PSU coil whines like crazy with some GPUs.

[Deleted member 193596]

i am not a native english speaker.

So i have a whole collection of Hardware here (different Monitors, around 10 different GPUs, 3 Motherboards and 3 CPUs)

But only one PSU (since it just works with everything i throw on it.)

It is an EVGA GQ 750W Gold (yes it is mostly a "mid tier" PSU but it get's the job done even with my actual Gaming Rig that includes a 9900k at 5.2 Ghz and a 2080 Ti AMP Extreme with a 350W Powerdraw.)


So the problem is the following

Z370 Tuf Gaming Pro 8086k 5.1 Ghz, 1060,1070,1080 Ti, 5700XT = PSU is completely silent under any circumstances

Z390 Extreme4 8086k and 9900k 5.1 /5.2 Ghz 1060,1070,1080 Ti 5700XT and the 2080 Ti (didn't hadthe 2080 Ti with my Z370 Rig) = completely silent under any circumstances

Z390 Aorus Pro 9900k 5.2 Ghz 1080 ti, 1660 Ti, 2070 Super, 2080 Ti = 1080 Ti completely silent, 1660 Ti sounds almost like a cricket on crack , 2070 Super Absolute batsh*t crazy coilwhine that i can hear it through 3 thick brick walls (around 80cm thick) on the other side of the house (around 10 meters away)
2080 Ti same as 2070 S but slightly lower pitched.

first i thought it would be the 2070S (EVGA Model) and i got a refund and bought a Gigabyte Gaming OC 2070S (which is completely silent with no coilwhine whatsoever).

but it's the same problem. as soon as i have high FPS the Powersupply goes absolutely crazy and screams through the whole house with a ridiculously high pitched noise (like these "Noises" in the 2000s that kids had on their phones to annoy people in an area of 12 Kilometers)


i ordered a Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 750W unit which is Platinum rated.


is it dangerous to keep it? i am concerned about the fact that it could be damaged internally and blow up and kill my whole PC. (my 2080 ti Rig costed me almost 5000€ and runs 5TB SSD Storage and 4400 Mhz Ram.)

 

[Bill_Bright]

Do note that EVGA comes with a 5 year warranty.

Is it dangerous to keep? Not at all. Coil (and transformer) whine is caused by vibration, not excessive current or other dangerous issues. It is just annoying. In many cases, it can be fixed with epoxy - if the offending coil or windings can be identified.

That said, do make sure it is coming from inside the PSU. If possible, I would unmount the PSU and try to isolate it so you can more easily pinpoint the sound to make sure it is the PSU.

 

[Deleted member 193596]

Do note that EVGA comes with a 5 year warranty.

Is it dangerous to keep? Not at all. Coil (and transformer) whine is caused by vibration, not excessive current or other dangerous issues. It is just annoying. In many cases, it can be fixed with epoxy - if the offending coil or windings can be identified.

That said, do make sure it is coming from inside the PSU. If possible, I would unmount the PSU and try to isolate it so you can more easily pinpoint the sound to make sure it is the PSU.

i know that coil whine itself is not dangerous but the problem is it appeared within one day after years of usage.

and it is unbelievably loud (far away from any hard coilwhine on a new GPU)


but i can say that it is 100% from the PSU only (i took it out of the case and ran integrated graphics from the CPU and it still made these noises.)

i guess i wait until my new one arrives and then RMA it.

 

[Bill_Bright]

i guess i wait until my new one arrives and then RMA it.

If still within warranty, then for sure, don't dink with it. You don't want to void the warranty.

 

[Deleted member 193596]

If still within warranty, then for sure, don't dink with it. You don't want to void the warranty.

i got some news here.

my be quiet dark power pro 11 750W unit arrived today.

the coilwhine is completely gone under every load and framerate.

but the weird thing is.
my GPU was not able to hold a +80 on the core for longer than 2 minutes of gameplay before everything crashed.

now i am at +100 the GPU clocks at 2100 Mhz (2070 Super) and it does not crash at all.
even the memory goes to +1200 (and scales! no ECC kicks in and degrades FPS, the framerate goes higher up to 1200. before the Memory locked the Whole PC up on desktop at +900)

was my PSU broken? or is the new really high end platinum unit so much better that it allows the higher OC?

 

[Decryptor009]

Sadly if you want serious quality, you pay serious money.

 

[Vayra86]

i got some news here.

my be quiet dark power pro 11 750W unit arrived today.

the coilwhine is completely gone under every load and framerate.

but the weird thing is.
my GPU was not able to hold a +80 on the core for longer than 2 minutes of gameplay before everything crashed.

now i am at +100 the GPU clocks at 2100 Mhz (2070 Super) and it does not crash at all.
even the memory goes to +1200 (and scales! no ECC kicks in and degrades FPS, the framerate goes higher up to 1200. before the Memory locked the Whole PC up on desktop at +900)

was my PSU broken? or is the new really high end platinum unit so much better that it allows the higher OC?

A more stable PSU can make a difference, but there is also a chance your last unit wasn't entirely good to begin with. The base quality of your average PSU is sufficient to not make a difference in OCing GPUs, generally. Its a first, for me at least. Especially with ambient OCs.

Given the coil whine that developed over time, I think your unit was faulty.

 

[Bill_Bright]

was my PSU broken?

Most likely. While the GQ series is not EVGA's top of the line, it is still excellent quality. I cannot find many reviews on the GQ 750W specifically, but those I did find were very favorable And I note JonnyGuru gave the GQ 650W an impressive 9.4 and the GQ 850W an almost identical 9.2. There is no reason to doubt the GQ 750W would not have earned a similar rating.

So I agree with Vayra86 and believe your unit was faulty. It happens. Until Man can create perfection 100% of the time, there will always be units that fail prematurely, even from the best makers.