GALAX GeForce GTX 970 Infinity Black Edition coil whine :(

[Emjay86]

We guarantee if you have coil whine we will take it back and if it emits any even low we will swap it or refund it.

The coil whine reduction is that it helps reduce coil whine and in some cases eliminate it, but it's impossible to prevent coil whine in every possible case as it's an inherent feature in electronics.

The coil whine reduction just helps reduce the chances of you experiencing it, so send it back and we will test it and if any whine is present will replace or refund for you.

Its a shame you havn't got anti-customer whine too eh?

But seriously its a shame, ive had mine for a month and ive had little to none. I personally dont worry about noise as im either gaming with headphones on or if not its on a loudish volume.

 

[Sencha]

Sadly I could still hear mine with headphones on.

New one is actually coming Monday so will update!

 

[dewi]

This thread has changed my mind about coil whine in a number of respects, and leads me to the conclusion that the issue is much more complicated than I originally thought.

While I initially thought that OcUK's coil whine guarantee was very generous, and a major selling point for this card, I can now see a problem with its implementation.

We guarantee if you have coil whine we will take it back and if it emits any even low we will swap it or refund it.

The coil whine reduction is that it helps reduce coil whine and in some cases eliminate it, but it's impossible to prevent coil whine in every possible case as it's an inherent feature in electronics.

The coil whine reduction just helps reduce the chances of you experiencing it, so send it back and we will test it and if any whine is present will replace or refund for you.

The problem with the coil whine guarantee is that whine that is barely audible to one listener could be distressingly loud for another listener or inaudible to another. People's ability to hear high frequencies differs between individuals, and deteriorates significantly with age. I'm 54, and I can only hear the 14 Hz test tone at http://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_frequencycheckhigh.php.

When cards are returned under the coil whine guarantee, OcUK should ensure the testing is performed by a tester with demonstrated ability to hear high frequencies, or use calibrated test equipment such as an audio analyser to detect coil whine that is inaudible to the tester. The Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_loss#Age reads,

There is a progressive loss of ability to hear high frequencies with increasing age known as presbycusis. For men, this can start as early as 25 and women at 30, but may even affect teenagers and children.

Supposing a card emits an extremely loud whine at 22 kHz and that only 1% of the population can hear a 22 kHz tone (I don't know if this is true - I'm making up the numbers). 99% of buyers would describe the card as whine free, but 1% of buyers would find the coil whine so loud as to render the card unusable. The question is, if a card emits coil whine that is only audible to a minority of customers, but the coil whine makes it unusable by those customers, is the card fit for purpose as defined by the Sale of Goods Act?

The good news (for me, at least) from my research is that I'm satisfied that my hearing is such that I wouldn't be able to detect coil whine on any card.

PS I'm intending to upgrade my PC soon. My short-list for a graphics card consists of the OcUK "Infinity Black Edition" and the OcUK "NVIDIA 970 Cooler Edition", not because of the coil whine guarantee (I'm now satisfied that coil whine is a young man's problem!), but because of the attention to detail and "no expense spared" construction. I'd prefer the NVIDIA 970 Cooler Edition, though the price gap between the two cards has increased from £20 to £46 (yikes!)

 

[Emjay86]

2k sold and 18 RMAs.
Yeah, totes not working. Lol.

I wonder how many of those RMA's are coil whine related.

I say that as im looking to RMA my card and its nothing to do with coil whine (its getting a black screen crash which is happening to quite a few people and on different branded cards).

 

[1dmf]

not because of the coil whine guarantee (I'm now satisfied that coil whine is a young man's problem!),

Why thank you kind sir, if you consider me young at having turned 44 on Saturday!

Though as I have mentioned, I believe my dyspraxia is playing a part due to the increased sensitivity to light, heat and sound sufferers of the condition are affected by.

I also believe it is related to the frequency, as certain sounds affect me more than others, if the fire alarm at work is being tested, I have to leave the building as I can't take it.

I also have to have a digital bedside alarm clock, as analogue clock ticking drives me insane and keeps me awake.

However, from the video evidence, I and many who replied to my thread also believe there is a VRAM issue, which may or may not be related.

Either way, from reading all the other complaints not just on this forum but many other popular ones, it seems there is an inherent problem, though most saying it is a dodgy card not that it is normal.

I don't know who to believe and considering the problems I've had returning my cards, I've been put of investing in this latest GFX technology.

If it is an inherent problem with the high end cards does that mean as they get faster, the coil whine will get worse?

My GTX760's don't make a sound unless you put the fans on 90% and then it's only air turbulence?

 

[Sencha]

Got the new one today. Sadly its exactly the same as the last one. Can hear it even standing outside the room (with door open) if anything it may be a touch louder. Going to return for refund this time unless I hear from someone that had the issue and got a replacement that doesn't.

 

[Ixon]

Got the new one today. Sadly its exactly the same as the last one. Can hear it even standing outside the room (with door open) if anything it may be a touch louder. Going to return for refund this time unless I hear from someone that had the issue and got a replacement that doesn't.

My replacement is due today around 1pm, so will let you know if mine still has coil whine.

What replacement did you get the Galax or the KAF2 version?

A pal of mine has the MSI 970 Gaming Edition & that has zero coil whine under normal use in games ect, only slightly whines when frames are over the 1000fps mark.

 

[DR_Pingu]

I can only imagine it's something to do with (terrible Jarra cabling and) my PSU because it's only bronze rated.

I can't - I'm using an 850W Cooler Master SilentPro 80+ Bronze and my GTX 970 Gigabyte G1 Gaming is nice and quiet, even running Valley at 1080p on Ultra with 8x MSAA. I've got an 1000W 80+ Gold (Cooler Master V1000) but thought I'd reuse my old PSU and it's working like a charm.

Edit:

A pal of mine has the MSI 970 Gaming Edition & that has zero coil whine under normal use in games ect, only slightly whines when frames are over the 1000fps mark.

I've got 2 friends who've got the MSI 970 (I recommended it to the 2nd after the success from the 1st) and both of them are extremely happy with the performance. Only 'downfall' of the MSI is no backplate, although apparently they're releasing one soon I'm sure I read before.

Also, I don't get why people uncap the FPS... if you're getting whine at 1000fps why not cap it at something makes bugger all difference to the game at something like 200?...

 

[DR_Pingu]

Well today I have had to reject an attempted delivery of items I clearly sent back under CCR and faulty VRAM / Coil Whine.

I raised the issue and returned these items 3 days from receipt, in perfect condition, which I proved as I included video documentation of me re-packaging them. Which I can also post if required!

Yet once again OCUK have decided to engage in a game of postal tennis, rather than honour their 14 day satisfaction guarantee as well as CCR legislation.

They have been sent back with the following letter : http://dance-music.org/bits/Overclockers_UK_Final_Letter.pdf

Which will accompany my Visa dispute resolution charge back case.

As I stated in my first comment when joining this thread, OCUK guarantees aren't worth the mark-up they are written with, which I have proved and can evidence.

Anyone told to upgrade their PSU to solve the problem is rubbish, I have a Superflower Leadex Platinum 1000W PSU, if it was a poor PSU causing these problems, I wouldn't have been driven crazy by the 'electric milk float driving down the road' hum!

BUYER BEWARE!!!!

Just a heads up on your letter - you've blacked out what I assume to be the RMA numbers, yet quoted them within the text?

 

[Sencha]

My replacement is due today around 1pm, so will let you know if mine still has coil whine.

What replacement did you get the Galax or the KAF2 version?

A pal of mine has the MSI 970 Gaming Edition & that has zero coil whine under normal use in games ect, only slightly whines when frames are over the 1000fps mark.

infinity black edition

If yours is free from whine I'll request a replacement instead. I'm tempted by 3rd time but gotta a strong feeling it's probably the same with all of them and the vast majority of people just can't hear it or don't really care. If your replacement whines what are you going to do? Refund or replace? Cheers buddy

 

[Ixon]

I'll more than likely ask for a refund and buy a different brand from either ASUS,MSI or Gigabyte, and take my chances with one of those instead.

If these cards are whining like they are, then Overclockers UK seriously needs to look into as to why they are so bad considering they have "Coil whine reduction technology", it may be nothing more than a dodgy batch of cards.

 

[Wizzfizz]

Like I've already posted in this thread, I'm on my second one of these cards and it whines like no tomorrow in the games that I play. Both my first card and now this one are identical in the coil whine that they give out and it's loud. Gibbo agreed on my first card whining and it could be heard from over 6ft away, this replacement exactly the same.

My conclusion from using these cards unfortunately is that the coil whine is as loud as other cards that I've tried in the past and that this coil whine reduction technology doesn't deliver on what it says that it will. This is with using a Superflower 1000w plat PSU via separate rails and also after running each card in like Gibbo suggested. I've already mentioned to Bailey and Gibbo that there might be a dodgy batch that's not doing what it should be doing, but apparently all these cards come from the same batch (So Bailey says).. So to me that just says that going for a replacement will be a waste of time, as the issue will still be there. If I was them i'd certainly be looking into it.

 

[nomadd]

I've got 2 friends who've got the MSI 970 (I recommended it to the 2nd after the success from the 1st) and both of them are extremely happy with the performance. Only 'downfall' of the MSI is no backplate, although apparently they're releasing one soon I'm sure I read before.

Also, I don't get why people uncap the FPS... if you're getting whine at 1000fps why not cap it at something makes bugger all difference to the game at something like 200?...

This^

MSI 970 here, installed in a silent PC build. Slight whine at 500fps+, which I never hit in games, so no problem.

 

[Nines11]

Like I've already posted in this thread, I'm on my second one of these cards and it whines like no tomorrow in the games that I play. Both my first card and now this one are identical in the coil whine that they give out and it's loud. Gibbo agreed on my first card whining and it could be heard from over 6ft away, this replacement exactly the same.

My conclusion from using these cards unfortunately is that the coil whine is as loud as other cards that I've tried in the past and that this coil whine reduction technology doesn't deliver on what it says that it will. This is with using a Superflower 1000w plat PSU via separate rails and also after running each card in like Gibbo suggested. I've already mentioned to Bailey and Gibbo that there might be a dodgy batch that's not doing what it should be doing, but apparently all these cards come from the same batch (So Bailey says).. So to me that just says that going for a replacement will be a waste of time, as the issue will still be there. If I was them i'd certainly be looking into it.

Nice post, again another user proving the PSUs dont do jack....

The 970s are just bad whiners but the fact you have taken EVERY step to counter it and are still getting whine is amazing!

What other brands have you tried?

Id try Gigabyte next as the Evga i had whined like a bitch but the Giga is much quieter although not 100% whine free without a headset.

Im just happy i didnt spend another £80 on a PSU i just did NOT need.

The way Galax/KFA2 is going on about its name change and stuff id stay well clear of them tbh, i dunno how Gibbos selling them at such a price when they clearly are not a premium brand, he must be making a huge margin on these things and the marketing hes done with them such as CWR and 8 Pack logos ect bigging them up over other much better cards, suppose its his job but when its half lies....

 

[1dmf]

Just a heads up on your letter - you've blacked out what I assume to be the RMA numbers, yet quoted them within the text?

Yes, dyspraxia in action, words disappear from pages (it's also linked to dyslexia).

However, when I noticed my faux pas, I didn't see the point in blanking and re-uploading as Gibbo had already asked me to make the RMA numbers public in the forum, so it seemed pointless.

Thanks for the heads up all the same

Does anyone know if the equivalent Radeon's make this whine? Though I've always been a bit of an NVidia fan boy ever since I had ATI's that constantly crashed many years ago and never looked at anything but NVidia ever since.

Edit: Crickey, I remember getting my first 3DFX Voodoo card so I could play Resident Evil on my DX4 DOS PC - man I feel old!

 

[Nines11]

Yes, dyspraxia in action, words disappear from pages (it's also linked to dyslexia).

However, when I noticed my faux pas, I didn't see the point in blanking and re-uploading as Gibbo had already asked me to make the RMA numbers public in the forum, so it seemed pointless.

Thanks for the heads up all the same

Its not like anything can happen lol, what they gonna do? The RMA is linked to your email and address...

 

[Sencha]

Going to go for one more replacement. If that one whines they'll be no point in trying a 4th

 

[Ixon]

Going to go for one more replacement. If that one whines they'll be no point in trying a 4th

Don't bother set mine up and it has the exact same terrible coil whine as the one it replaced, & just to be 100% sure it was nothing to do with my PSU or anything else for that matter i just borrowed a mates MSI gaming edition 970 and it silent no whine at all.

 

[skaif]

There must be something strange happening here, why are so many issues coming out now? It really must be a bad batch as like people have pointed out, less than 1% have been RMA'd. I have sent mine back due to the whine now and am worried about what I will get in return!

 

[Sencha]

Don't bother set mine up and it has the exact same terrible coil whine as the one it replaced, & just to be 100% sure it was nothing to do with my PSU or anything else for that matter i just borrowed a mates MSI gaming edition 970 and it silent no whine at all.

Wow. Looks like this problem is more wide spread. Thanks for saving me more hassle. Just requested a refund instead. Would really like to hear from Gibbo. Just wanted to know if he's seen one from this batch that doesn't whine? Just seems weird that with 3-4 of us in this thread alone getting replacements that whine exactly the same. You'd have thought at least one person here would have got a decent replacement