Associate
- Joined
- 2 Feb 2021
- Posts
- 206
Hi Guys
Returning after a long time (8 years ago) lurker here, and long time PC enthusiast.
Like many of you, I have started the long journey to find a Geforce 3080/90 at the start of last year. At first it was almost impossible to get a card without going to the Scalpers, but I eventually managed to find a few reliable ways of staying ahead.
Due to my job (+ personal interest) I actually come across a lot of different high level graphic cards, and coil whine has always been my sore point due to my watercooled wall mounted setup. I have actually returned 2-3 cards this generation so far due to what I could consider to be bad coil whine. I have also spent a lot of time trying to poke at the PCBs to find the sources in attempts to do DIY fixes (with some success).
With the recent high priced cards, I find it unacceptable to still have high levels of coil whine given people pay over £1600-1800 for a card that buzz, just imagine if you bought an iPhone Pro and it buzzes loudly, Apple turn around and say, that's normal, accept it.
If you got time please share your experiences with coil whine, I would be very interested to hear what you have, I understand each person have different tolerances and perception on coil whine, here are my personal ones.
Worst offending Apps:
3D Mark Wildlife
Witcher 3 Wild Hunt - vSync off
Ratings 0-10
1 - Coil whine detectable when place ear right next to graphics card.
10 - Coil whine easily noticeable even with speaker volume on moderate through a case.
3090FE - 6 (Returned)
3080FE - 5 (Returned)
Asus 3070 TUF OC - 6 (Returned)
MSI 3070 Ventus OC - 1
Palit 3070 Gaming Pro OC - 2
MSI 1080 Armor OC - 9 (Inductor Modded to 1)
EVGA 2080 - 0 (EVGA)
Asus Strix 2080Ti - 3
Asus Expedition 580 - 5 (Inductor Modded to 1)
MSI 5870 Armor - 1
For those who are interested here is what I have found during my DIY fixes for coil whine, a lot of these methods may invalidate your warranty, so do it at your own risk
1. Most of the time coil whine is due to a single offending inductor, these ones can usually be replaced. (order from somewhere like rs-online, but for experienced users only as it can brick your board.
2. Less invasive method, cover all the inductors with thermal 0.5mm pads, not just on top but all around the coils, I've found this acts as a muffler covering up the coil whine, and so far had no heating or component failure issues.
3. If the inductor has any openings, I have had good results injecting nail varnish in the holes, I did this for an old Radeon graphics card where the bottom of inductor had a gap in it.
4. I am guessing heating and re-melting the potting inside the inductor may also work, however I have never found the right temperature range to do it.
Myth:
1. Change PSU will help your coil whine - Unless you have a midcore PSU, changing it won't really affect coil whine, I've got 4 higher tier PSUs, G3 650, Leadex 850, RM850x, Prime-Tx 750, swapping between these PSU had not much changes to coil whine volume.
2. Do a 24/72 hour burn will reduce coil whine - I have personally tried this, with limited success, I have found coil whine can lessen when card reaches higher temp, however when cooled down the coil whine comes back. In terms of intensity, there are differences, but I have never had a card reduce coil whine to 0 due to burn in, in the same way I have also found coil whine increased after burn in.
3. Every card has coil whine - Not true, I have had cards that has absolutely 0 coil wine, all fans
4. Coil whine is caused by high FPS - Not true, certain games like witcher 3 will have coil whine at 70-90 FPS. Coil whine during high FPS is usually high pitched, while coil whine on lower FPS games are usually a buzzing noise.
Final point, after poking around inductors for the last 2 years I firmly believe if manufacturer's actually bother testing inductors for resilience frequency they could eliminate the problem very easily, as most cases only 1 inductor is found to be the culprit, however most seems to want to brush this under the carpet as something that should just be accepted.
I would encourage anyone to return their cards under RMA if they find their card noise rather than simply live with it, especially for a card costing more than a grand, you should expect much higher quality. After enough people returning I believe only then the manufacturers will take notice.
Returning after a long time (8 years ago) lurker here, and long time PC enthusiast.
Like many of you, I have started the long journey to find a Geforce 3080/90 at the start of last year. At first it was almost impossible to get a card without going to the Scalpers, but I eventually managed to find a few reliable ways of staying ahead.
Due to my job (+ personal interest) I actually come across a lot of different high level graphic cards, and coil whine has always been my sore point due to my watercooled wall mounted setup. I have actually returned 2-3 cards this generation so far due to what I could consider to be bad coil whine. I have also spent a lot of time trying to poke at the PCBs to find the sources in attempts to do DIY fixes (with some success).
With the recent high priced cards, I find it unacceptable to still have high levels of coil whine given people pay over £1600-1800 for a card that buzz, just imagine if you bought an iPhone Pro and it buzzes loudly, Apple turn around and say, that's normal, accept it.
If you got time please share your experiences with coil whine, I would be very interested to hear what you have, I understand each person have different tolerances and perception on coil whine, here are my personal ones.
Worst offending Apps:
3D Mark Wildlife
Witcher 3 Wild Hunt - vSync off
Ratings 0-10
1 - Coil whine detectable when place ear right next to graphics card.
10 - Coil whine easily noticeable even with speaker volume on moderate through a case.
3090FE - 6 (Returned)
3080FE - 5 (Returned)
Asus 3070 TUF OC - 6 (Returned)
MSI 3070 Ventus OC - 1
Palit 3070 Gaming Pro OC - 2
MSI 1080 Armor OC - 9 (Inductor Modded to 1)
EVGA 2080 - 0 (EVGA)
Asus Strix 2080Ti - 3
Asus Expedition 580 - 5 (Inductor Modded to 1)
MSI 5870 Armor - 1
For those who are interested here is what I have found during my DIY fixes for coil whine, a lot of these methods may invalidate your warranty, so do it at your own risk
1. Most of the time coil whine is due to a single offending inductor, these ones can usually be replaced. (order from somewhere like rs-online, but for experienced users only as it can brick your board.
2. Less invasive method, cover all the inductors with thermal 0.5mm pads, not just on top but all around the coils, I've found this acts as a muffler covering up the coil whine, and so far had no heating or component failure issues.
3. If the inductor has any openings, I have had good results injecting nail varnish in the holes, I did this for an old Radeon graphics card where the bottom of inductor had a gap in it.
4. I am guessing heating and re-melting the potting inside the inductor may also work, however I have never found the right temperature range to do it.
Myth:
1. Change PSU will help your coil whine - Unless you have a midcore PSU, changing it won't really affect coil whine, I've got 4 higher tier PSUs, G3 650, Leadex 850, RM850x, Prime-Tx 750, swapping between these PSU had not much changes to coil whine volume.
2. Do a 24/72 hour burn will reduce coil whine - I have personally tried this, with limited success, I have found coil whine can lessen when card reaches higher temp, however when cooled down the coil whine comes back. In terms of intensity, there are differences, but I have never had a card reduce coil whine to 0 due to burn in, in the same way I have also found coil whine increased after burn in.
3. Every card has coil whine - Not true, I have had cards that has absolutely 0 coil wine, all fans
4. Coil whine is caused by high FPS - Not true, certain games like witcher 3 will have coil whine at 70-90 FPS. Coil whine during high FPS is usually high pitched, while coil whine on lower FPS games are usually a buzzing noise.
Final point, after poking around inductors for the last 2 years I firmly believe if manufacturer's actually bother testing inductors for resilience frequency they could eliminate the problem very easily, as most cases only 1 inductor is found to be the culprit, however most seems to want to brush this under the carpet as something that should just be accepted.
I would encourage anyone to return their cards under RMA if they find their card noise rather than simply live with it, especially for a card costing more than a grand, you should expect much higher quality. After enough people returning I believe only then the manufacturers will take notice.
First two did have way too much whine, even on best PSU's. Third one is fine thankfully and as a bonus OC's very well. 
