RTX 3090 FE Coil Whine?

VirtualMirage

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 29, 2011
Messages
470
Anyone else with a 3090 FE experiencing noticeable coil whine or buzzing?

I just got mine today and haven’t put it completely through its paces yet, but I have noticed a coil whine or buzz with certain games and/or scenes.

RDR2 it is the most prominent and is heard all the time except during loading screens or the menu, where it goes silent. Game settings are at ultra at 4K. I have G-sync enabled, V-sync on, and have tried with frame rate limiting to 58-60fps.

GTA V, Max settings at 4K it isn’t as prominent and fades in and out depending on the level of complexity on the screen. Most of the time, you can’t hear it or it is extremely quiet.

Furmark at 4K, again frame rate capped at 60fps, its silent.

My GTX1080 FE I never noticed any coil whine before. The noise is definitely coming from the video card.

My power supply is a Corsair AX1000 and I do have it plugged into an UPS (APC BR1500G).

I am going to do some other testing, but was just curious if others are experiencing it and if there are any suggestions to reduce or eliminate it?
 
Limit the power target to say 70% and see if you still have the noise. It could just be the sheer amount of power being fed through the card components.
 
Limit the power target to say 70% and see if you still have the noise. It could just be the sheer amount of power being fed through the card components.
Wouldn’t that prevent the card from reaching its peaked, preset clock speeds and have a negative effect on performance?
 
most likely. try limiting the fps to whatever your refresh rate is.
I already did that. That is what I did from the get go based on my past experience with G-Sync. I limited my frame rate to around 58-60 since my monitor is 60Hz before I even started testing out my games and that is when I noticed the sound.
 
I already did that. That is what I did from the get go based on my past experience with G-Sync. I limited my frame rate to around 58-60 since my monitor is 60Hz before I even started testing out my games and that is when I noticed the sound.
well, it is sucking a shit tonne of power. happens with lots of different cards. you could try to rma but that be a gamble with the limited stock and theres a decent chance a replacement will do it too.
 
Just ensuring that the 12 pin is getting 2 separate feeds on the 8 pins you are supplying it. Depending on the PSU design, you could be pulling too much from a single plug on the PSU as some of them divy up the 12V rail across multiple plugs.
 
Just ensuring that the 12 pin is getting 2 separate feeds on the 8 pins you are supplying it. Depending on the PSU design, you could be pulling too much from a single plug on the PSU as some of them divy up the 12V rail across multiple plugs.
I have two separate PCIE cables plugged into the power supply and the Nvidia 12-pin adapter is using both of them.
 
I’m going to remove MSI After Burner and do a clean install of the drivers using the latest release, 456.71.

The previous installs were from when my GTX 1080 was installed but I was only using After Burner to monitor the GPU, no settings or changes were made.

I may also try eliminating the UPS from the equation.
 
This is the only thing that makes me glad a have severe tinnitus and can't hear this stuff. I hope you get it worked out.
 
This is the only thing that makes me glad a have severe tinnitus and can't hear this stuff. I hope you get it worked out.
I have some pretty bad tinnitus as well but mine is a solid, loud high pitch around 18,000 Hz or so.

The noise I am hearing from the PC sounds almost like cicadas buzzing and the case is about 2ft from my ear sitting on top of my desk. It isn’t loud, but it is noticeable considering that my computer is overall pretty quiet (just whooshing air).
 
no coil wine from a 3090 EVGA which is pulling way more power than a FE card. Sounds like you need an RMA.
 
I switched it off the UPS and I was able to eliminate that as being a culprit. So at least I know I can put it back on the UPS. I know it is a square sine wave based UPS unit and it would be ideal to have a pure sine wave version, but that should really only be an issue with introducing coil whine if it is on the battery. I recall my last power supply would coil whine if it was on the battery but fine when it was not. Since I usually setup my PC to safely power off during an outage and don't intend to leave it on for extended periods of time on battery, I don't think it is going to be much of a problem. I will eventually get a pure sine wave version, just not right now.

Anyways, back on the topic...

I was starting to experience some concerning performance issues testing with RDR2 where I was getting consistent stuttering and very low frame rate drops, down to the 8-9fps margin. I tried switching to DX12, fiddling with vsync, frame rate lock, etc. before changing it back to the way it was. Even then it was still very hitchy and the GPU didn't seem to be working very hard, yet still buzzing. I then decided to flip over to a different game to see if the hitching and low framerates were happening there too, so I launched GTA V again. Smooth as butter and hardly any coil whine. Seeing the other game was running smooth, I figured something must be hung up in memory or the driver, so I decided to reboot the computer. After reboot, RDR2 was smooth as silk again but the coil whine was still noticeable. I then downgraded the resolution from 4K down to 2560x1440 and the noise was still present.

I then proceeded to test out few other games: Portal 2, Ultra Street Fighter IV, Steam VR Performance Test, Poly Bridge 2, Star Wars Squadrons, and the Resident Evil 6 Benchmark Tool.

Portal 2, USFIV, and Poly Bridge 2 were completely silent all running at 4K max settings. I did have V-Sync left on for this like GTA V and RDR2. Of course, these games aren't overly demanding.

The Steam VR Performance Test was noisy and would go through a bunch of different pitches and squeals depending on what was on the screen. I had V-Sync turned off for this because it needs to be able to benchmark above 90fps for the headset. This benchmark runs in a fairly small window on the screen.

Star Wars Squadron started to buzz and whine during the intro screen and menu until I was able to correct the screen. This game, for some reason on first launch, has the image like 2/3rds off of the screen and I think is trying to play in a borderless window mode. Hitting Alt-Enter once or twice the screen corrected itself and the buzzing went away. I then adjusted the resolution and settings to 4K Ultra and proceeded to play. The game played completely silent afterwards.

The Resident Evil 6 Benchmark Tool was being buzzy at first in the menu. It appeared to be full screen, but I thought I noticed a slight border on around it. When I pressed Alt-Enter and flipped it to full screen, the buzzing went away. I am finding this observation interesting. I had V-Sync on for this tool and it was completely silent, locked at 60fps at highest settings at 4K.. I then proceeded to run the benchmark again with V-Sync off and it was buzzing and whining again with a framerate hovering around 250fps.

I then went back into RDR2 to see if maybe the Alt-Enter method would solve the problem. The first attempt it resized to a windowed view but then when I pressed Alt-Enter again to go to full screen the game crashed with a graphics error. I then launched it again and tried the method again but this time it crashed on the first Alt-Enter press with a similar graphics error. This makes me think there may be some driver issues or stability issues within the game (I recall earlier reports last year of a bunch of issues with the PC version).

I proceeded to drop the resolution all the way down to 1920x1080, V-Sync on and framerate capped to 58fps via RTSS. Still buzzy, only going completely silent at the menu, loading screens, and the black transition screens. What's interesting, is that the benchmark will show max framerates well above the 120s but average closer to the 58fps mark. If I have V-sync turned on and frame rate capped, how is it hitting above unless it is ignoring the settings? Could this be a possible contributor to the buzzing since it seems like all the other games that are able to lock at 60fps or lower are far quieter?

I still need to test my actual VR via the Valve Index and observe if it is buzzy playing games at 90-120hz. But so far, RDR2 is the main offender here. Granted, it is also the most graphically advanced game out of the list I have tested so far, and probably the most advanced in my current installed library.
 
Here is a link to a video I recorded to give you an idea of what I am hearing. It's louder in person than on camera for some reason:


The first few seconds are silence since this is during the loading screen for the RDR2 benchmark, then it will start to buzz. You will hear the buzz start and stop which is when it transitions to the next part of the benchmark.
 
Both the 3080 and 3090 founders editions have coil wine and this was mentioned in several reviews and I think a few people even uploaded videos of the noise.
 
Both the 3080 and 3090 founders editions have coil wine and this was mentioned in several reviews and I think a few people even uploaded videos of the noise.
I do recall the reviewers stating that they did notice "some" coil whine but none of the reviews I watched or read elaborated on this. Up until this morning, I didn't really see other videos of people posting their coil whine since I was more neck deep in investigating on my end and reading through forum posts to see what others were experiencing and if they found any ways to minimize it.

I do understand that coil whine can be an inevitable beast to deal with, especially as power draws increase with new hardware. It's just something up until now I haven't really had to experience. And having a case setup that is fairly quiet and video card whose fan noise is quite a bit quieter than my last card (GTX 1080 FE), that coil whine then stands out even more.

I am going to keep an eye on it and see if it gets better or worse. If nothing is wrong with the video card and its ability to perform in a stable manner and doesn't impact its longevity, then I may end up dealing with it for now. With the shortage of video cards and no video card to have on backup, I'd hate to be stuck without one due to supply issues and I still have the warranty period to address things. I may still end up calling Nvidia Tech Support just to inquire and see what options are available.

I have read online of some individuals using hot glue, nail varnish, or electronics safe high temp silicone to help dampen the noise of the vibrating inductors. Has anyone here tried that successfully? Any potential issues to be concerned about with these methods?
 
Constant noise I can ignore, changing irritating noise nope. I would send that one back, looks like you did everything reasonable to correct the issue. I would ask for a refund, link video, short list of steps taken - If an exchange can be done with a good tested 3080 FE maybe. Now the only additional step I would take is to switch out power supplies or put the card in another machine. Sometimes power supplies and components can have strange issues together.
 
Constant noise I can ignore, changing irritating noise nope. I would send that one back, looks like you did everything reasonable to correct the issue. I would ask for a refund, link video, short list of steps taken - If an exchange can be done with a good tested 3080 FE maybe. Now the only additional step I would take is to switch out power supplies or put the card in another machine. Sometimes power supplies and components can have strange issues together.
It's a brand new power supply (purchased in August), high end one too, but outside return period (but under warranty). Corsair AX1000 1000W 80Plus Titanium (Seasonic made). When benchmarking RDR2, my UPS is showing just under 600w being pulled at the wall. And that includes my monitor, cable modem, and router. So I figure around 500w of that is being pulled by the PC.

Now, having said that, I do have an older 650w power supply from my old system. While I don't dare try and use it to run my new PC, I wonder if I could use it to just power the graphics card to see if there is a difference in coil whine. Would that be possible?

I know if I jumper the 24-pin I can "turn on" the power supply, like I did when I was testing my liquid cooling loop. This should then allow the power supply to provide power to the video card. But...how will the video card and the rest of the system respond if the video card is getting power before everything else is powered on? Would it be safe?
 
It's a brand new power supply (purchased in August), high end one too, but outside return period (but under warranty). Corsair AX1000 1000W 80Plus Titanium (Seasonic made). When benchmarking RDR2, my UPS is showing just under 600w being pulled at the wall. And that includes my monitor, cable modem, and router. So I figure around 500w of that is being pulled by the PC.

Now, having said that, I do have an older 650w power supply from my old system. While I don't dare try and use it to run my new PC, I wonder if I could use it to just power the graphics card to see if there is a difference in coil whine. Would that be possible?

I know if I jumper the 24-pin I can "turn on" the power supply, like I did when I was testing my liquid cooling loop. This should then allow the power supply to provide power to the video card. But...how will the video card and the rest of the system respond if the video card is getting power before everything else is powered on? Would it be safe?
There have been cases where GPU coil whine was worsen by the power supply, EVGA via person in link reported the power supplies that are suspect. Which seems to be many, maybe EVGA just didn't want to RMA the card lol.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/ddvwew/rtx_cards_coil_whine_and_power_supply_brand/

Just something to rule out, if the card does not have any coil whine in another computer as you indicated then it has to be the configuration besides cheaper coils used on the card that don't limit vibrations as much. Some suggestions as well below from ekwb which may be helpful.

https://www.ekwb.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-coil-whine/
 
There have been cases where GPU coil whine was worsen by the power supply, EVGA via person in link reported the power supplies that are suspect. Which seems to be many, maybe EVGA just didn't want to RMA the card lol.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/ddvwew/rtx_cards_coil_whine_and_power_supply_brand/

Just something to rule out, if the card does not have any coil whine in another computer as you indicated then it has to be the configuration besides cheaper coils used on the card that don't limit vibrations as much. Some suggestions as well below from ekwb which may be helpful.

https://www.ekwb.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-coil-whine/
I haven't used the RTX 3090 FE in a different computer, it won't even fit in the old PC. What I did do is use my old GTX 1080 FE in both the old computer and new computer (so also old PSU and new PSU) and it never experienced any coil whine.

As for the list of PSUs by EVGA to watch out for, interesting that they pretty much listed every major power supply company but themselves. I find that extremely suspect.
 
I haven't used the RTX 3090 FE in a different computer, it won't even fit in the old PC. What I did do is use my old GTX 1080 FE in both the old computer and new computer (so also old PSU and new PSU) and it never experienced any coil whine.

As for the list of PSUs by EVGA to watch out for, interesting that they pretty much listed every major power supply company but themselves. I find that extremely suspect.
Well, you may have to make up your mind if you can live with what you got, mitigate as much as possible as well. Could always put computer in another room and run some high priced cables :). I had a AMD Nano that had coil whine when FPS were very high, not that loud except the Gigabyte Z170 board audio picked it up! That was a total irritating situation. Switch board to a Z270 Asrock and zero noise via the audio and from the card it was very hard to hear in a closed case. Then again it only happened at high fps.
 
So I ran some tests using Uniengine Heaven and Uniengine Superposition benchmark tools.

Uniengine Heaven is pretty much silent when capped at V-Sync (60Hz) running at highest settings at 4K. When V-Sync is turned off, you can get a slight coil whine at both 4K and 1080P highest settings but is otherwise imperceptible with the fans. Frame rates at 4K would fluctuate between 75fps to over 150 fps and 1080P are shooting much higher. The credits screen with V-Sync off makes a horrible high pitch noise (I read others having the same issue when observing coil whine).

Uniengine Superposition is also pretty quiet when capped at V-Sync (60Hz) and running at the highest settings at 4K. There might be a hint of coil whine, but it isn't distracting and hard to hear over the fans. With V-Sync turned off and benchmarking at 4K and 1080P at highest settings the coil whine is more noticeable but still fairly quiet and tolerable.

I ran FurMark again as well with V-Sync off and it is completely quiet aside from the fans at 1080P (~300fps), 1440P (~200fps), and 4K (over 120fps). GPU TDP reaches as high as 105%.

I go back into RDR2 and, again, it is the most prominent. I also notice that this game seems to be pretty buggy (I only bought the game about 2 weeks ago) either on its own or with the latest drivers and graphics card. Some launches the game and benchmarks are smooth, the next launch it might have a few initial stutters before smoothing out, then another launch may have hitches throughout the benchmark, and then another launch the game may crash when trying to load the benchmark or between transitions in the benchmark. I have read about others experiencing similar problems in the past with no real answer. None of the other games or benchmark tools experience this. Either way, this is still the noisiest game when it comes to coil whine. I think it has quieted down a little since installing the card yesterday, so maybe there is some break-in, but it is still there. I do find the game runs smoother and the system runs cooler when I have my CTR overclock profile applied doing an all core overclock at 4.375GHz and a vCore of1.25v versus leaving it stock and the system controlling the vCore. Left to its default settings, the vCore will climb up to 1.46v and core clock (possibly single core clock) up to around 4.8GHz, peak temps will go as high as 81C. When set to the all core overclocked and fixed vCore, peak temps in game are quite a bit lower.

So long story short, there is something about RDR2 that really wants to bring out the coil whine that other applications and benchmark tools do not. I still have to see how my VR performs. But at least with that, I am wearing headphones and stand a good distance away from the case, so it will probably be a non-issue with that.
 
Hey VirtualMirage,

I got a 3090 this weekend as well and experienced the coil wine you're seeing. It seems to have either gone away, or i'm not noticing it anymore, but I basically ran a furmark stress test minus the burn in test option for a few hours. It was really noticeable initially, but has since subsided to somewhat inaudible levels except for every now and then when i'm in game. I don't notice the sound with my headphones on though, so i'm not too worried about it.

I've got a brand new silverstone SX800-LTI PSU running it as well
 
Hey VirtualMirage,

I got a 3090 this weekend as well and experienced the coil wine you're seeing. It seems to have either gone away, or i'm not noticing it anymore, but I basically ran a furmark stress test minus the burn in test option for a few hours. It was really noticeable initially, but has since subsided to somewhat inaudible levels except for every now and then when i'm in game. I don't notice the sound with my headphones on though, so i'm not too worried about it.

I've got a brand new silverstone SX800-LTI PSU running it as well
Was yours whining even in Furmark or only under certain games and loads?

Also, were you capping frame rates at all or just letting v-sync do its thing? If so, to what? What’s the max refresh rate and resolution of your monitor?

Thanks!

I haven’t been able to play around with mine the past few days. We just adopted some kittens this weekend, which have taken over the office as they acclimate to their new home. Once we open up the office again, then I will be able to power the PC back up and resume tinkering with it.
 
Was yours whining even in Furmark or only under certain games and loads?

Also, were you capping frame rates at all or just letting v-sync do its thing? If so, to what? What’s the max refresh rate and resolution of your monitor?

Thanks!

I haven’t been able to play around with mine the past few days. We just adopted some kittens this weekend, which have taken over the office as they acclimate to their new home. Once we open up the office again, then I will be able to power the PC back up and resume tinkering with it.
So I noticed the clicking most during playing COD Warzone. Furmark, it was present, but not nearly as bad.

I was capping frames in Cod warzone, but not in furmark, but my monitor has gsync & 144hz res and I believe I setup v-sync to be forced on in the control panel
 
Noticing it on my 3090FE as well, I haven't noticed it at all until getting to Wolfenstein Youngblood. Everything on ultra and DLSS on. Game plays great but def a crazy whine going on. Running with my glass off at the moment, not sure if I would hear it with everything put back together or not.
 
I have that same AX1000 PSU - let me know what I can test. Unfortunately, I do not have RDR2 - you're welcome to buy it for me. ;)
 
No coil whine here (EVGA model). Somewhat related - can anyone get AIDA64's stress test (with the GPU box checked) to run for more than 15 minutes? My system can run all day without that box checked. But with it, I get either a blue screen or the program crashes in about 15 minutes. It's not my PSU and I even watched the voltage in real time. Crashdumps show that it's a driver of some sort, but they're too vague to pinpoint anything.
ASUS RealBench stress test using than 4GB of RAM is equally temperamental. I've gotten it to complete once, but that's it.
 
No coil whine here (EVGA model). Somewhat related - can anyone get AIDA64's stress test (with the GPU box checked) to run for more than 15 minutes? My system can run all day without that box checked. But with it, I get either a blue screen or the program crashes in about 15 minutes. It's not my PSU and I even watched the voltage in real time. Crashdumps show that it's a driver of some sort, but they're too vague to pinpoint anything.
ASUS RealBench stress test using than 4GB of RAM is equally temperamental. I've gotten it to complete once, but that's it.
I've got the licensed version and I get this popup - maybe that is it? I was gonna run the test to see but it looks like that may be the prob...LMK...

aida64_gpu_stress.PNG
 
I've got the licensed version and I get this popup - maybe that is it? I was gonna run the test to see but it looks like that may be the prob...LMK...

View attachment 291252

Interesting. Mine doesn't give me that popup, but that would probably explain a lot if that's the case. My games seem to be fine (and I don't have coil whine), so that might be the culprit.
 
Anyone else with a 3090 FE experiencing noticeable coil whine or buzzing?

I just got mine today and haven’t put it completely through its paces yet, but I have noticed a coil whine or buzz with certain games and/or scenes.

RDR2 it is the most prominent and is heard all the time except during loading screens or the menu, where it goes silent. Game settings are at ultra at 4K. I have G-sync enabled, V-sync on, and have tried with frame rate limiting to 58-60fps.

GTA V, Max settings at 4K it isn’t as prominent and fades in and out depending on the level of complexity on the screen. Most of the time, you can’t hear it or it is extremely quiet.

Furmark at 4K, again frame rate capped at 60fps, its silent.

My GTX1080 FE I never noticed any coil whine before. The noise is definitely coming from the video card.

My power supply is a Corsair AX1000 and I do have it plugged into an UPS (APC BR1500G).

I am going to do some other testing, but was just curious if others are experiencing it and if there are any suggestions to reduce or eliminate it?
Hi, I did not see a final reply/resolution to this. I have the same card and a Corsair RM1000i and my card makes the exact same noise. Did you have any luck figuring it out? I got a replacement card from Nvidia and the replacement is making the same noise.

Thx
 
Hi, I did not see a final reply/resolution to this. I have the same card and a Corsair RM1000i and my card makes the exact same noise. Did you have any luck figuring it out? I got a replacement card from Nvidia and the replacement is making the same noise.

Thx
I've chalked it up to being the nature of the beast. After about 1-2 months of use it has quieted down a bit in comparison to how loud it was at the beginning, but it is still there with certain games. As mentioned before, RDR2 is the biggest offender in my library. Since there have been no other issues with the card and I was concerned about wait times for a replacement or that the replacement would be even worse, I decided to stick with it.
 
I've chalked it up to being the nature of the beast. After about 1-2 months of use it has quieted down a bit in comparison to how loud it was at the beginning, but it is still there with certain games. As mentioned before, RDR2 is the biggest offender in my library. Since there have been no other issues with the card and I was concerned about wait times for a replacement or that the replacement would be even worse, I decided to stick with it.
Mine is as loud as your video basically all the time in CP2077 except menus. Whenever the power use goes above 200W it buzzes.
 
sounds normal to me, high load causes it and its not a defect. like VM said "nature of the beast".
 
yup, try capping frame rate to your monitors refresh or lower some settings so the card isnt running at 100% load.
CP2077 runs at around 60 fps at 4K Ultra with RT so no need to cap it, but it also does all that at 340-350W so the card buzzes like crazy.
 
CP2077 runs at around 60 fps at 4K Ultra with RT so no need to cap it, but it also does all that at 340-350W so the card buzzes like crazy.
lower settings and it will "magically" disappear. this is normal when you are running it at 100%. its really not that hard of a concept to grasp.
 
Back
Top