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Retail AMD Fury X Sound Testing - Pump Whine Investigation by PCPerspective

BiG StroOnZ

                                                                               testingsetup.jpg

 

In our review of AMD's latest flagship graphics card, the Radeon R9 Fury X, I noticed and commented on the unique sound that the card was producing during our testing. A high pitched whine, emanating from the pump of the self-contained water cooler designed by Cooler Master, was obvious from the moment our test system was powered on and remained constant during use. I talked with a couple of other reviewers about the issue before the launch of the card and it seemed that I wasn't alone. Looking around other reviews of the Fury X, most make mention of this squeal specifically.

 

In our review process, AMD told us the solution was fixed. In an email sent to the media just prior to the Fury X launch, an AMD rep stated:

 

'In regards to the “pump whine”, AMD received feedback that during open bench testing some cards emit a mild “whining” noise. This is normal for most high speed liquid cooling pumps; Usually the end user cannot hear the noise as the pumps are installed in the chassis, and the radiator fan is louder than the pump. Since the AMD Radeon™ R9 Fury X radiator fan is near silent, this pump noise is more noticeable.

The issue is limited to a very small batch of initial production samples and we have worked with the manufacturer to improve the acoustic profile of the pump. This problem has been resolved and a fix added to production parts and is not an issue.'

I would disagree that this is "normal" but even so, taking AMD at its word

 

But very quickly after launch some users were posting videos on YouTube and on forums with the same (or worse) sounds and noise. We had already started bringing in a pair of additional Fury X retail cards from Newegg in order to do some performance testing, so it seemed like a logical next step for us to test these retail cards in terms of pump noise as well.

 

First, let's get the bad news out of the way: both of the retail AMD Radeon R9 Fury X cards that arrived in our offices exhibit 'worse' noise, in the form of both whining and buzzing, compared to our review sample.

 

There are few things to take away from this testing. First, the currently selling and shipping AMD Radeon R9 Fury X cards do not include any kind of fix for the pump whine or sound levels of the cooler. Though AMD tells me that we just had a miscommunication or misinterpretation of the comments they shared with us prior to our NDA, I think it is at the very least fair to say that AMD was hoping to deflect the issue on launch day. Now that retail cards are out and end users (not just us) are getting their hands on them, I think its obvious that the sound issues are more of a problem than AMD would like to admit.

 

 

Source: http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Retail-AMD-Fury-X-Sound-Testing-Pump-Whine-Investigation

 

I find it interesting that AMD made the statement that it will be fixed in the retail versions. If you look all over Reddit and other forums, plus all over Youtube there are videos showing this issue. 

 

Three threads on Reddit: 

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/3b43kn/anyone_got_coil_whinebuzzing_noise_in_their_fury_x/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/3b7u7e/anyones_amd_r9_fury_x_sound_like_mine_link_here/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/3bbenq/fury_x_owners_how_is_your_performance/ (this one actually takes note to the noise at the end)

 

One on AMD's Message Board:

 

https://community.amd.com/thread/183409

 

Two on AnandTech Forums:

 

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?s=457cd00d38a211191c6a9e81a27161c6&p=37512130&postcount=1

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?s=9236cb74902e646d5c19e5ea588b742e&p=37517154&postcount=328

 

One on LTT Forums:

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/395543-fury-x-noise-problem-and-so-it-continues/

 

Many Videos on it:

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLW7cZPW2fA

 

 

 

 

 

I really think this can become a problem once more people get a hold of these cards, as it seems there is limited availability of the cards right now. It doesn't seem like the problem has been addressed in the retail versions like AMD has stated.

             

 

        

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Damn it PCPer - don't stack cards on top of one another.

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This has all been pointed out in the Fury X master thread.  Could have just made a comment.

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/392900-unofficial-r9-fury-x-reviews-master-post/

 

This is a separate thread regarding PCPer's investigation. 

             

 

        

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well I guess now is a good time to say nvidia is better.

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I loathe the normal dB testing. This is exactly why that's so misleading. It's the type of sound that determines whether it's annoying or not, not just the plain dB levels (up to a certain point ofc.). This is the same problem with average fps. Yes a card can have 60fps average, but you can have 33ms spikes in a 16.7ms average...

 

Good on PCPer for sticking their necks out again. The comments on their website are crying "lol nvidia fanboys" again. PC hardware is becoming more cult-like by the minute.

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Coil whine is fixable easily by manufacturer, but pump noise I don't will change.

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I guess I will ask the same thing as the master thread. Are the cards that have been tweaked out in public hands yet?

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I want to know if everyone was sold out how did he manage to get a couple more?  Or is he the reason they have sold out? :blink:

Grammar and spelling is not indicative of intelligence/knowledge.  Not having the same opinion does not always mean lack of understanding.  

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How am I not suprised that AMD happened to quite frankly make bad moves over and over again, while nVidia is waaay better in every way (except ~300 usd GPU vram :P) btw illuminati confirdmed

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I loathe the normal dB testing. This is exactly why that's so misleading. It's the type of sound that determines whether it's annoying or not, not just the plain dB levels (up to a certain point ofc.). This is the same problem with average fps. Yes a card can have 60fps average, but you can have 33ms spikes in a 16.7ms average...

 

Good on PCPer for sticking their necks out again. The comments on their website are crying "lol nvidia fanboys" again. PC hardware is becoming more cult-like by the minute.

And it will be the fanboys themselves making the comments. *sigh* They really are idiots.

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Why would you test sound levels in an open bench setup with your recorder 8 inches from the graphics card?  That won't be representative of the actual real world effect of anything.

 

Like I get not wanting to bias the testing with a specific case.  But the recorder should be further away.

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Why would you test sound levels in an open bench setup with your recorder 8 inches from the graphics card?  That won't be representative of the actual real world effect of anything.

 

Like I get not wanting to bias the testing with a specific case.  But the recorder should be further away.

 

To alleviate as much room noise and measure only the card.

Grammar and spelling is not indicative of intelligence/knowledge.  Not having the same opinion does not always mean lack of understanding.  

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Yes, the retail versions were supposed to be "fixed".

Not all of them as I read it. An initial batch was supposed to have issues, huzzah to early adopters.

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CoolerMaster pump..... :(

I'll put things this way, my $50 Cooler Master Siedon 120V has a far quieter pump.

"We also blind small animals with cosmetics.
We do not sell cosmetics. We just blind animals."

 

"Please don't mistake us for Equifax. Those fuckers are evil"

 

This PSA brought to you by Equifacks.
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Why didn't they make a variable pump speed for idle usage. Boggles the mind how they can be so incompetent.

 

I'm really starting to despise AMD for their attitude. They keep sweeping shit under the rug, instead of playing it straight. 295X was a piece of shit aswell. And the 200 series cards in general throttled on their reference designs. Why do they deceive their consumerbase like this...

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PcPer is freaking awesome and that comment section has AMD fanboys calling them green trolls and Nvidia Fanboys despite them providing facts and such.

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I'll put things this way, my $50 Cooler Master Siedon 120V has a far quieter pump.

Let's say CoolerMaster screws up this time.

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PcPer is freaking awesome and that comment section has AMD fanboys calling them green trolls and Nvidia Fanboys despite them providing facts and such.

 

One day these kids will grow up, if not they're only limiting their own opportunities and experiences.

Grammar and spelling is not indicative of intelligence/knowledge.  Not having the same opinion does not always mean lack of understanding.  

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Why didn't they make a variable pump speed for idle usage. Boggles the mind how they can be so incompetent.

 

I'm really starting to despise AMD for their attitude. They keep sweeping shit under the rug, instead of playing it straight. 295X was a piece of shit aswell. And the 200 series cards in general throttled on their reference designs. Why do they deceive their consumerbase like this...

i thought the r9 295x2 cooler was pretty quiet or at least quieter than titan z

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i thought the r9 295x2 cooler was pretty quiet or at least quieter than titan z

 

Yes, sound wasn't it's problem. But it violates ATX specifications, and a couple of other things (sig)

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Yes, sound wasn't it's problem. But it violates ATX specifications, and a couple of other things (sig)

 

Just curious, how did it violate ATX specifications? 

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