RTX 2060 - Dreaded coil whine

[Wozzer]

Hi all,

Just built a new gaming rig, spec as follows:

CPU: 2600x
GPU: PNY XLR8 RTX 2060
Mobo: MSI B450-F Gaming
PSU: EVGA 600 W1, 100-W1-0600-K3

I've got the dreaded coil whine during heavy loads. I've heard mixed reviews on
- upgrading PSU
- RMA'ing the card
- living with it

I did my research and figured the 600W power supply from EVGA would be more than sufficient. Is this correct?

Is it likely to change if i RMA the card? Will this coil whine reduce its life span?

Thanks in advance,

 

[Wozzer]

Thought i'd provide a quick update;

RMA'd the card. New card has the same issue.

 

[MrGenius]

Coil whine is not something you need to concern yourself with as far as the operation of the card. It's 100% harmless. I don't get why people make such a fuss about it. Well...other than the fact that they have no idea why they shouldn't. Or are just very picky about their computer making any sound at all when it's running. Which I sorta get...just not when it's due to coil whine. Which is what coils do. To one extent or another. Some are louder than others of course. But so what? Never in a million years is it something that I would let bother me. I actually think it sounds kinda cool honestly. Let's me know there's hard work being done.

 

[sam_86314]

My GTX 780 had coil whine so bad you could hear it from across the room. My current card also has it.

In other words, coil whine is completely normal and harmless.

 

[kastriot]

Buy another model or manufacturer until you find the "one".

 

[Wozzer]

Coil whine is not something you need to concern yourself with as far as the operation of the card. It's 100% harmless. I don't get why people make such a fuss about it. Well...other than the fact that they have no idea why they shouldn't. Or are just very picky about their computer making any sound at all when it's running. Which I sorta get...just not when it's due to coil whine. Which is what coils do. To one extent or another. Some are louder than others of course. But so what? Never in a million years is it something that I would let bother me. I actually think it sounds kinda cool honestly. Let's me know there's hard work being done.

Now i've read up about coil whine, i'm not as concerned.

As for making a fuss - I don't think its unreasonable being unhappy with it sounding like a bee. It may not be the 'norm' but that's only because people put up with it by using headphones.

 

[Argyr]

My RTX 2060 also has coil whine. I'm not really bothered by it, I just enable V-Sync an it stops. I don't really care about higher than 60 FPS gameplay anyway

 

[eidairaman1]

Now i've read up about coil whine, i'm not as concerned.

As for making a fuss - I don't think its unreasonable being unhappy with it sounding like a bee. It may not be the 'norm' but that's only because people put up with it by using headphones.

Well you can always attempt to switch power supply brands but that doesn't guarantee nothing Norway to counterbalance coil line is to enable vsync or g-sync

 

[Juventas]

As for making a fuss - I don't think its unreasonable being unhappy with it sounding like a bee. It may not be the 'norm' but that's only because people put up with it by using headphones.

I have a "zero noise" open air computer. It has no moving parts except for an RTX 2070 with fan stop. Outside of games, I have to put my ear up to it to hear a faint buzz. In games, the fans turn on, but the buzz becomes louder than the fans. The only reason this doesn't bother me is because I always play games with a headset on.

I would gladly pay a premium for a card that achieves truely zero coil whine. I believe it's possible because I've listened to laptops with dedicated graphics can do this (e.g. MacBook Pros, yeah yeah I know). I believe there's enough variety and competition in the graphics card market that if enough of us ask for it, someone will eventually offer it.

 

[sam_86314]

My RTX 2060 also has coil whine. I'm not really bothered by it, I just enable V-Sync an it stops. I don't really care about higher than 60 FPS gameplay anyway

Yeah, in most cases limiting your frame rate can solve the issue. I only get really loud high pitched coil whine on loading screens or any other time my frame rate shoots into the thousands.

 

[ArbitraryAffection]

Inductors vibrate a bit when they operate and it makes a buzzing sound (which i can hear) this is perfectly normal and is basically just how they work. Some are noisier than others, my 570 has a buzzing noise similar to that and it changes when you look around in a video game. *shrug*

I know how it feels btw, to be affected by this, it used to drive me insane. I would RMA literally 2 or 3 times before just getting a refund and it really upset me (anxiety doesnt help it). But now it honestly doesn't bother me. Pretty much all of the video cards i've owned have this noise (I have quite sensitive hearing too).

However: Really bad whine can be caused by electrical wiring in the house, some extension leads and/or surge protectors or a power supply. My friend's EVGA 500W bronze power supply whined massively at his house but when he sold it to me it was silent (i live in a 2014 new build house). So YMMV.

 

[c2DDragon]

Coil whine likely depends on the products forming the components.
Changing for the same model & brand will do nothing because the same electonic components are used.
Either get a refund and try another brand as @kastriot said or deal with it if it's not annoying, it will not explode don't worry (I mean, it's not supposed to happen ).

600W is enough but if the PSU does abnormal noise, RMA it.

About life span, any component have his life span reduced as soon as you put power in it. Coil whine is just the noise caused by some amount of power. Your components (CPU/GPU/RAM...) will die faster if you use them at 100% h24 7/7 with or without noise. Now to tell number of days I can't, it could be years.
It's just noise. Now if you get artifacts it's another story.

 

[eidairaman1]

I have a "zero noise" open air computer. It has no moving parts except for an RTX 2070 with fan stop. Outside of games, I have to put my ear up to it to hear a faint buzz. In games, the fans turn on, but the buzz becomes louder than the fans. The only reason this doesn't bother me is because I always play games with a headset on.

I would gladly pay a premium for a card that achieves truely zero coil whine. I believe it's possible because I've listened to laptops with dedicated graphics can do this (e.g. MacBook Pros, yeah yeah I know). I believe there's enough variety and competition in the graphics card market that if enough of us ask for it, someone will eventually offer it.

Your last comment is apples to oranges, desktop gpus utilize more power for higher performance

 

[qubit]

I say get a refund if you can and buy another brand. In particular, look out for reviews of various 2060s and check that it was reported good for coil whine - TPU reviews are a great place to start. Also, while the PSU might affect it somewhat, the lion's share of the blame is on the card.

As for others who say that coil whine is nothing to worry about, I disagree. Perhaps for you maybe, but everyone has different preferences and tolerances.

While it may not mean that the card will die, loud whine is annoying AF and can drive you barmy. I hate it and so make sure that the cards I buy are rated good for this. Usually the ones with quieter coolers also tend to have less coil whine, but not always. Heck, my Zotac GTX 1080 in my specs was rated as good for this and it's lived up to its promise: I don't hear it unless it's being driven hard and rendering at a high framerate. Running the deprecated Furmark generates noticeable whine, but then this program is designed to stress it to the max and NVIDIA says not to run it, so it doesn't count. For any regular game, locked at 144Hz vsync, it's as quiet as a mouse. Glorious.

 

[Shambles1980]

any coil whine i ever had was due to the psu, but the 970 iirc had massive ammounts of people complaining about coil whine on release. i cant blame all those on psu's

 

[qubit]

Hehe, it's well worth a read.

Anyway, both links work for me, but here they are in case it helps make a difference for you. Enjoy!

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...t-thing-you-ever-did-to-break-your-pc.232467/

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/qubits-gt-1030-v-gtx-580-showdown.235223/

 

[Argyr]

Hehe, it's well worth a read.

Anyway, both links work for me, but here they are in case it helps make a difference for you. Enjoy!

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...t-thing-you-ever-did-to-break-your-pc.232467/

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/qubits-gt-1030-v-gtx-580-showdown.235223/

The first link is telling me "Oops! We ran into some problems. You do not have permission to view this page or perform this action. "

 

[qubit]

The first link is telling me "Oops! We ran into some problems. You do not have permission to view this page or perform this action. "

ygpm

 

[Sasqui]

don't think its unreasonable being unhappy with it sounding like a bee.

It sounded more like someone getting tasered in your video. Really annoying. I had one reference Vega 64 that did that though not so loud. Seemed to work fine.

 

[hat]

Coil whine is not something you need to concern yourself with as far as the operation of the card. It's 100% harmless. I don't get why people make such a fuss about it. Well...other than the fact that they have no idea why they shouldn't. Or are just very picky about their computer making any sound at all when it's running. Which I sorta get...just not when it's due to coil whine. Which is what coils do. To one extent or another. Some are louder than others of course. But so what? Never in a million years is it something that I would let bother me. I actually think it sounds kinda cool honestly. Let's me know there's hard work being done.

It may be "normal", but damn man, coil whine is from the devil himself. Can't stand high pitched electrical noises like that.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Coil whine is not something you need to concern yourself with as far as the operation of the card. It's 100% harmless. I don't get why people make such a fuss about it.

Simple, it's noisy and irritating as hell.

Never in a million years is it something that I would let bother me. I actually think it sounds kinda cool honestly. Let's me know there's hard work being done.

Not everyone is bothered by it. To be fair, coil whine is something that shouldn't happen or be heard by the end user. They likely just sent him back the same card when it didn't fail testing.

 

[John Naylor]

If I can sit at my desk and tell the PC is ON, I'm dissatisfied... it must end. It's like having a Moe-Skeetoe buzzing around your ear when you trying to sleep. I have found the most success switching PSUs.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I have found the most success switching PSUs.

That's possible. The card might be reacting poorly to a PSU that is giving less than great power to the card, or perhaps not enough.
@Wozzer
Have you tried a different PSU?

 

[qubit]

Not everyone is bothered by it. To be fair, coil whine is something that shouldn't happen or be heard by the end user. They likely just sent him back the same card when it didn't fail testing.

Indeed, this is why I take careful note of the serial number and photograph the card for distinguishing marks. If there aren't any, I'll add something very discreet that they won't notice and check when I get the returned card/mobo/HDD etc. I've not been stiffed yet.

 

[Sasqui]

Indeed, this is why I take careful note of the serial number and photograph the card for distinguishing marks. If there aren't any, I'll add something very discreet that they won't notice and check when I get the returned card/mobo/HDD etc. I've not been stiffed yet.

And I thought I was the only one who did that lol