Coil whine?

[Jas1222]

So recently installed my new 680 and this is the first graphics card I've owned. Occasionally it makes a high pitched whine which I've searched to be something called 'coil whine'. Is it normal for the card to do this occasionally when it's not under load? I've read its perfectly normal if its doing something intensive such as gaming. It does it when I have chrome and couple of other small applications up.

I can't guarantee it's the gpu but since I installed it that's when the noise started so i'm sure its that (could be PSU but doubt it) Thanks for any help.

 

[Jas1222]

Open GPU-z and set it to log to file, and note when the whine is happening and check it against the log. Could be 3d clocks kicking in because of a Flash or Chrome/Browser issue perhaps?

It seems to always be happening but varies at different levels, when I look at the log it all looks identical Sometimes it barely audible and other times it can be slightly annoying, as I type this I can hear it but that might just be because i'm specifically listening out for it. Also seems to be a pattern with it, its not constant its almost as short bursts getting quiter then louder.

So it could be the PSU aswel? What if I connect the power cables into a different port in my PSU (its semi-modular) it's not too bad but can get kind of annoying when i'm trying to read. If it was just when it's under load I wouldn't have a problem with it.

 

[Jas1222]

its the cpu power saving states and the psu and or gpu interfering,try disabling intel speedstep and see if the noise stops or reduces,9 times out of ten switching psu to another make/model cures it

its totally normal to hear faint whine from the side of the pc case,but on no account should it be heard through your speakers or headphones

my gpu/psu does it when in crysis game menus ect but totally silent through speakers/headphones

Wow tried that and seems to have done worked, I disabled the intel speedstep and CPU C1E. It's a lot better than before thank you! I think I still hear it slightly though (but it's probably just the fans tricking my brain)

 

[Jas1222]

its very common long running issue,it wont cause any harm to your pc but can be annoying,i had an el cheapo psu that did it but now have a better one and its silent

download dpc latency checker and test,

http://www.thesycon.de/dpclat/dpclat.exe

it should looklike this

Yes my results look the same as that!

 

[Jas1222]

see if you can find c1e in the bios,disable it aslong as eist is enabled it should still downclock the cpu at idle if you select balanced power profile in windows power saving options

c1e disabled reduced the noise a lot for me in the past

it might let you re enable speedstep and just disable c1e,downclocking cpu at idle is a handy thing to have

I renabled speedstep with cie disabled and the noise has come back, the cpu doesn't seem to be downclocked and windows is in balanced mode.

 

[Jas1222]

On mine I have

Real time Ratio Changes in OS Enabled
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E) Disabled
C3/C6 Statue Enabled
CPU EIST Function Disabled

I think its the first option you may be thinking of, not sure what the setting would be for Asus board. This lets mine downclock to 1.6ghz.

These are my settings:

http://imgur.com/wNAR1 (size too big to embed)

I just undid my overclock but for some reason its still showing as 4200.0 MHz in CPU-Z

EDIT: With those settings and EIST & C1E both enabled it's still showing as 4200.0MHz in CPU-Z.

 

[Jas1222]

Seems like whatever configuration I do, it's either have the whine & downclock or no whine & no downclock.

 

[Jas1222]

^^^not sure on this(epu power saving mode),havnt tested it,left it disabled


heres what worked for me,speedstep and c1e disabled and cpu downclocked at idle in windows

Figured out what was different between mine and yours, I had that C3 and C6 set to auto, once I set it to enabled it runs at idle again. The whine is still kind of there but better than before, thank you

 

[Jas1222]

If it whines I would RMA it. Yes, it can happen, but on a £400+ card it shouldn't happen.

Since I changed those settings the noise seems to be reduced to a very low pitched hum which I can hardly hear now, sounds more like a vibration.

 

[Jas1222]

its mostly the psu thats the cause,its electromagnetic interference between the mb's vrm's and the cpu power saving states,they use solid caps now on mb's so it cant be coil vibration

with corsairs quality rma service you might be able to rma the psu for another unit? i would do that first before changing the gpu,even then its hit and miss when finding a psu/mb/gpu combo that produces no noise whatsoever

like i said its totally normal to hear very faint whine in game menus ect but not in the game itself or while watching films listening to music,esp through the speakers and headphones,even moving the mouse around on the screen can produce the noise,thats very bad examples though

I don't hear the noise now when i'm playing a game/music/wearing headphones. It's only noticeable at night when the house is dead quiet and i'm reading. It doesn't seem too bad now to make me want to RMA it.

 

[Jas1222]

Unfortunately I think you're right Tommy, I really don't wanna send this back over something so small but potentially so big =/.

I don't notice it at all when gaming, but when idle at night that's when it starts and worries me.

 

[Jas1222]

Might be worth noting I also had a H100 installed the same day I got my GPU. Gonna have to RMA the H100 because the pump been making a loud noise.

Gonna try and locate the exact point where the noise is. Gonna find out more about how the retailer I bought it from handles DSR.

 

[Jas1222]

My noise comes from the side of the case.

 

[Jas1222]

OP is the noise anything like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D63NVSHqDv0&feature=youtu.be

No it doesn't, searching through Youtube and nothing sounds similar, they all sound way louder or way different.

The only thing that sounds similar is the first 12 seconds of this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeahtqeTrGo

But it doesn't have that crackly sound. I never had a dedicated GPU connected to this power supply before, it used to use the iGPU. I don't have a spare PSU or GPU to test it with. Enabling or disabling V-sync in the global panel doesn't make a difference at all.

EDIT: This is almost the exact noise! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kl_EYFGd-Q, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_ombDdZi7o, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSmRSvyLy_8

 

[Jas1222]

That crackly sound sounds like a hard drive lol.

Yeah ignore that, if you check the links I edited in, it's pretty much that same sound.

 

[Jas1222]

Yeah that's inductor whine. But you really ought to find out exactly where it is coming from.

I'll try that method of rolling up a piece of paper and putting it against each component. Pretty hard at the moment since my cooler's pump is making a racket.

 

[Jas1222]

Update: So I listened to each of the components and surprising the noise wasn't coming from the PSU or the GPU either. It came from the CPU/Pump area. I think it may be another effect from the faulty pump.

 

[Jas1222]

I'm fairly certain its my cooler now, tested it both when idle and under load and the GPU doesn't make the sound, move my head abit higher and it gets louder.

Waiting on Corsair to see what they have to say about an Advanced RMA. The only sure way to know its the cooler is if I swap out my H100 back to the stock cooler, but not sure if I have enough thermal paste to do that.