Question Weird buzzing noise ONLY while gaming?

[Shushki]

Hello,

Recently I started noticing this faint buzzing noise while I am gaming. At first, I thought I was just hearing things but sure enough, I took my side panel off and my PC is making some weird buzzing noise. It seems to stop every time I close a game, but if I am in a game and actively playing it, something will whine. If I tab out of the game it will make my entire screen go black for a second and then come back on, and then the buzzing noise will stop. But if I reenter the game, it will immediately start again. I thought it might be a dying HDD but I did a R/W test on all my drives and no sound occurred.

Does anybody have any idea what this might be?

Attached is a video of my computer and monitors while the problem is occurring. You might have to turn the audio up in order to hear it.

https://imgur.com/a/bZD1btc

 

[Cem Goker]

That's GPU coil whine alright, I also have it on my RTX 3070 TUF. It could also be PSU whine, but I'm putting my money on the GPU. Unfortunately, you can't 100% fix a GPU whine. You can try setting an FPS limit to your games, undervolt your GPU, and turn some settings down to reduce the noise.

 

[Shushki]

That's GPU coil whine alright, I also have it on my RTX 3070 TUF. It could also be PSU whine, but I'm putting my money on the GPU. Unfortunately, you can't 100% fix a GPU whine. You can try setting an FPS limit to your games, undervolt your GPU, and turn some settings down to reduce the noise.

I just recently purchased my 3080 from amazon and it's still within its return period, should I return it and get a replacement?

 

[Cem Goker]

I just recently purchased my 3080 from amazon and it's still within its return period, should I return it and get a replacement?

That is entirely up to you. Coil whine is a very common issue, and it won't damage your GPU in any way and it won't affect its longevity either. It's simply a side effect of a the coil vibrating in an inductor as power passes thru the component. If you do get a replacement, you should expect your new GPU to have coil whine as well as I did say before, it is a very common occurrence.