** GALAX BLACK EDITION 970 EX OC!! **

[Wizzfizz]

It's not a fault. Just be thankful OCUK are providing any cover on it at all

It really is, I can point you to more threads from Gibbo stating it is, although his RMA manager has a different view point (lack of transparency). I'm not going to be thankful, I'm a paying customer, just as others are. I'd expect any card that's advertised as quiet, to be just that. No where in any of the documentation does it state that coil whine should be expected and to be the norm..

Not all the other cards whine, some don't do it at all, some do it a little, some a little more and some sound like a scratched record.

Anything that can be easily heard we consider a fault, but mild coil whine is quite normal on high-end VGA cards, but is normally only present during benchmarking when FPS are very high.

Also most coil whine calms down at a few days of usage, a tip is simply set Heaven running for 48hrs solid a stock card with fan at 100%, that cures most of them if they are noticeably loud.

Coil whine is a fault.

Surely you'd send back as a fault as then your shipping is covered???

You mentioned stipulations with monitors, such as backlight bleed.
What about a GPU with coil whine? I never did return a GPU for that reason, but I'd DSR it rather than return as faulty. Would this now be faulty?

Yes of course we class that as a fault.

 

[Simon Belmont]

It's not a fault. Just be thankful OCUK are providing any cover on it at all

They better or customers will shop elsewhere.

 

[Silent_Scone]

It really is, I can point you to more threads from Gibbo stating it is, although his RMA manager has a different view point (lack of transparency). I'm not going to be thankful, I'm a paying customer, just as others are. I'd expect any card that's advertised as quiet, to be just that. No where in any of the documentation does it state that coil whine should be expected and to be the norm.

Stop quoting others, I'm telling you it's not a fault because it's not.

Coil whine is the noise generated by the different frequencies passing through the coil itself, the frequencies depend on the load. People also assume just because they're hearing it that it's instantly coil whine, that isn't the case. A lot of the time it is coming from capacitors or in actual fact sometimes leaky capacitors, this could more so be classed as a fault. The higher grade AIB boards don't suffer from this as they use better shielding.

Coil whine is not a fault, it's an irritation but technically there is no fault with your card. Hence, it's not-a fault

 

[zakblood]

seems i posted in a hotbed and will hide in the corner until it's quite again

- 450W PSU Required
- 150W TDP

so no high end gear needed, i only own a Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply so hope it's good enough as it works great and not that interested in getting higher as for me the TDP just doesn't warrant it

 

[Silent_Scone]

Well on the plus side you're not likely to get any whine from custom PCBs like this one

 

[Wizzfizz]

Stop quoting others, I'm telling you it's not a fault because it's not.

It is a fault, Gibbo states this, I don't care what you're telling me otherwise, unless you work for OCUK or one of their brand partners, that make these boards. As for quoting others, I'm quoting you and Gibbo.

I know what coil whine is. A lot of people have cards that are fine, others not so fine. The issue can easily be fixed, as shown by Powercolor with their 290s (if I remember rightly), by adding glue to the coils.

 

[Randomface74]

ex oc sounds like ex demo, weird choice of branding

 

[D1craig]

That is like running a Ferrari on Tesco unleaded, you simply don't do it.

i like this lol what other sort of unleaded are you going to run it on? this is the same sort of quote apple would use for their stupidly over priced products lol. the "powermax" fuel isnt all that.

give me some info on the ACX 2.0 will you ordered on thursday and still "overdue"

 

[almighty15]

Well on the plus side you're not likely to get any whine from custom PCBs like this one

People running custom PCB's from other vendors are getting coil whine.

 

[Gibbo]

It is a fault, Gibbo clearly states this. You can't compare a GPU to a car, as you can at least test drive a car before you hand over cash.

I clearly state it's a fault if it's loud, most cards do it under benchmarking but it's faint.

What we consider a clear fault is cards which have coil whine that can clearly be heard above system fans in an enclosed case etc. of course people returning cards need to understand we will test on premium quality power supplies and as such we may not experience coil whine that is audible above fans.

Decent Gold and above PSU's with single rail designs help limit coil whine.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Send them all back then. Everyone of them, they're all faulty

 

[Gibbo]

No your competitors don't put up such warnings, they don't have to as they have a much better and much clearer take on the whole coil wine situation.

We have you on the one hand saying the other day that's it's a fault and OCUK would accept cards back, now your saying some coil whine is normal and to run the cards in and then you have the RMA guys saying it's not a fault and OCUK will not accept anything back.

So much conflicting information and a problem your competitors do not have.

Coil whine is not acceptable, even more so as these cards are not designed by the vendors to produce such a noise.

If you bought a car and the engine tappets were louder then other cars of the same make and model I'm sure you would take it back and mention it.

A thread needs to made outlining what is acceptable in terms of coil whine noise output and what is deemed as being acceptable because everyone at OCUK seems to give different answers and dodge questions about it.

You used the worse analogy possible, the S54 engine in the M3, some sound rattly and some do not. Some use oil and some so not. BMW would tell you to get lost, nothing is wrong and it's performing within specification.

I only ever stated coil whine that is clearly audible on a quality power supply we will accept as a fault.

Coil whine that is barely audible on a quality PSU is no fault of the product.

 

[Gibbo]

It is a fault, Gibbo states this, I don't care what you're telling me otherwise, unless you work for OCUK or one of their brand partners, that make these boards. As for quoting others, I'm quoting you and Gibbo.

I know what coil whine is. A lot of people have cards that are fine, others not so fine. The issue can easily be fixed, as shown by Powercolor with their 290s (if I remember rightly), by adding glue to the coils.

I started by saying its a fault if it's audible easily, if so we will class it as a fault and RMA it for you.

As an official statement to stop people quoting bits here and there this is our official policy on coil whine below:-

OcUK will accept an RMA for a card which has coil whine in extreme circumstances which we consider to be audible on a quality single rail PSU of gold rating or higher. Audible as in coil whine in normal usage and gaming which is audible above case fans in a closed case. Coil whine in benchmarks is not considered as a fault. It's not actually a fault in the hardware as such if a card whines, it is inherent in graphics card design, but we will class it as a fault for cards which are clearly audible in normal usage (gaming). For example two identical cars, one will consume upto 1l of oil every 1000 miles and the other one consume nothing, this is not considered a fault by the manufacturer and it is operating within specification.

 

[Gibbo]

People running custom PCB's from other vendors are getting coil whine.

This any card can do it, no particular card is exempt as it's inherent in the design of graphics cards and is not a fault of the hardware to be clear. A premium PSU helps reduce it vastly.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Just be thankful the 970s don't have vanos


Custom PCBs just tend to be less prudent. You'll still get it at high loads. It's basically just vibration which is why the glue method helps when used

 

[Wizzfizz]

I clearly state it's a fault if it's loud, most cards do it under benchmarking but it's faint.

What we consider a clear fault is cards which have coil whine that can clearly be heard above system fans in an enclosed case etc. of course people returning cards need to understand we will test on premium quality power supplies and as such we may not experience coil whine that is audible above fans.

Decent Gold and above PSU's with single rail designs help limit coil whine.

Not everyone benches, these cards are made to game on. So you need to test them in games.

Your enclosed case will be different to mine as is mine to others, so unless you have one of every case, you're taking the high ground when it comes to how audible the coil whine is with your own case. On top of that many people build rigs with quietness in mind, so when they go buy a high end GPU that's advertised as quiet when for some isn't, then you can see my point. In essence what i'm trying to say is that it's your test case, regardless to what a customer uses is what will determine the outcome of what is accepted.

I'm with you with regards to using a quality PSU when it comes to building rigs. I've never understood people dishin' out thousands, to then only go and skimp on the main component. I myself use a Superflower 1000w Plat, unfortunately I still get coil whine from my 970.

You made an edit.

 

[Gibbo]

Just be thankful the 970s don't have vanos

Hi BMW

I want my M3 engine replaced as it rattles and uses oil, my mates M3 with identical car is silent and uses no oil, so mine is faulty,

Their response would be politely to do one, your car is fine and running within specification.


A little or mild coil whine on a graphics card is the same, if they do it it is not because they are faulty. As per my statement above on coil whine if it's noticable or loud and not just benchmarking we will accept it as a fault under our policy but advice people use the card for a day or two first as it can calm down.

 

[Silent_Scone]

That's life, sometimes you just have to lump it.

My mate has 1ltr tubs by the dozen in the boot of his brand new C63 AMG

if it's within specification, then you've not got a leg to stand on

 

[Gibbo]

Not everyone benches, these cards are made to game on. So you need to test them in games.

Your enclosed case will be different to mine as is mine to others, so unless you have one of every case, you're taking the high ground when it comes to how audible the coil whine is with your own case. On top of that many people build rigs with quietness in mind, so when they go buy a high end GPU that's advertised as quiet when in fact that, for some isn't then you see my point. In essence what i'm trying to say is that it's your test case, regardless to what a customer uses is what will determine.

I'm with you using a quality PSU when it comes to a rig, I never understood people dishin' thousands out, to then only go and skimp on the main component. I myself use a Superflower 1000w Plat, I still get coil whine.

We test on open benches so are more likely to hear it on an RMA card than customer.

If it's whining and we can hear it to a point where it is clearly noticable and it is doing it in normal usage, game benchmark, 2D benchmarks and video editing we will simply swap it out, if it's barely audible and we're struggling to hear or none exist we will contact customer for info on their rig setup.

 

[MrMoonX]

Why the price hike