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Could someone clarify OCUK's policy on coil whine?

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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Location
Kent
I bought a Palit 1070 in August and i've been really happy with it so far but it has now started to emit coil whine. I was under the impression (perhaps incorrectly) that OCUK will replace cards with coil whine so I sent a webnote to customer services. They've said they would take a look at it but coil whine isn't considered a fault and because its hard to replicate they reject a lot of returns.

If i do just have to live with it then fair enough, just hoping someone could clarify this for me.

Cheers.
 
they will most likely use the 2000watt PSU they sell and will expect you to be using it. i bought what i thought was a very good PSU - EVGA 650 silver think its G2 one and they say that its probably the PSU because its not the best quality or something along them lines.
 
Can say with almost certainty it's going to be returned with zero coil whine as the PSU has a major part to play with whether you get coil whine or not.

So you'll have return postage fees to deal with.

As above they'll be using a rock hard psu probably like an 8 Pack Edition Superflower to test, not the minimum spec requirement.

They don't guarantee zero coil whine either, they just did a zero coil whine policy on their own custom specced OC'ers 970 last round because the 970 was pretty bad(arguably due to the high no's sold/crap QC) for coil whine.

If your card has twin pci-e power requirements, try this to reduce power load on your PSU, it has had varied success in the past:

If your gpu only has one pci-e power input it won't work, the Amp Extreme has twin pci-e:

tUFh0ZQ.png
 
funny enough I've always had coil whine on Superflower. Can see why EVGA has had their Superflower units spec'd up a bit- never had coil whine with them.

run a b-grade corsair 750 AX in my person rig, never had whine before then popped in a Ti and its good aweful ! and see why it was b-grade stock now
 
There should be no need to clarify anything about OCUK's coil whine policy.

Coil whine can be an annoying "feature" of modern graphics cards. If you buy a graphics card with the issue, it can be a costly exercise, as you may end up being advised to buy a new (possibly expensive) PSU which may or may not cure the problem.

If a retailer considers that coil whine is not a fault, but just one of those things that some graphics cards have, then why not clearly state that in the description of each graphics card on their website ? Surely that's better for both the retailer and the customer. In the event of a customer buying a card with coil whine, he/she doesn't feel that the retailer is providing poor after sales service when told "sorry, coil whine is not a fault, try a new PSU". And the retailer is being honest about their policy before they take the customer's money.
 
I believe they only swap cards for whine when it's one of kfa2 0 coil whine range they sold back in the 9 series.
 
I wouldn't even know what coil whine was if it slapped me in the face. No way I would hear it over my case fans. I don't get the whole "omg a slight noise" thing. I game with headphones anyway, Each to their own.
 
my 970 infin8 edition comes with a no coil whine guarantee, so i presume it has to state that they cover it otherwise no?
 
I think the only card I've had with coil whine was a gtx280 years ago. And even then it only did it sometimes, usually on menus i think.

I'd certainly not be happy if my current 1070 did it.
 
Currently I have 2 x xfx 290's.

When 1st installed one of them gave me some grief but tried running it at 100% for a few hours - do not remember it being cured BUT then put them both under water - all coil whine gone:D

Was considering wether it was caused by the psu (1000w plat superflower) but given it stopped when put under water decided that it was probably the card - still going strong (silent !) 2 yrs later:)
 
Currently I have 2 x xfx 290's.

When 1st installed one of them gave me some grief but tried running it at 100% for a few hours - do not remember it being cured BUT then put them both under water - all coil whine gone:D

Was considering wether it was caused by the psu (1000w plat superflower) but given it stopped when put under water decided that it was probably the card - still going strong (silent !) 2 yrs later:)

Absolute nightmare if you get it after the 14 day return period :(
 
To go with a high end GPU you need a high end PSU then coil whine usually goes away! Look at amps on the rails not overall watts as well ;)
 
I wouldn't even know what coil whine was if it slapped me in the face. No way I would hear it over my case fans. I don't get the whole "omg a slight noise" thing. I game with headphones anyway, Each to their own.

People have different perceptions of it and you get very varying degrees of it - I've worked in IT support before and dealt with complaints about it where its been impossible to reproduce outside of when rendering 500+fps in menus, etc. its very difficult to deal with as even just simply reseating the GPU can sometimes make a difference in whether it happens or not.
 
But should you really need a 1000w psu for a gpu that says it needs less than 500w psu for that and the whole system?

They could sell guaranteed no coil whine gpu and psu bundles. And also stop recommending psus that offer just more than the gpu says it needs if down the line they are going to say "need a better psu"...

My coil whine only happens when something changes ie. Windows updates etc. Reinstall of gpu drivers makes it bareable.
 
CPU + GPU + Ram Overclocking adds massive strain to the PSU probably doubles the load in some instances. Then throw in all the other devices like USB hubs, internal drives, optical drive, fans, water pumps etc etc forget online PSU calculators as well always go for way more than you need as PSU's degrade over time with everyday use. Also ensure your PSU is well ventilated & the case is cool as warm air also degrades it faster.

Just remind yourself when or if the PSU ever blows if its a decent model its going to most likely nearly always take all the strain in the blowout saving the life of the CPU+mobo+ram+GPU ;)
 
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