• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

GTX 260 Making Annoying Loud Buzzing Sounds

Overslop

Overslop

Overslop

Soldato
Joined
22 Oct 2005
Posts
4,013
Location
Thailand
As title...

It's caused by my overclocking, but before I adjust my settings I was wondering if there was one specific factor causing it?

i.e. Is it caused by the memory/GPU/shader or could it be any of them?

It happens only when rendering 3D objects and the sound it makes varies as the camera moves. I always used to get this with ATi Tool regardless of what I was doing, but now it is all 3D games and it is very loud.
 
Its probably coil whine.

Its a pain in the butt to sort and most solutions usually involve covering the offending coil or capacitor in lacquer, paraffin, nail polish, hot glue etc.

The sad thing is it doesn't count as a defect so you can't RMA whining cards.
 
If you use Vsync you will find the coil whine will vanish.

It usually happens when the card is displaying very high FPS.
 
killari said:
Its probably coil whine.

Its a pain in the butt to sort and most solutions usually involve covering the offending coil or capacitor in lacquer, paraffin, nail polish, hot glue etc.

The sad thing is it doesn't count as a defect so you can't RMA whining cards.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info but I will probably give that a miss. Don't want to invalidate my warranty and potentially damage my card.
 
Ive literally just installed my new 260 today and I've noticed the same thing. It's quite surprising just how annoying it is, although it doesn't occur all the time. Very strange.
 
the whine volume tends to be proportional to the load on the GPU. Running the Folding@home GPU client on my 4890 makes it squeal like a pig with swine flu :P
 
Seem to recall although the problem seems to just be with Nvidia different PSU's have an effect on this squeal, not heard about the issue with ATI cards though

And as our friend above said about a fix, "Squeal" is a high frequency vibration generated noise ! so potting the offending coil, cap etc would fix the problem by dampening the vibrations.
 
My 260's have that annoying electrical buzzing as well.
Run 3d mark and it varies in pitch with the framerate.
They make a lot of noise when running the spinning cube in Atitool.

No point sending them back if they all do it.
 
PCZ said:
My 260's have that annoying electrical buzzing as well.
Run 3d mark and it varies in pitch with the framerate.
They make a lot of noise when running the spinning cube in Atitool.

No point sending them back if they all do it.
Click to expand...

My last 260 never did it.

I'm wondering if this is a problem with the newer 55nm versions?

Had loads of nVidia cards over the years and none before this have ever made audible squeels during games.
 
JAKUS said:
Seem to recall although the problem seems to just be with Nvidia different PSU's have an effect on this squeal, not heard about the issue with ATI cards though

And as our friend above said about a fix, "Squeal" is a high frequency vibration generated noise ! so potting the offending coil, cap etc would fix the problem by dampening the vibrations.
Click to expand...

The poster above you said he experiences it with his ATi card. :p
 
my 65nm 260-216 and old 8800GTX does it as well. but 260 only noticeable when listening hard.

the problem lies with nVidia's use of analogue PWM (hence the inductance coils) instead of digital PWM.

Vsync and try to make sure low FPS is the key
 
wuyanxu said:
my 65nm 260-216 and old 8800GTX does it as well. but 260 only noticeable when listening hard.

the problem lies with nVidia's use of analogue PWM (hence the inductance coils) instead of digital PWM.

Vsync and try to make sure low FPS is the key
Click to expand...

As I said before though, I do use V Sync and even when games have very low frame rates, it is just as bad.

Anyways, looks like I will just have to put up with it until I get my next card... :(
 
Sheesh, put me off thinking about getting one as a stop-gap to the DX11 cards!

Meh, me trusty 8800GT runs all my stuff OK anyways, I'll put the dosh towards the next-gen cards.
 
KelticDaz said:
Never had a card with this problem over the years, mainly Nvidia with a couple of ATI's in the mix.
Click to expand...

Its hit and miss if you'll get a card that does it.

I had 3 x 8800GTX's not one had the problem, yet my mate had 2 and both did it (he actually RMA'd one for the squeal and the replacement he got back was the same!).

TBH the large majority of the cards i've owned haven't had the problem, but I have had a few, all were nVidia cards.

FX5800
8800GTS 512
GTX260
 
Sell it on if it bothers you. That's what I have done in the past. It depends on the card itself, and combination of components in your system so some get it, some don't, even with the same cards.

In addition, some people have their PCs under desks/wear headsets/play music all the time they use their PCs, so it doesn't bother everyone.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom