Learned something new about PSUs and GPUs today

[CrippledROBOT]

After noticing a fairly significant amount of coil whine from my Seasonic SSR650-PX unit, I contacted Seasonic. After my rather helpful support agent took my issue to his associates they come up with this answer: 

 

"After discussing with my associates regarding the coil whine in your PSU, and basing off the information you have provided me; we came to the conclusion that it is highly probable that the coil whine is caused by the GPU and PSU’s electrical resonance on the coils.   When you are gaming under heavy load, the coil whine is noticeable even though you are sitting a considerable distance away from the PC, however when the PC is idle, it is not exhibiting any type of coil whine and is nearly silent."

 

Does anyone else have coil whine on their GPU or PSU? I'd say that half of all of my PCs that I've ever built have had some form of coil whine and therefore never quite "silent builds".

 

 

UPDATE: In an effort to stomp out coil whine on my now one month old PC, I have ordered a second PSU unit and am playing with multiple settings in the BIOS and with the GPU and getting interesting results. Here is my full build: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/YjWD4D. All parts are new as well. 

[Princess Luna]

I have ever only had GPU coil whine in 1 situation in my entire life, it was with a Zalman 700w GLX 80 Plus PSU feeding an EVGA Superclocked GTX TITAN X when I started The Witcher 3, the intro and first menu had coil whine.... not in-gaming though... current build makes Zero coil whine.

[CrippledROBOT]

1 minute ago, Princess Cadence said:

I have ever only had GPU coil whine in 1 situation in my entire life, it was with a Zalman 700w GLX 80 Plus PSU feeding an EVGA Superclocked GTX TITAN X when I started The Witcher 3, the intro and first menu had coil whine.... not in-gaming though... current build makes Zero coil whine.

So it may be an issue with my PSU then? What do you think about that support tech's answer?

[Princess Luna]

Just now, CrippledROBOT said:

So it may be an issue with my PSU then? What do you think about that support tech's answer?

It usually is the combination of a specific PSU with a specific GPU at a specific workload... pin point coil whine is no easy feat at all.

[CrippledROBOT]

3 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

It usually is the combination of a specific PSU with a specific GPU at a specific workload... pin point coil whine is no easy feat at all.

In effect, working to eliminate coil whine in my situation is basically a fruitless endeavor, so long as I am using the same hardware?

 

Tonight I am going to put my other SSR650-PX in my system and see if that helps. Do you think that would have any benefit?

[Princess Luna]

2 minutes ago, CrippledROBOT said:

?

It could help... what video card do you have exactly?

[Steemax]

My 1070 FTW only had coil whine in menu's in game but that went away after I switched PSU's from the TT Smartpower 750 to the Corsair TX850M 2017 version. 

[CrippledROBOT]

5 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

It could help... what video card do you have exactly?

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487337&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker, LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

[CrippledROBOT]

1 minute ago, Steemax said:

My 1070 FTW only had coil whine in menu's in game but that went away after I switched PSU's from the TT Smartpower 750 to the Corsair TX850M 2017 version. 

Do you think that switching to a different (though same model) PSU would help?

[Princess Luna]

Well Pascal has voltages locked so trying to undervolt it which sometimes fixes the coil whine doesn't work... if the GPU coil whining continues after replacing power supplies you could always use your warranty... EVGA is one of the few companies that accept to RMA due to noticeable whining.

[showerhandle]

Just now, CrippledROBOT said:

Do you think that switching to a different (though same model) PSU would help?

i had a similar issue and i got a new PSU that was the same and for me it did not go away.

[CrippledROBOT]

4 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

Well Pascal has voltages locked so trying to undervolt it which sometimes fixes the coil whine doesn't work... if the GPU coil whining continues after replacing power supplies you could always use your warranty... EVGA is one of the few companies that accept to RMA due to noticeable whining.

I may consider that. Though my experience with EVGA has been nothing but spectacular, dealing with RMAs is the worst. I'm going to swap the PSU and pray that that works. My understanding of coil whine is that it IS NOT a deficiency in the PSU/imminent failure, but is simply a resonance issue.

[CrippledROBOT]

3 minutes ago, showerhandle said:

i had a similar issue and i got a new PSU that was the same and for me it did not go away.

That is slightly disappointing. So are you just "ridding it out"/accepting the sound? Or are you considering an RMA of the GPU?

[showerhandle]

Just now, CrippledROBOT said:

That is slightly disappointing. So are you just "ridding it out"/accepting the sound? Or are you considering an RMA of the GPU?

Ya i am just riding it out. I used a nicer power supply for awhile and that helped it but i ended up selling it cause it was worth alot.

[Steemax]

27 minutes ago, CrippledROBOT said:

Do you think that switching to a different (though same model) PSU would help?

I think it has to do with a quality PSU with good components, it's a hit or miss. Coil whine isn't that big of a deal anyway unless it's just the audible annoyance bugging you. I would ride it out if you're not bothered by the actual noise.

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, Steemax said:

I think it has to do with a quality PSU with good components, it's a hit or miss. Coil whine isn't that big of a deal anyway unless it's just the audible annoyance bugging you. I would ride it out if you're not bothered by the actual noise.

OP has a quality unit.

 

It's not a matter of quality.  It's a matter of windings in magnetics or even layers in poly caps vibrating at different frequencies.  Typically, these frequencies are outside of human hearing, but at certain loads they can be audible.

 

 

[Steemax]

2 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

OP has a quality unit.

 

It's not a matter of quality.  It's a matter of windings in magnetics or even layers in poly caps vibrating at different frequencies.  Typically, these frequencies are outside of human hearing, but at certain loads they can be audible.

 

 

You learn something new every day. So no matter the PSU they will all do it depending on different frequencies and whether or not our ears can hear these specific frequencies.

[Guest]

It's a crap shoot.

 

[CrippledROBOT]

54 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

OP has a quality unit.

 

It's not a matter of quality.  It's a matter of windings in magnetics or even layers in poly caps vibrating at different frequencies.  Typically, these frequencies are outside of human hearing, but at certain loads they can be audible.

 

 

So its 100% normal and not worth the hassle of trying to eliminate it? As a side note, the sound gets drowned out when the fans ramp up to when the system reaches the set temperature (GPU, CPU, and PSU fans). I'm going to try swapping my unit with my backup one anyway and see if that has any sort of improvement, if not, oh well, and I got a little unlucky! 

 

Thank you team!

 

 

[Guest]

Manufacturers "try" to eliminate some of the noise by using a lot of the caulk material.  But that caulk is very expensive as it's non-electrically conductive, non-corrosive, while being thermally conductive (technically, it's epoxy.  But is often called caulk or sometimes just "glue").

 

And it's impossible to cover every potential spot inside the PSU in a production line environment.  Like I said, it's a crap shoot.

 

[CrippledROBOT]

On 11/29/2017 at 1:19 PM, jonnyGURU said:

Manufacturers "try" to eliminate some of the noise by using a lot of the caulk material.  But that caulk is very expensive as it's non-electrically conductive, non-corrosive, while being thermally conductive (technically, it's epoxy.  But is often called caulk or sometimes just "glue").

 

And it's impossible to cover every potential spot inside the PSU in a production line environment.  Like I said, it's a crap shoot.

 

Just swapped my power supplies today. I put my system under load and BOOM! No PSU coil whine! The only whine that I get is a very minor GPU whine at maximum load in certain games. I am a very happy nerd today.