Matrix 7970 plat. making digital "squeal" under load.

[CertifiedDan]

Im having abit of trouble with my card as the title suggests. My rig is a new build and has been running fine up until now. When I load a game the GPU will begin to emit a squealing noise. The thing is the GPU is only under a "Medium load" according to the status light and it begins to squeal, previously i was playing games like Far cry 3, Tomb Raider & skyrim (heavily modded) on ultra settings getting constant 60fps occasionally getting the Red "extreme load" light with absolutely no noise at all.

I understand that the most likely issue is down to PSU but I don'r see why it would not have made this noise in the past.


Any pointers on the matter would be appreciated.
CPU: i5 4670k 3.8gHz
Mobo: Gigabyte z87-oc
RAM: G.skill ares 2x4gb 1600mHz
Storage, 2tb 7200rpm HDD, 60gb SSD
PSU: Corsair Tx650w
5 case fans (6 including WC radiator)
WC Pump
Wireless PCI-E card

Thanks,

CD

 

[sadbuttrue]

Coil whine is pretty common and affects random cards and/or component combinations. Not much you can do about it other than change card. It's most prevalent when running very high fps in older games at low-medium load. Imposing an fps cap or vsync should lower or remove the noise.

 

[CertifiedDan]

Thanks for your response.
I have noticed it is at it worse on title screen of games. Which I assume are mostly high fps, low loads. Would your advice be to RMA the card? I only purchased it in September from overclockers.
I also believe v-sync or "wait for vertical refresh" in catalyst? Has always been set to Always on.
Thanks again

CD

 

[sadbuttrue]

You should contact them first explaining the problem. I'm not sure if overclockers would consider coil whine a fault and grounds for a replacement. In fact if it is a component combination issue they may find it to be completely silent in their test bed.

 

[jellofund]

Unless it's particularly bad it's doubtful you'd be able to RMA it as per this post by Bailey (OCUK staffer):

Hello,

I understand your frustration with the whine with the card. Once the card has been burned in it may lessen or become non existent however.

Unfortunately coil whine is one of them things which can happen but the manufacturers don't class it as a fault as it doesn't effect the GPU at all. It is a very grey area, only in severe cases items with coil whine are excepted back to us under RMA.

My GPU at home as coil whine too unfortunately.

I hope this clears it up.

Cheers

Bailey

I got a bit of mild whine with my old 7970 in certain menu or load screens (fraps would be showing a framerate in the thousands) but never in game. As sadbuttrue suggests enabling v-sync or capping the framerate using Riva Tuner or equivalent will stop it from happening.

You may find that the whine settles down or disappears over time and some have found that leaving their pc running benchmarks (e.g. Unigine Heaven) overnight can help too.

 

[spixelspixel]

If a card has coil whine at high fps then it also has coil whine when under load with lower fps. It just sounds very different (more of a cricket noise) and is quieter so is sometimes not heard over other components/ambient noise.

It's nothing to worry about.