GPU has coil whine, OCUK refuse RMA

[linktoinsanity]

My old GTX280 used to suffer but it was not that bad and only when under extreme load. I'd suggest just learning to live with it.

 

[se_vietboi]

An upgrade like that just isn't fair...

 

[Blackbadger]

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.

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.

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.

 

[Jono8]

My 670's only have audible coil whine when the framerate is in the 100's-1000's which is what i have experienced with almost every graphics card i have ever owned.

 

[Zeed]

Blackbadger ocuk should start selling those upgraded cables i think..

 

[ibpalle]

Try vsync. I found coil whining mainly happens on static screens when fos is in the hundreds if not thousands. Adaptive vsync in the nvidia 3d settings is a good option.

 

[Silent_Scone]

if i bought a titan and it had coil whine id ask for RMA or refund.

end of the day they shouldn't be making noises.

why should you pay same as everyone else for a titan and get inferior quality?

How do you know they shouldn't be making noises? Sounds like something my Gran would say. Some cards do it, others don't. It is also PSU load relatd which has been touched on already. But it isn't a fault...

People send the cards back, they're put in a different test bench and there is no whine at all. Live with it or find a different hobby!

Baring in mind as I said previously, it's barely audiable unless you've got your ear in the case. Which 9 times out of 10 you're not going to...lol

 

[Admiral Huddy]

Does it make the noise during windows operation, when you scroll up and down bust pages, such as a web page? or is the problem continuous?

 

[LtMatt]

Whatever causes it to make the most noise, leave it on that screen/game overnight or for a full 24 hours. You might find this cures it completely or at least makes it much quieter.

 

[Make]

Enable adaptive Vsync as you are running the latest Nvidia.

It enables V-sync when going past your monitor's refresh rate, but disables it if you don't have enough grunt to run it on that. I highly doubt you'll be able to max. that card anyway unless you game at 120hz 2560x1440, but still. No reason not to use it, saves power too

My coil whine was totally fixed by vsync. I only get it in benchmarks that max out huge framerates like over 200 and that insane 2500 when exiting Valley..

 

[Silent_Scone]

^ This is entirely true. Had it in Valley also but if you cap the load it'll likely shut up. Just don't let people tell you your cards broken!

 

[Scougar]

Does it make the noise during windows operation, when you scroll up and down bust pages, such as a web page? or is the problem continuous?

I've noticed that on several systems... obviously you know something here...

 

[Andrew Moore]

Try splitting the load off the psu, use two Pci-e cables instead of one like so:

Totally eliminated coil whine for me with a 7970 and some others here also, unfortunately not everyone though but it's certainly worth a try.

That would only work on a multi rail PSU and then you are making an assumption as to which rail the cables are wired in to. An single rail PSU would make zero difference in this case for instance.

 

[Loxa]

Does it make the noise during windows operation, when you scroll up and down bust pages, such as a web page? or is the problem continuous?

Mine does this when I am on Facebook or swapping between tabbed down windows at the bottom of windows (previews).

 

[Silent_Scone]

That's just bad shielding? You're hearing electrical signals. Don't think this is related at all.

 

[Admiral Huddy]

Mine does this when I am on Facebook or swapping between tabbed down windows at the bottom of windows (previews).

Well IE uses parts of DX for smooth scrolling so if you are using that, turn it off..

Internet Options>Advanced> Browsing> untick Smooth Scrolling.

I can't speak for other browsers.

Retest to see if it makes any difference. It's worth a go.

 

[EVGAdominik]

Hi,

generally PSU and motherboard could cause coil wine when the power output is not equal anymore.
It is also kind a normal that new card do cause this when they output a lot of frames, in this case you can set a framerate target with precision or enable Vsync which will lower the frames but increase quality.
Generally if you are not satisfied with the card we can offer to handle RMA directly with us but there is no guarantee that the replacement will be 100% silent.
If the card was faulty and occured extraordeneray coil wine because of faulty components RMA will probably help...
If you want to go for RMA just register the product to your EVGA Account and drop an email to [email protected] with the request including the S/N and the information you already did troubleshooting at OCUK then we will open the RMA and let you know about the further process. Let me know if there is any further question about this.

 

[ubersonic]

if i bought a titan and it had coil whine id ask for RMA or refund.

end of the day they shouldn't be making noises.

why should you pay same as everyone else for a titan and get inferior quality?

What if you RMA'd a GTX680 and got given a Titan? (which is basically what the OP is describing as the 580 is sub GTX760 performance).

 

[Suarez7]

7970 I sold had coil whine and I even stated this in the sale to the buyer and he said it would be fine as he just wanted to test and review it then sell it on. Turns out he sold it on to someone else without warning them of the coil whine and they complained, he then started to blame me and said I needed to take the card back and return it under warranty to which I swiftly showed him Sapphire don't take cards back for coil whine. Had no further reply from him since

 

[no_1_dave]

Coil whine can be fixed 90% of the time by putting a blob of glue on the whining coil
I had to do it with my monitor. It would whine if the whole screen was white