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Capacitor whine...7970

Soldato
Joined
19 May 2009
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Cannock
Have recently acquired a 7970, but have been getting capacitor whine. I know it's a common occurrence with high end cards as my 5870 and 4870X2 had it for the brief time I had them.

I just wanted to know if it's common with these 7970s and if anyone else is experiencing it? It's at it's worst when the fps is high when playing source games for example.

I didn't want to create another thread, but I'm on the brink of dsr'ing it and need a quick response :)
 
I just done a quick google and it seems like with all high end cards capacitor whine is going to affect some unlucky people. It cant be to big of a problem as there would be more reports on here about it.
 
Thats the reason i had to RMA my 4890.Its terrible do u suffer from tinitus? If so i would RMA as once u spot it then it will start to bug you more and more.

I think the second 4890 i got was a bit better.And when u ask others if they hear it they most likely are not sensitive to it like you are.I would use DSR and get it swapped to be sure u can hear for yourself if you just have a bad card with leaky caps.Its also a good reason to turn up the fan and drown it out.My pc was a hoover when i owned that 4890.... i actually enjoyed the whoosh noise after a few weeks.

Also its funny that my 8800 GTX has no whine at all its only ATI i have heard cap whine on.not that i have much experience with a lot of cards but its funny how both 4890 cards had it its just one was less severe.Im not trying to flame ATI here as i have nothing against them but its just a small reason i tend to avoid them from now on unless as in the 7970 case they dominate in the fps department.If it was 50/50 and there was cap whine involved in the comparison i would just avoid whatever had the whine and take the slight fps hit.

If we would have been talking about a major fps difference here though i would just pump that fan up to 100% and OC the balls of it :)
 
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Was reading earlier on another forum and there were several reports of coil/capacitor whine, so you're certainly not the only one suffering with the 7970. It was a Particular brand that suffered worse than others, though I can't recall which
 
Mine does it as well. It's not too bad but certainly noticeable and considerably louder than my 6950 which also does it a bit.
 
I had a geforce 8800 that did this, wasnt too irritating especially as I always game with headphones on. I can appreciate where you are comming from as it could be irritating to some people.
 
I would send it back, No way would I accept a top end £400+ card to have capacitor whine.

Last card that I had with that problem was an XFX 4890 based on ATI's reference design, I soon RMA'd it and got a card that did not suffer from it.

With the price of the cards these days and the quality of the components used on the PCB's there is no excuse for capacitor whine.

How noisy is it? My 4890 was loud to the point of distracting me from gaming..

Turning V-sync on should stop it if you decide to keep it.
 
I read a few weeks back that people attribute capacitor whine with very high FPS. Your source games are probably running at hundreds of FPS so maybe this could be the problem. Try enabling vsync or if you have issues with vsync download the latest MSI Afterburner (beta 10 I think it is) which has an FPS limiter built in. set it to your monitors refresh rate or bellow. It's better for your card too as these fraims are dropped before processing so your card only runs at 100% when it needs to which can mean less heat etc.
 
Mine does it as well. It's not too bad but certainly noticeable and considerably louder than my 6950 which also does it a bit.

Can I ask what brand your 7970 is? I've been trying to pin the issue to a brand, but there's a youtube video of someone having worse capacitor whine than me with an xfx black edition. Also checked HardOCP and there's a similar thread stating various 7970s (all different) with the issue.

How noisy is it? My 4890 was loud to the point of distracting me from gaming..

Turning V-sync on should stop it if you decide to keep it.


I read a few weeks back that people attribute capacitor whine with very high FPS. Your source games are probably running at hundreds of FPS so maybe this could be the problem. Try enabling vsync or if you have issues with vsync download the latest MSI Afterburner (beta 10 I think it is) which has an FPS limiter built in. set it to your monitors refresh rate or bellow. It's better for your card too as these fraims are dropped before processing so your card only runs at 100% when it needs to which can mean less heat etc.

I use headphones for gaming so I don't notice it until I take them off whilst in-game. If I didn't use headphones it'd be quite distracting though.

Vsync isn't an option due to the mouse lag barring rpg games. Although I have started to use afterburner's fps limiter. It's no excuse though really, my 570 runs ridiculous fps in those games whilst remaining comparatively silent.

To top it off, it won't max out the overdrive clocks in CCC at stock volts...grr. Also tried afterburner and setting stock volts (1.174) and clocks manually to no avail. It'll do 1070/1500 though.
 
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Can I ask what brand your 7970 is? I've been trying to pin the issue to a brand, but there's a youtube video of someone having worse capacitor whine than me with an xfx black edition. Also checked HardOCP and there's a similar thread stating various 7970s (all different) with the issue.

Asus...
 
If it bothers you that much DSR it and wait for the non reference cards to appear, I'm sure MSI will release one with better capacitors as they normally do.

They'll probably be about £100 cheaper by then as well.
 
To quote myself.

The squealing you hear is most likely as others have mentioned is capacitor/coil whine. This is caused by oscillating action in the currents/voltages.

The cause of this noise/fluctuations are hard to pin down, as they could be from various sources, the PSU, the card, other devices, EMI, mains.
High frame rates often cause sequel, as higher frequencies/refresh rates are passed through the card/PSU increasing the tendency for the unwanted high frequency noise to make the capacitors/coils vibrate in such a manner.

Very often inside PSU's it looks like someone has had a accident with a glue gun. With huge splodges of glue on top of capacitors/coils. I suspect that the reason for this is to dampen the noise generated by these vibrations as well as to electrically insulate the components.

See for example this image of a reasonably respected psu.. "Glue" has been dropped on/around the capacitors/coils.
glue.gif


My understanding is that is not necessarily a sign of poor quality components or a sloppy psu build, the glue is there intentionally to reduce the negative side effects of how components/electricity interact with each other and the resulting effects.

Sometimes a PSU can cause the components on the gfx card to whine, sometimes the gfx card can cause the components of the PSU to whine, sometimes even the motherboard/cpu or dvd drive could have an effect on another component.

Often the part making the noise is not the cause.

So what can you do.. It maybe easier/cheaper to not worry about the cause and try and fix the issue. the end result is the same, no/less noise.

1) Try and filter out these unwanted frequencies that cause the problems using filtered PCI-X/Power cables. Even noise from the mains electricity could be passed on. Some "kettle leads" have these filters, or maybe a UPS/filtered power-strip may help.
2) Locate the "whining component" and slap some "glue" or I have heard people using nail varnish to stop it vibrating. A paper tube held to the ear is a good way to pin point which part is making the noise. (only issue here is that doing so "may" invalidate warranty..
3) It is entirely possible the card or PSU or even another component is just not up to scratch, and replacing it may solve the issue. Or it may just have different tolerances with the other components in the system.. A squealing card/psu won't necessarily behave in the same way when used by another person/system. I'd expect some PSU's have varying tolerances to this, however from experience just because they are high end, has not shown them to be more or less susceptible.
4) Some people can't hear the high frequencies, as we get older this range of high pitch noises should become less of a problem.. try waiting 10+ years.

5) I am no expert, all posted is just from observations. I have little knowledge of the internals of PSU's or capacitors/coils.. The technical terms I have used are no doubt wrong, the meaning however should not be , having had encountered this problem so many times, the above is just my findings. ;)

In my experience replacing the psu often does not solve the issue. Or even replacing the card, as both can be the part of the cause/receiver of the noise.

What I have found is that good quality PCI-E cable has Always have solved the problem.
in the image shown the PCI-E cable has a ferite inductor coil which attenuates high frequency signals, which is where most noise occurs.

You can find 3rd party pci-e extension cables/surge protectors which also work in the same manner. they should cost approx £10, unfortunately I cant find any on ocuk.

P1020357.jpg

To conclude - a squealing component is a result of non "clean" power somewhere along the chain. It can be fixed by filtering, dampening, or replacing the component that causes, or exasperates the noise. However identifying this component isn't always simple, as often it isn't the part making the noise.
 
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My evga 8800 ultra superclocked has had this noise since the day I got it (and still does)

It only happens at very high fps in old games. 200+

fps_max in console for source games
com_maxfps for call of duty games
Enter an amount after this command, something like 150.

I'd avoid using vsync due to input lag caused by it.

Just say to yourself... my card is making this noise because its too fast :)
 
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Was reading earlier on another forum and there were several reports of coil/capacitor whine, so you're certainly not the only one suffering with the 7970. It was a Particular brand that suffered worse than others, though I can't recall which

I had it with a Sapphire 4870 when it first came out, so I rma it for a Gainward 4870, totally quiet, no whine.

A lot is down to the quality of components which the card makers choose to use.
 
I thought cap whine = something moving

something moving = something fatigueing

something fatigueing = something breaking in time...
 
My XFX Pro 1000W Black Edition (seasonic rebrand) squeals when moving my mouse cursor when browsing the web, also when I switch my PC off the PSU squeals at a really high frequency, I have to flick the switch on the PSU to the off position then press the PC power button to drain the power left in the caps/coils. Real PITA to have to do this every time I turn my PC off...
Cant do anything about it though, I've sleeved all the cables.... :(
 
I have the same high pitch whine on my Sapphire 7970 - but ONLY when I overclock it. Its perfectly fine even under load until I overclock it.....hmmmm
 
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