CG-88 Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 Hi guys, Bit of a weird one. I was running a test on 3dmark and I noticed a faint buzz that started when the test started. Its hard to explain the noise, its quite faint but is a buzzing sound, or maybe if you imagine the sound of an electric cable, very very faint version of that, almost inaudible. It happens when the gfx card hits 60% power usage and max core usage. Should I be concerned? I stopped the test and put the two gfx card cables on different rails, and changed the cables in case something was damaged but its still there. Maybe its normal under extreme load, I don't know. It could even be the processor in it ticking away in really not sure Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Moderator Posted May 20, 2014 Moderator Share Posted May 20, 2014 How are the temps on it? could be either the fan off its bearings, or a chip on the card crackling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CG-88 Posted May 20, 2014 Author Share Posted May 20, 2014 How are the temps on it? could be either the fan off its bearings, or a chip on the card crackling. It was hitting around 60 degrees and the fan was on 37%. If I put the fan on 100% now.....just did, no unusual noises. I did a bit of googling and found something called coil whine when it really gets pushed high so im thinking it might be that, which apparently isn't a sign of anything bad, just an annoyance. Hmm, anyone with the same card or equivalent experience the same under almost 100% power load and core load? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phouchg Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 Choke buzz appears chiefly for two reasons - either power supply gives really unclean power as the load or temperature increases or power circuits on the videocard itself... well, sook. First reason is also why it may not appear in other configurations. There are various workarounds, most common of which is forcing VSync to On at all times (if you got, say, 60 Hz screen, that is), which may then reduce power draw peaks. It's, of course, a mere band-aid solution. If it is easy to prove, some more forthcoming retailers may consider it a defect and exchange the card. I have succeeded in doing so, it will not hurt to try. CG-88 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CG-88 Posted May 20, 2014 Author Share Posted May 20, 2014 Choke buzz appears chiefly for two reasons - either power supply gives really unclean power as the load or temperature increases or power circuits on the videocard itself... well, sook. First reason is also why it may not appear in other configurations. There are various workarounds, most common of which is forcing VSync to On at all times (if you got, say, 60 Hz screen, that is), which may then reduce power draw peaks. It's, of course, a mere band-aid solution. If it is easy to prove, some more forthcoming retailers may consider it a defect and exchange the card. I have succeeded in doing so, it will not hurt to try. Is it a major issue? Just a quick update: I enabled V-Sync via the Nvidia control panel as a global setting. Loaded battlefield 4 on Ultra - power usage on the card went to 77% but there was no noise at all!! :D So it must have been due to the load testing pushing above 60fps. I still emailed where I got the card from to get an opinion but everything I have heard, everything I have read, and now seeing this with v-sync turned on, it isn't a big issue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phouchg Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 It happens. Not really a defect as such, too. Does not deteriorate or impact lifetime of components or hamper performance, is just annoying to various degrees. Just try and exchange it under warranty. Otherwise, swapping components might help. Some things are just incompatible and there's not much else you can do about it. You may notice or remember that older motherboards had large coils generously poured with epoxy glue so they don't resonate. Folks used to do so DIY, but it's not viable to do so with solid state chokes these days because the source of vibration is inside the housing. And, of course, doing any "fixing" yourself voids warranty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenomorph Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 "Coil hum" My old 8600 GT would get it all the time. It was passively-cooled, so the buzz was all you heard. It was actually more annoying than a fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aergan Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 It's EMI (Electro Magnetic Interference), usually it's to do with poor shielding or overloading power circuitry that causes a resonance throughtout. V-Sync wont solve the issue directly, just lessen the load on the GPU by throttling the frame rate. The only non-physical way to resolve it is to enable Clock Spread Spectrum within your BIOS/UEFI Firmware, manually set voltages to correct values (can lessen voltage fluxuation on load) or don't overclock with your current setup. Alternatively, swapping to a PSU that uses better shielding or a much higher rating should resolve the issue. CG-88 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CG-88 Posted May 20, 2014 Author Share Posted May 20, 2014 thanks for all the help guys!! I am glad it's not a major issue so I will try and forget about it for the time being, but over the next few months I will be buying another 770 phantom for SLI so will need to carefully select the PSU to accompany that to remove this random annoying noise. You all took a lot of worry off my mind :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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