Powercolor R9 280 - buzzing noise, esp. under load.

[ote1]

Hey there,

Having successfully installed my driver for the above card late last night (with the much-needed and appreciated help of rolypolyman) I finally got around to my first game this evening and it's left me a little concerned with the noises the GPU seems to be producing.

Under zero load - temp. approx. 30-35'C - there is quiet, intermittent buzzing. It is on an off constantly a few times a second and is relatively low frequency.

Once I boot Civ up and get to the game screen (where it has to start rendering textures etc.) it becomes much more audible. To the point where I'd consider it loud and more importantly disruptive. It's not a constant, loud hum, it's on and off. I can make it produce the noise moving the map around - it makes the noise every time when the newly revealed grey tiles are converted to various landscapes. Whilst playing for an hour or so earlier, with this same noise present, temps never exceeded 62'C.

Here's a recording of the noise:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIdQDpJ5Jf0&list=UUv6bu9pHVKib2gxHrkSNOFA

- The first 3 clicks are 'play' on Steam, selecting Directx 11 and then clicking through the intro film.
- Then there is a series of 4 or 5 clicks which is the save file being selected to load up the game.
- After that pause (approx. 1.10) the game is loaded and the relatively discreet buzzing gets quite a bit louder and as you can hear a little disruptive. When you hear me click intermittently later I am scrolling across the map and you can hear the buzz every time when this happens.

* Please note I don't have any good recording devices, just my phone, but it reproduces the sound quite effectively. Also, this is with the case open with my phone resting on the desk next to it. I realise case open = louder but it produces a better recording and is only slightly louder in honesty.

Help once again appreciated,

Ote1

 

[wazza300]

its coil whine and or emi interference

gpu
psu
motherboard all produce it,type of model/brand also hightens it or lessens it

 

[ote1]

its coil whine and or emi interference

gpu
psu
motherboard all produce it,type of model/brand also hightens it or lessens it

Before I started using my GPU I didn't have any of this - could it still be coil whine considering this? I was using just onboard graphics for a couple of days as I figured out how to install the AMD driver.

 

[wazza300]

yeah its coil whine

its pretty much normal in insanely high frames per second,like in game menu's ect

but it shouldn't be heard while playing the actual game,all my cards mildly do it but not in games

if its annoyingly loud then try running heaven benchmark on a loop overnight,that usually settles the card and the noise lessens or stops,or you can try rma'ing the card

it also might quieten down over time though none of my cards have tbh

enabling vsync also quietens it (it caps the fps to 60)

 

[ote1]

yeah its coil whine

its pretty much normal in insanely high frames per second,like in game menu's ect

but it shouldn't be heard while playing the actual game,all my cards mildly do it but not in games

if its annoyingly loud then try running heaven benchmark on a loop overnight,that usually settles the card and the noise lessens or stops,or you can try rma'ing the card

it also might quieten down over time though none of my cards have tbh

enabling vsync also quietens it (it caps the fps to 60)

Hmm, mine's most notable whilst playing the game. Especially when under load, i.e. when rendering new patches of map I'm scrolling over. Vertical sync has been enabled the whole time.

I'll try that benchmarking tomorrow after work.

Just a note: Civ 5 does have a habit of freezing in between turns for a very short while (I have a read an issue with the software). When this occurs the noise stops in keeping with it.

 

[ote1]

Here's the Youtube clip. As explained above it's at ~1.10 that the noise gets louder as the map is rendered. Prior to that it's at idle but still making the intermittent buzz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIdQDpJ5Jf0&list=UUv6bu9pHVKib2gxHrkSNOFA