Question What does coil whine sound like?

[emitfudd]

I have an MSI 4090 Gaming X Trio. I am hearing a sound I haven't heard before. I can't really describe it other than a variation of blowing across the top of a bottle, but a higher pitch? If anyone else can describe coil whine maybe I can confirm or eliminate that as the sound. The GPU runs really cool. 32C at idle and not much more than 40C during gaming. I have it set to gaming mode (BIOS switch on GPU) and I have the fan curve with Afterburner at minimum 30% which appears to be the same as gaming mode sets it to considering I can't lower it below 30%. I only hear it when gaming. I also have the power limit set to 80%. It is constant but not the same all the time, kind of like a wheel going round and round with varying pitch.

Edit: I found a Linus tech tips video demonstrating coil whine and it sounds nothing like that. I am thinking it must be a fan. My AIO is top mounted and the fans are just under the mesh top of the case (Corsair 780T). I have removed the mesh top and put my ear down there to listen and don't hear anything abnormal. I have also tried manually increasing the GPU fan speed with Afterburner and that isn't it. My case fans run at the same speed all the time so they aren't the culprit. PSU fan? Running out of ideas here.

The fact that I didn't hear this sound with my 3080 makes me think it must be GPU related. Maybe there are different pitches of coil whine. The video showed a 7970 reference card, whatever that is.

 

[kerberos_20]

coil whine is high pitch buzzing, that pitch changes with framerate, ie lower framerate - lower pitch
my last three gpus all had coil whine, but i dont have pc nearby my ear, so not really an issue for me

 

[emitfudd]

The sound definitely gets louder when the GPU is under load. I tried running Superposition with the audio turned off and I could hear it getting slightly louder. I have stuck my head inside my case with the side panel off, listened to the top mounted AIO fans, listened to the exhaust fan at rear of case and can't hear anything. When I am sitting at my desk with PC about 36" away on the floor I can hear it. Really annoying.

 

[Notton]

Coil whine sounds like this:

It will change pitch depending on load

 

[emitfudd]

Coil whine sounds like this:

It will change pitch depending on load

That was the video I watched. Not what I'm hearing on my PC.

 

[emitfudd]

I have changed the fan curve on my CPU AIO and it appears that was the noise I was hearing. It's weird because if I remove the top mesh panel and put my head down to the fans I don't hear it but sitting up in my chair I do hear it. I lowered the fan speed just a bit so it doesn't ramp up at normal gaming temps as quickly. Now it is mostly silent while gaming with CPU temps at 68 to 71C.