my honest opinion about gtx 970's.

[Nickolas47]

I have the same card, have coil whine. Which power supply do you have?

check my signature, ax860i

[huracan]

It has been found that you can switch PSUs to remove coil whine. Not to any specific PSU though, its more like trial and error. The problem is not the GPU, but the GPU+PSU combination that causes coil whine.

 

Not always.

i have a evga 600b 80+ bronze, not the best one nor is it the worst but i'll try to rma it.

[MLG Doge]

If you got 3 cards with coil whine then its not the cards, its your PSU.

^^^^^

[Briggsy]

If you got 3 cards with coil whine then its not the cards, its your PSU.

 

quite possibly PSU whine even.

 

I wonder if anyone has undertaken a public google doc or open survey to determine which power supplies and gpu's are no good together. With the sheer number of complaints about Maxwell coil whine, I don't think the old saying "get a PSU from a reputable brand" is valid in this case. I keep seeing corsair CX coming up, but so far I haven't seen anything remotely scientific showing which brands/OEMs are the culprit. Heck, it could even be the motherboard delivering unstable power through the pci-e slot.

[dougyfresh]

My Asus 970 Strix is dead silent at idle and barely audible when under load. The only time I get coil whine with the card is when I'm on splash screens and what not getting like 1000+ fps. Heck I can get 200+ fps and I still don't get coil whine. It's only when I get to the 1000 fps range that I get it

[Malandrix]

Have two 970s and they are for the most part silent. 

Definitely nothing I would notice without trying to.

[Zweihander]

From my understanding, coil whine is something your going to experience with high-end GPUs. 

 

Now whether or not that noise is audible may depend on a number of things (i.e., PSU, case, human ears etc). It's nothing to be concerned about...

[huracan]

quite possibly PSU whine even.

 

I wonder if anyone has undertaken a public google doc or open survey to determine which power supplies and gpu's are no good together. With the sheer number of complaints about Maxwell coil whine, I don't think the old saying "get a PSU from a reputable brand" is valid in this case. I keep seeing corsair CX coming up, but so far I haven't seen anything remotely scientific showing which brands/OEMs are the culprit. Heck, it could even be the motherboard delivering unstable power through the pci-e slot.

i like the idea but im limited about testing the gpus and psu im a very cheapo user, so unless linus or any of the staff see's this post i doubt its gonna be possible. and as far as my psu goes its a pretty reputable brand and a very reliable one as well evga 600b 80+ bronze.

[huracan]

From my understanding, coil whine is something your going to experience with high-end GPUs. 

 

Now whether or not that noise is audible may depend on a number of things (i.e., PSU, case, human ears etc). It's nothing to be concerned about...

yeah true, but its like a clock u dont notice it normally but when everything calms down a bit it get very annoying.

[huracan]

I have the same card, have coil whine. Which power supply do you have?

i have a evga 600b 80+ bronze psu mate.

[Zweihander]

I haven't been able to verify this first-hand...but I've heard that coil whine is sort of like a break in, for GPUs.

 

The noise MAY go away after some use is put in.

[Briggsy]

i like the idea but im limited about testing the gpus and psu im a very cheapo user, so unless linus or any of the staff see's this post i doubt its gonna be possible. and as far as my psu goes its a pretty reputable brand and a very reliable one as well evga 600b 80+ bronze.

 

well yeah, I doubt anyone on a limited budget could test multiple gpu's, motherboards and psu's to figure which oem's/brands are causing the issues, but if everyone who has coil whine added their pc components to a public spreadsheet, I am almost certain a pattern would emerge, and coil whine would be eliminated once the guilty manufacturers fixed their sh$%. 

[huracan]

I haven't been able to verify this first-hand...but I've heard that coil whine is sort of like a break in, for GPUs.

 

The noise MAY go away after some use is put in.

yeah ppl keep saying that is it actually true that coil whine goes away after awhile?

[Zweihander]

yeah ppl keep saying that is it actually true that coil whine goes away after awhile?

 

Like I said, I have no idea...just heard some rumors. I don't want to spread false information.

 

Could anyone else chime in on this? 

[huracan]

Like I said, I have no idea...just heard some rumors. I don't want to spread false information.

 

Could anyone else chime in on this? 

yeah if anyone could provide some confirmed info about it, it would be much appreciated. 

[flibberdipper]

Welcome to the world of a power supply that hates life.

 

And what's funny is how I catch some shit for running a 480 and a 7950 on a 650 watt EVGA PSU, but it's fine, and I have no coil whine (other than from my 7950, but it's so minor it's not that noticeable).

[melias24]

My opinion on the GTX 970, is that i've had enough of hearing about them tbh, they are a tiny bit over rated, and you never ever hear the R9 290/x being mentioned when someone is after a budget GPU.

[Lays]

My 980 (which is basically a 970 with more cuda cores AFIA) doesn't whine much, for some reason it whines when I close Heaven but I don't hear it whine often...  It's just luck really.

 

Also, a little tip. Don't use FurMark to test stability, just because it's stable in FurMark it doesn't mean that it will be stable doing other things. I found that out when I was overclocking my card, got the memory to something stupid like (I don't remember the exact figure) 8.7GHz (effective obviously), ran fine in FurMark, went to test it in Heaven and it crashed almost instantly.

 

 

It whines when you close heaven because it goes back to that menu screen, where the GPU renders that screen at like 5,000 FPS, causing the whine.

 

 

 

@OP

 

Both my 970 G1's don't have whine so far from my experiences with em luckily.

[Mooshi]

So much misinformation on this subject..

 

Download Nvidia Inspector here: http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/nvidia-inspector-download.html

 

Once you have that installed, limit the frame rate to whatever your monitors refresh rate is. Your refresh rate is as many frames as you can physically use anyway so it's pointless to care about frames beyond that. 60Hz = limit to 60FPS, 120Hz = 120FPS limit and so on. In not rendering frames that's not needed, your card isn't being pushed as hard and the coil whine high pitched noise should subside. Everyone has coil whine, it's the amount that varies. For such a common issue, I'm surprised no one even discusses this properly and assume it's RMA time. Nvidia Inspector isn't a guarantee, but it's something free to try that worked for me personally. Worth a shot!

 

*This goes for GPU and PSU whine. It's usually one or the other.

[RogueCow]

tldr

Always a useful post.

But srsly? That is one of the shortest and to the point OP's I have seen?! lol

 

To the Op though:

 

My buddy was hell bent on a 970 and ran into the same problem as you. I think

he went through 5 different 970's before he got one that had only little coil buzz.

 

Coil buzz Lottery

[Shroomster]

I mean you could cover the whining coils

with hot glue, and it will at least reduce the whine, if not completely remove it.

[NeatSquidYT]

Mine is great. Only gets coil whine if I'm in a menu and getting 2500FPS+ (GTA:VC), but for some reason doesn't in GTAIV loading screens with the same. It's an amazing card though . Love it.

[Zweihander]

So much misinformation on this subject..

 

Download Nvidia Inspector here: http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/nvidia-inspector-download.html

 

Once you have that installed, limit the frame rate to whatever your monitors refresh rate is. Your refresh rate is as many frames as you can physically use anyway so it's pointless to care about frames beyond that. 60Hz = limit to 60FPS, 120Hz = 120FPS limit and so on. In not rendering frames that's not needed, your card isn't being pushed as hard and the coil whine high pitched noise should subside. Everyone has coil whine, it's the amount that varies. For such a common issue, I'm surprised no one even discusses this properly and assume it's RMA time. Nvidia Inspector isn't a guarantee, but it's something free to try that worked for me personally. Worth a shot!

 

*This goes for GPU and PSU whine. It's usually one or the other.

 

Useful.

[huracan]

So much misinformation on this subject..

 

Download Nvidia Inspector here: http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/nvidia-inspector-download.html

 

Once you have that installed, limit the frame rate to whatever your monitors refresh rate is. Your refresh rate is as many frames as you can physically use anyway so it's pointless to care about frames beyond that. 60Hz = limit to 60FPS, 120Hz = 120FPS limit and so on. In not rendering frames that's not needed, your card isn't being pushed as hard and the coil whine high pitched noise should subside. Everyone has coil whine, it's the amount that varies. For such a common issue, I'm surprised no one even discusses this properly and assume it's RMA time. Nvidia Inspector isn't a guarantee, but it's something free to try that worked for me personally. Worth a shot!

 

*This goes for GPU and PSU whine. It's usually one or the other.

you think i dont use vsync, i do mate my fps are under control 

[huracan]

Always a useful post.

But srsly? That is one of the shortest and to the point OP's I have seen?! lol

 

To the Op though:

 

My buddy was hell bent on a 970 and ran into the same problem as you. I think

he went through 5 different 970's before he got one that had only little coil buzz.

 

Coil buzz Lottery

lol its hard to get a perfect card.

 

Mine is great. Only gets coil whine if I'm in a menu and getting 2500FPS+ (GTA:VC), but for some reason doesn't in GTAIV loading screens with the same. It's an amazing card though . Love it.

lol i like your signature, happened to me once and learned the hardway!

 

My opinion on the GTX 970, is that i've had enough of hearing about them tbh, they are a tiny bit over rated, and you never ever hear the R9 290/x being mentioned when someone is after a budget GPU.

im sorry mate i never had a chance to own a r9 cards so i cant give my opinion my last card was gtx 570, been using nvidia cards since 9800gt and imo r9 cards are best bang for the buck but they run a tad bit hot.

 

Welcome to the world of a power supply that hates life.

 

And what's funny is how I catch some shit for running a 480 and a 7950 on a 650 watt EVGA PSU, but it's fine, and I have no coil whine (other than from my 7950, but it's so minor it's not that noticeable).

wow 480? that thing is a power hungry monster.how long did u have it though ?