4080 & 4090 Coil Whine Thread

Hostile_18 · 15 Oct 2022 at 10:44

Hi all.

I thought this issue is very important to some of us, that majorly affects our enjoyment of gaming. I've created this thread to discuss your experience of it (or not) with the new 4090 cards from Nvida.

I'll start off with my card, 4090 SUPRIM X. It's completely silent for games below 50% gpu usage, the higher it gets the more pronounced it gets. I'm considering my options as I am sensitive to it. If I walk in a field in a quiet moment of God of War I hear it quite clearly, same with GTA 5 at 4k etc.

My old card 3080 Suprim was completely silent in these games and only really made a noise in a game as intense as Cyberpunk on max settings etc. I'll see how it "breaks in" and go from there.

Silent Gaming in a home cinema is glorious though and I'll miss it if I have to "compromise" from now on.

Drollic · 15 Oct 2022 at 10:56

Does it still do it at say 95% power limit? It can sometimes reduce quite heavily after a few weeks in use.

Hostile_18 · 15 Oct 2022 at 11:22

Drollic said:
Does it still do it at say 95% power limit? It can sometimes reduce quite heavily after a few weeks in use.

I'll have to try that when I get in. As well as run it at stress for a few hours.

azazl187 · 15 Oct 2022 at 11:28

Any coil whine that I have experienced goes away after a few months of usage

LtMatt · 15 Oct 2022 at 11:45

Reducing core voltage often helps reduce coil whine.

Metalface Mark · 15 Oct 2022 at 12:03

Zotak AMP aero - zero coil whine.

uscool · 15 Oct 2022 at 12:06

Undervolt

can match or beat stock performance while lowering power and temps reduces Coil Whine

NiteSurfer · 15 Oct 2022 at 12:35

This is an interesting subject; it seems, it's becoming a known issue on the reddit NVidia forum. A user posted a video, it was so loud, I can't ever see that disappear over time.

sparkymark75 · 15 Oct 2022 at 12:46

Need to take note to bring this up forever as a negative against nVidia

Grim5 · 15 Oct 2022 at 13:18

LtMatt said:
Reducing core voltage often helps reduce coil whine.

Just turn up your fans

Grim5 · 15 Oct 2022 at 13:20

Coil whine is somewhat correlated to fps, the 4090 is a victim of success - a quiet cooled card with insane fps = easier to hear coil whine

Hostile_18 · 15 Oct 2022 at 13:25

Grim5 said:
Coil whine is somewhat correlated to fps, the 4090 is a victim of success - a quiet cooled card with insane fps = easier to hear coil whine

I always limit my fps to 120 the TV refresh rate. Also though in some games it whines where previously the 3080 Suprim did not, like God of War and Spiderman.

Seems like a lot of tips. I'll try them all out.

voodoochild2008 · 15 Oct 2022 at 13:26

Hostile_18 said:
Hi all.

I thought this issue is very important to some of us, that majorly affects our enjoyment of gaming. I've created this thread to discuss your experience of it (or not) with the new 4090 cards from Nvida.

I'll start off with my card, 4090 SUPRIM X. It's completely silent for games below 50% gpu usage, the higher it gets the more pronounced it gets. I'm considering my options as I am sensitive to it. If I walk in a field in a quiet moment of God of War I hear it quite clearly, same with GTA 5 at 4k etc.

My old card 3080 Suprim was completely silent in these games and only really made a noise in a game as intense as Cyberpunk on max settings etc. I'll see how it "breaks in" and go from there.

Silent Gaming in a home cinema is glorious though and I'll miss it if I have to "compromise" from now on.

I have now tried 2 Suprim 4090s and 1 Asus Tuf 4090. All three cards have the same buzz....not a whining sort of thing, more like an electric buzz.

uscool · 15 Oct 2022 at 13:32

Still a lottery at this price point lmao

Hostile_18 · 15 Oct 2022 at 13:33

voodoochild2008 said:
I have now tried 2 Suprim 4090s and 1 Asus Tuf 4090. All three cards have the same buzz....not a whining sort of thing, more like an electric buzz.

Oh god I'd give up after three units. Yeah mine is the same. Is the rest of your PC silent by the way? Mine is (loads of fans at a low rpm) I think that makes it worse. I think some people that don't have it might have their fans masking it.

voodoochild2008 · 15 Oct 2022 at 13:43

Hostile_18 said:
Oh god I'd give up after three units. Yeah mine is the same. Is the rest of your PC silent by the way? Mine is (loads of fans at a low rpm) I think that makes it worse. I think some people that don't have it might have their fans masking it.

I have 12 fans on the go, but it's the Be Quiet light wings so it's fair good noise-wise.
The buzz is hard to hear in the case where I am sitting, it really needs to be a quiet bit in a game before I can hear it. It's not the high pitch squeal that I think is way worse, it's just an electrical buzz.
I tried with a Corsair XXi 1500w and EVGA P6 1000w and that did not change anything either. But it's odd how all 3 cards make the same buzzing sound.

Hostile_18 · 15 Oct 2022 at 13:50

voodoochild2008 said:
I have 12 fans on the go, but it's the Be Quiet light wings so it's fair good noise-wise.
The buzz is hard to hear in the case where I am sitting, it really needs to be a quiet bit in a game before I can hear it. It's not the high pitch squeal that I think is way worse, it's just an electrical buzz.
I tried with a Corsair XXi 1500w and EVGA P6 1000w and that did not change anything either. But it's odd how all 3 cards make the same buzzing sound.

Yeah it is strange. Does it buzz on all games? Loads of games on mine it's silent. About one third slight buzz but it'd probably say not the end of the world, even if it doesn't change. I mean if I could swap and it's likely I'd get a better unit I'd be tempted... but the risk is I could get a much worse unit back (and the hassle).

I'm wondering when I eventually get the bequiet single cable if that will help at all.

cHk4 · 15 Oct 2022 at 13:56

Metalface Mark said:
Zotak AMP aero - zero coil whine.

Same mate, mine has zero auditable coil whine to me.

voodoochild2008 · 15 Oct 2022 at 13:59

Hostile_18 said:
Yeah it is strange. Does it buzz on all games? Loads of games on mine it's silent. About one third slight buzz but it'd probably say not the end of the world, even if it doesn't change. I mean if I could swap and it's likely I'd get a better unit I'd be tempted... but the risk is I could get a much worse unit back (and the hassle).

I'm wondering when I eventually get the bequiet single cable if that will help at all.

Well there is a lot you can try, I mean you can even try cleaning the electric supply as that can cause it.....no idea how, but it's a real thing. People have complained about their PC, took it to a shop, plugged it in and GPU is fine, and all because the shop's electricity was not dirty.
So yeah, you have electric/psu/motherboard/cables/case as things to try, but more often than not, its the GPU and your luck, although I find it too odd that 3 GPUs make the same sound. I would have thought there would be some change between 2 msi cards and 1 Asus.

varkanoid · 15 Oct 2022 at 14:01

Grim5 said:
Just turn up your fans

or use headphones like any serious gamer.