoying. I'm desperate for help and would really like some advice.
I called MSI and they are no help at all, he was reading off a script and said " all gtx 970's have that same issue and it is perfectly normal."

 

[KeelinTy]

The buzzing is called coil whine. its normal. My card has it too, I just play music to zone it out. If you really want to try to make the noise less intensive, turn on VSync on all of your games. Therefore it will not render unneeded frames and it will put less stress on the card and usually it will quiet the coil whine a bunch. Good Luck! Hope everything works!

 

[Xander Konrad]

The buzzing is called coil whine. its normal. My card has it too, I just play music to zone it out. If you really want to try to make the noise less intensive, turn on VSync on all of your games. Therefore it will not render unneeded frames and it will put less stress on the card and usually it will quiet the coil whine a bunch. Good Luck! Hope everything works!

I never thought about the v-sync trick, that actually helps quite a lot! In the end I decided to send it back for a EVGA FTW version, it seems that the MSI is the more frequent coil whine card.