• 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.

R9 280 Noise - Does this sound right to you?

solarp

solarp

solarp

Associate
Joined
1 Mar 2011
Posts
120
Hi,

Just bought an VTX3D R9 280 from OCUK, very impressed by the boost in performance although one thing is niggling me, as soon as you start a game, no matter which game, I get an annoyingly loud hiss/buzz. My last GPU (560 Direct CU) was pretty much silent compared, even under load.

Check out the youtube video I uploaded (link below) to hear what I am describing, it is louder than it is on the video. As soon as it is displaying any game graphics the noise starts instantly, as soon as you close the game or it changes to a static screen (no graphical process) it stops instantly. I understand the fans can get noisy and I accept that but this is different to what I am used to.

Do I have a faulty card or is this normal?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldvnBoQDaFE&feature=youtu.be

My specs are:

Intel Core i5-2500 3.3ghz Sandybridge (w/ Gelid Tranquillo Cooler)

Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68

Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz DC

Cooler Master GX 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply

Thank you for your input.

SolarP
 
It sounds like the power phases working ten to the dozen and should settle after a bit of time. I wouldn't worry about it.
 
Thanks, perhaps a beefier PSU? The box said 750w (currently running 650w) although I would have thought this would have been adequate seen as my friend runs his 290x on the same PSU.

Or a decent pair of headphones :p
 
Looking at others youtube videos it seems to be a common problem, although some are saying theirs are quiet.

Has anyone else with these cards had the same issue?
 
Hey solarp,

I just got a Powercolor R9 280 last week and finally got it installed 2 days ago. Had exactly the same noise as you did. I didn't really work it much but on high detail Civ it was louder when rendering the maps as I scrolled and in general during gameplay.

I really hope it isn't normal. If it is I wouldn't like to keep it to be honest - I find the noise irritating and was hoping for a relatively quiet desktop. Either way, I've RMA'd mine and will see what happens. It should be with OC tomorrow afternoon :).

Here's my post incase it interests you, also have a youtube clip: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18613416
 
If you can, try the GPU in a different system. I thought my GTX780 was whining/buzzing, but it turns out it was the motherboard! Bit of a strange one as it is always the PSU or GPU usually.

Some hardware combinations dont agree with each other. Are you sure it is actually the card buzzing and not the PSU?
 
Yeah that would be my next line of thinking, no noise coming from the PSU, it seems to be loudest between the GPU and CPU, could be motherboard as it is a 3 year old board.

Thanks ote1, I would be interested to know how your RMA goes? I am considering it myself, having tried lots of tips online but nothing so far. I think it might just be a noisy card, this one is on the cheap end of the model name.
 
Sounds like coil whine to me. You will get that especially in game menu's or games where the framerate is very high and not capped. Does turning v-sync on and capping the framerate to 60fps get rid of it?
 
That is what I thought but it sounds more like a grind/buzz/hiss than the ol coil whine. I loaded up Brutal Doom (which runs at ridiculous FPS) and I got the whine which sounded totally different, setting VSYNC on stopped that.

As you can see I load up the new Thief game and pretty much instantly you get the hiss, Vsync has been turned on for this game too as the benchmark proves it caps at 60fps.

Think I might have to RMA this card as it just doesn't sit right with me, I had something similar on an old 4890, which I sent back and got a replacement for, behold there was no noise, but I think that was more a fan issue.

Here is another example of what is happening, this is the card ote1 bought I believe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YIlijRpCTo

Makes me think it is just a design fault, which is unfortunate because the performance is great for the price :(
 
It looks like your using a PSU power cable with two GPU plugs on the end to power the card?, try using two separate power cables, no guarantees but I have seen that fix this issue in the past.
 
You're correct, good shout I may give this a quick go before I send it back although I would have to use a 2x molex to 8pin adapter, so might not make much of a difference.

Spoke with OCUK tech support this morning however and have arranged an RMA as there appears to have been an XFX equivalent on sale for the same price, so going to get a refund and try this one instead as I have used XFX in the past.
 
Hello,

Quick update. My Powercolor arrived at OC this morning and my RMA was processed pretty much straight away. I'm not sure what was wrong but they're replacing it so I know something was up. May ring them to find out when I can. Really impressed with the service - thanks OC.
 
Probably just needs running in, run a benchmark like Unigine Heaven overnight and it should clear away by the morning. I did this to my old gtx 570 and it fixed it!
 
solarp said:
Excellent, let us know how the replacement turns out.
Click to expand...

Got my replacement through today and the noise is the same. :mad:

Let me know how the XFX one works out for you. Tempted to spend the extra £25 and get the Gigabyte version of the R9 280 tbh. Just general mooching around on the net is making it buzz. Going to see if a benchmarking run helps the situation.
 
ote1 said:
Got my replacement through today and the noise is the same. :mad:

Let me know how the XFX one works out for you. Tempted to spend the extra £25 and get the Gigabyte version of the R9 280 tbh. Just general mooching around on the net is making it buzz. Going to see if a benchmarking run helps the situation.
Click to expand...

Got the XFX this morning and just installed it, no noise what so ever, absolutely silent even compared to the 560ti, same performance figures as the old one :D

I think the VFX and Powercolour are using cheap components hence the coil whinge/buzz, definitely recommend returning in favor of the XFX.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom