Buzzing from GPU under load

[Nate19]

Hi All!

 

I have a 3090 (MSI GAMING X TRIO) that been sitting in storage for a bit and have put it into a new PC.

 

When under a graphically intensive load, there is a very loud buzzing, almost sizzling sound that comes from the GPU. Starts off low when opening a game, but gets loud when in game.

 

Does this sound like coil whine or something more sinister? I’ve attached a sound recording, you will need to turn up volume to hear it.
https://temp-file.org/VBeGkamO9nI0b9s/file

[ZeusXI]

18 minutes ago, Nate19 said:

Hi All!

 

I have a 3090 (MSI GAMING X TRIO) that been sitting in storage for a bit and have put it into a new PC.

 

When under a graphically intensive load, there is a very loud buzzing, almost sizzling sound that comes from the GPU. Starts off low when opening a game, but gets loud when in game.

 

Does this sound like coil whine or something more sinister? I’ve attached a sound recording, you will need to turn up volume to hear it.
https://temp-file.org/VBeGkamO9nI0b9s/file

Coil Whine. Try using Vsync or capping the frames. Probably belting out as many frames as it can make.

[Hinjima]

21 minutes ago, Nate19 said:

Hi All!

 

I have a 3090 (MSI GAMING X TRIO) that been sitting in storage for a bit and have put it into a new PC.

 

When under a graphically intensive load, there is a very loud buzzing, almost sizzling sound that comes from the GPU. Starts off low when opening a game, but gets loud when in game.

 

Does this sound like coil whine or something more sinister? I’ve attached a sound recording, you will need to turn up volume to hear it.
https://temp-file.org/VBeGkamO9nI0b9s/file

That is definitely coilwhine   Its not dangerous and does not affect the lifespan of the product.
Coilwhine is simply power going through transistors and vibrating the coils inside.  Higher FPS usually cause the coils to vibrate faster and it will give of a higher pitched coilwhine.  Limiting your FPS to your monitors refreshrate can be helpful to reduce the noise.
Again, its not dangerous. PSU's, GPU's Motherboards and even Monitors can have coilwhine.

[Nate19]

After running a bunch of stress tests and capping the frames to 140. High graphic setting tests, the whine is inaudible (3d mark - raytracing test).

 

It seems like the whining has decreased after each run. Is that something that can happen to a GPU that hasn't been used for a while?
 

[Hinjima]

13 minutes ago, Nate19 said:

After running a bunch of stress tests and capping the frames to 140. High graphic setting tests, the whine is inaudible (3d mark - raytracing test).

 

It seems like the whining has decreased after each run. Is that something that can happen to a GPU that hasn't been used for a while?
 

Coilwhine can decrease or go away entirely as the resonating electrical components age, not very likely on the first couple of hours and even months. I say can, most of the time it does not.
Capping the framerate might definitely have helped and you have also gotten more used to the noise over a couple of runs.

[Nate19]

Yeah that's a good point. Running the MW2 benchmark seems to make the coil noise pretty loudly.
Guess there isn't much I can do.
Thanks for the help

[Hinjima]

2 minutes ago, Nate19 said:

Yeah that's a good point. Running the MW2 benchmark seems to make the coil noise pretty loudly.
Guess there isn't much I can do.
Thanks for the help

No worries bud.

Yeah. Sometimes its very bad and one can try to RMA the card but most high end cards do have coilwhine, as they are pushing performance hard. The Zotac 4090 trinity had massive issues with coilwhine, one guy on youtube went through over 10 cards to find one with 'acceptable' Coilwhine.
Usually with some game audio + headphones, you won't notice too much.

[Bagzie]

4 minutes ago, Hinjima said:

No worries bud.

Yeah. Sometimes its very bad and one can try to RMA the card but most high end cards do have coilwhine, as they are pushing performance hard. The Zotac 4090 trinity had massive issues with coilwhine, one guy on youtube went through over 10 cards to find one with 'acceptable' Coilwhine.
Usually with some game audio + headphones, you won't notice too much.

Guessing he was returning them and buying on a cycle till he found one he wanted? 

 

I used to get coil whine on my 7900XT but it's gone away to the point I only see it at stupidly high fps eg. 2000fps load screens etc.

[Nate19]

11 minutes ago, Hinjima said:

No worries bud.

Yeah. Sometimes its very bad and one can try to RMA the card but most high end cards do have coilwhine, as they are pushing performance hard. The Zotac 4090 trinity had massive issues with coilwhine, one guy on youtube went through over 10 cards to find one with 'acceptable' Coilwhine.
Usually with some game audio + headphones, you won't notice too much.

Wow, that's really bad... I didn't realise it was such a big issue on high end cards.

[experior]

1 hour ago, Nate19 said:

Hi All!

 

I have a 3090 (MSI GAMING X TRIO) that been sitting in storage for a bit and have put it into a new PC.

 

When under a graphically intensive load, there is a very loud buzzing, almost sizzling sound that comes from the GPU. Starts off low when opening a game, but gets loud when in game.

 

Does this sound like coil whine or something more sinister? I’ve attached a sound recording, you will need to turn up volume to hear it.
https://temp-file.org/VBeGkamO9nI0b9s/file

while it may be the coil whine
just in case you should check that the fans aren't scraping the side of their frames but it will most likely be the coil whine

[Hinjima]

8 hours ago, Nate19 said:

Wow, that's really bad... I didn't realise it was such a big issue on high end cards.

Very much so.  I had an MSI RTX 2080 Super VENTUS and the coilwhine was insanely loud.  I was playing Mafia 3 with sound coming out of my PSB imagine x2t's and quite high volume and I could hear it screaming..  Got it swapped for a Palit 2080 Super Gamerock and it was whisper quiet.

 

8 hours ago, Bagzie said:

Guessing he was returning them and buying on a cycle till he found one he wanted? 

 

I used to get coil whine on my 7900XT but it's gone away to the point I only see it at stupidly high fps eg. 2000fps load screens etc.

Absolutely, he was also documenting how many had coilwhine etc.
Coilwhine CAN go away after a while   Maybe you got lucky.

[Nate19]

On 8/11/2023 at 1:04 PM, experior said:

while it may be the coil whine
just in case you should check that the fans aren't scraping the side of their frames but it will most likely be the coil whine

Nah definitely coil whine :( I tested the fans max rpm and no not a single sound out of place.

[Nate19]

On 8/11/2023 at 9:21 PM, Hinjima said:

Very much so.  I had an MSI RTX 2080 Super VENTUS and the coilwhine was insanely loud.  I was playing Mafia 3 with sound coming out of my PSB imagine x2t's and quite high volume and I could hear it screaming..  Got it swapped for a Palit 2080 Super Gamerock and it was whisper quiet.

 

Absolutely, he was also documenting how many had coilwhine etc.
Coilwhine CAN go away after a while   Maybe you got lucky.

I have the PC under the desk now, so maybe that's helping with the sound dampening.

[Hinjima]

Just now, Nate19 said:

I have the PC under the desk now, so maybe that's helping with the sound dampening.

Yeah, it should help a little    Is it still very annoying when you play?

[Nate19]

3 minutes ago, Hinjima said:

Yeah, it should help a little    Is it still very annoying when you play?

I seems to be fine now. Not annoying at all.
Now having PSU issues though :)

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1525820-xpg-cybercore-ii-really-bad-fan-curve/

[Hinjima]

10 minutes ago, Nate19 said:

I seems to be fine now. Not annoying at all.
Now having PSU issues though :)

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1525820-xpg-cybercore-ii-really-bad-fan-curve/

Ah yes.  As I have written in many posts ( Not that you would know, of course.).  I exlusively use the RMi/RMx series from Corsair. Excellent quality and reliability, with 10 year warranty and whisper quiet.  I use a RM750i with my system and I have never heard the fan, same with other RM850x I have used in other builds.  I'm going to be quite honest, I never knew that fan noise from a PSU was a problem... As I have never heard it. Previous PSU was a Corsair TX750 from 2011, never heard that fan either. Corsair make silent units!  The RMx series have no fan mode while browing or even when doing light gaming.
Not to go into too much detail, but I am on the autism spectrum with issues regarding noise, I am very sensitive to it.  If noise was an issue, I'd hear it. Hence my Noctua cooling
  But yeah, RM1000x all the way.

[Nate19]

Unfortunately I'm sensitive to irregular noise. I can deal with a gentle humming a case fans etc. But random ramp ups are so annoying... Had the same issue with another psu, but at least I could have toggle off the "smart" fan.

I had to replace my AIO fans with Noctua ones because it was causing the radiator to make whistling sound

 

I prefer something platinum and up and atx 3.0 if I need to replace it.

 

 

[experior]

1 hour ago, Nate19 said:

Nah definitely coil whine I tested the fans max rpm and no not a single sound out of place.

nice not the coil whine part btw use fps limiters in loading screens and lobbies