RTX 3090 FE Coil Whine?

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.
defeats the whole point for spending $1500+ on a video card if I have to lower the settings.
 
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I wasn't complaining, I was looking for input to see if anyone had figured it out. But, it is not normal. My friend's 3090 is totally silent at same power levels
ok. arguing a better word? coil whine is normal on a high current/power drawing gpu. my 280x and rx 580 both do it, even my currect 5700 has if they are maxed to 100%. same model?.
 
ok. arguing a better word? coil whine is normal on a high current/power drawing gpu. my 280x and rx 580 both do it, even my currect 5700 has if they are maxed to 100%. same model?.
I got 2 separate 3090 FE, both buzzed, one worse than the other, my buddy has a TUF OC 3090. No buzzing. So, something with the FE cards.
 
I got 2 separate 3090 FE, both buzzed, one worse than the other, my buddy has a TUF OC 3090. No buzzing. So, something with the FE cards.
different manufacturer, different components. plenty of cards have coil whine. search the forum if you dont believe me.
 
different manufacturer, different components. plenty of cards have coil whine. search the forum if you dont believe me.
I believe you, I've owned graphics cards since the very first nvidia card the nv1. This is the 1st that whines.
 
As others have mentioned, I placed a frame rate cap on mine to just below my monitor's refresh rate and have v-sync turned on at the driver level, even for games that may not regularly reach high frame rates.
  1. It will prevent high spikes that may occur during less demanding scenes. These spikes can cause the coil whine to become louder for those brief moments. It's a good way to minimize this.
  2. The graphics card won't have to work harder than necessary creating frames that can't be seen. Lower temps, less power consumption, less whine.
  3. It can reduce stuttering in some games, especially if you are able to use G-sync.
How long have you had the cards?

While mine still makes some noise, it is a lot quieter now than it was when it was brand new. I guess it needed some breaking in. And maybe it is anecdotal, but it seems like it isn't as loud when the card gets a chance to warm up.
 
So I never noticed the coil buzz, but I decided to try gaming on it with the case opened. For reference I have a Thermaltake Tower 900, and it does a good job of keeping the noise from escaping. I did notice a slight buzz when its gaming at 100% utilization. I don't think it's really defective, just the draw back to using such a beast of a card. The solution? Either get a case that doesn't let the sound escape as much (not ideal for some people), maybe even turning up the fans in your case to a slightly higher level, or game with the speakers / headphones turned up (which is why I find it to be a non-issue, when I'm gaming the issue happens, and I'm always listening to the game).
 
Yeah, the previous one was a GTX 1080
My previous card was a GTX 1080 FE as well and the 3090 FE was the first one where I ever noticed any whine. But I also never had a card that pulled so much power on its own too.

The inductor coils are going to vibrate as they pull more power, nothing to prevent that. It's the vibration that causes the whine, creating a harmonic frequency that can be heard by human ears. If it hits a really high frequency, you won't be able to hear it. Different types of inductor coils are susceptible to different types of whine under varying loads as they vibrate in their housings. Some people have had success in adding some extra dampening around the coils, such as non-conductive hot glue or varnish. Others have had some luck by installing a waterblock on cards with coil whine. Even changing the fan speed profile might help a bit. But as with anything, your mileage may vary.
 
Other solutions are to either get older where your natural ability to pick up higher frequency sounds diminishes or to damage your hearing by not practicing the use of proper hearing protection around loud noises.
 
As others have mentioned, I placed a frame rate cap on mine to just below my monitor's refresh rate and have v-sync turned on at the driver level, even for games that may not regularly reach high frame rates.
  1. It will prevent high spikes that may occur during less demanding scenes. These spikes can cause the coil whine to become louder for those brief moments. It's a good way to minimize this.
  2. The graphics card won't have to work harder than necessary creating frames that can't be seen. Lower temps, less power consumption, less whine.
  3. It can reduce stuttering in some games, especially if you are able to use G-sync.
How long have you had the cards?

While mine still makes some noise, it is a lot quieter now than it was when it was brand new. I guess it needed some breaking in. And maybe it is anecdotal, but it seems like it isn't as loud when the card gets a chance to warm up.
I waited 2 months for it to get better, it did not and I asked for a replacement. That was actually louder :(.
Here's the replacement noise video, this is at around 80fps
 
Other solutions are to either get older where your natural ability to pick up higher frequency sounds diminishes or to damage your hearing by not practicing the use of proper hearing protection around loud noises.
I am older and have tinnitus as well, buzzing noises irritate me hence the search for a fix. I am about to sell the 3090 FE due to the noise.
 
case next to your head? its your hearing issues making it worse for you. trade your buddy?
 
It doesn't have anything to do with how much power the card draws. Its about component choices. I've got an RTX 2060 which whines quite loudly. Unfortunately, I bought it used, so I can't RMA it.

If you are the original owner of that 3090, I would try to RMA it. You shouldn't have to turn down settings with a 3090. That's inane.
 
It doesn't have anything to do with how much power the card draws. Its about component choices. I've got an RTX 2060 which whines quite loudly. Unfortunately, I bought it used, so I can't RMA it.

If you are the original owner of that 3090, I would try to RMA it. You shouldn't have to turn down settings with a 3090. That's inane.
high draw cards are more susceptible and yes, as already pointed out, component choice by the oem also plays into it.
he already has, if you didnt catch the "I waited 2 months for it to get better, it did not and I asked for a replacement. That was actually louder :(." a few posts up
 
Frustrating with my 2060. It was pretty loud. But I was using an Antec Neo HE 650 which I bought in like 2008 or something. So I bought a new EVGA power supply and it changed the whine into a very tolerable purr.

But I just got an H570 motherboard and i7-10700 non K and the RTX 2060 whines louder than ever in this setup. FFFFFfffffffffff
 
how close do you have the case to your head? seems a tonne of people that it annoys have their cases two feet away from their face...
 
Other solutions are to either get older where your natural ability to pick up higher frequency sounds diminishes or to damage your hearing by not practicing the use of proper hearing protection around loud noises.
The getting older excuse is flat out nonsense as little whiny buzzing noises bother me more as I get older. FFS even my mobo has a little bit of a buzz or wine to it that drives me up the damn wall if the rest of the room is quiet. I returned a lamp that had a USB pass through because the whining was driving me nuts. My FE 2060 Super had way more buzzing and whining than the EVGA 2080 Ti FTW ultra that I'm using now.
 
how close do you have the case to your head? seems a tonne of people that it annoys have their cases two feet away from their face...
Its a mini ITX so yeah, its on my desk. And I otherwise pride myself on quiet PC which still has good temps.
 
Its a mini ITX so yeah, its on my desk. And I otherwise pride myself on quiet PC which still has good temps.
that combo makes it much more noticeable. distance and fan/pump noise helps drown it out. seems to me that complaints about it have increased as people have moved to that style and more showy cases that dont block it as well.
 
I am older and have tinnitus as well, buzzing noises irritate me hence the search for a fix. I am about to sell the 3090 FE due to the noise.
Same here, it was more of a joke. I can't recall the last time I have heard pure silence. My tinnitus is a constant high pitch tone that never stops. Some days are so bad it makes it hard for me to focus and understand a conversation.

It's a shame you are planning to sell it because of the noise and that it didn't tone down after use. Listening to the video, I couldn't hear the noise via my monitor speakers but I am able to pick up the whine on my Razer Kraken Ultimate headphones.

Here is a video I just recorded a little while ago trying to give a comparison to how it sounded 5 months ago:


On my phone, the video has the buzzing sound a lot louder than what YouTube is playing back. But in reality, the sound isn't as loud as how my phone captured it. I tried getting a video of the issue with the phone 6" away from the card, then from the exhaust, then finally from where I sit (about 2.5-3ft from the card). The previous recording was captured on an iPhone XS while this one was captured on an iPhone 12 Pro, which I think its mic is more sensitive than the old phone.
 
I waited 2 months for it to get better, it did not and I asked for a replacement. That was actually louder :(.
Here's the replacement noise video, this is at around 80fps

Yeah it's pretty hit or miss. There may be someone here on [H] that would be willing to offer you a card with little to no coil whine for the right price in trade. I've had very little noticeable whine on my asus tuf oc, anecdotally.

Its a mini ITX so yeah, its on my desk. And I otherwise pride myself on quiet PC which still has good temps.
So the loudest part in my current setup is the psu, which is a quality corsair, but i've managed to make everything else so quiet that I now hear it under heavy loads when it's puttin in the work XD
 
Same here, it was more of a joke. I can't recall the last time I have heard pure silence. My tinnitus is a constant high pitch tone that never stops. Some days are so bad it makes it hard for me to focus and understand a conversation.

It's a shame you are planning to sell it because of the noise and that it didn't tone down after use. Listening to the video, I couldn't hear the noise via my monitor speakers but I am able to pick up the whine on my Razer Kraken Ultimate headphones.

Here is a video I just recorded a little while ago trying to give a comparison to how it sounded 5 months ago:


On my phone, the video has the buzzing sound a lot louder than what YouTube is playing back. But in reality, the sound isn't as loud as how my phone captured it. I tried getting a video of the issue with the phone 6" away from the card, then from the exhaust, then finally from where I sit (about 2.5-3ft from the card). The previous recording was captured on an iPhone XS while this one was captured on an iPhone 12 Pro, which I think its mic is more sensitive than the old phone.

Sounds same as mine. Yeah you can't hear that type of buzzing with speakers as other noises tend to cover it up. If I had to describe it, it sounds like the old fluorescent shop light buzz.
 
how close do you have the case to your head? seems a tonne of people that it annoys have their cases two feet away from their face...
The case is on the floor about 5 feet from me. But, I put the same card on my open case in my living room and I could hear the buzz from my couch which is about 10 feet away.
 
Yeah it's pretty hit or miss. There may be someone here on [H] that would be willing to offer you a card with little to no coil whine for the right price in trade. I've had very little noticeable whine on my asus tuf oc, anecdotally.


So the loudest part in my current setup is the psu, which is a quality corsair, but i've managed to make everything else so quiet that I now hear it under heavy loads when it's puttin in the work XD
Yeah everything else in my PC is silent, the Corsair RM1000i is silent, I have 120mm fan heatsink on my 3800x and the case fans are all 140mm slow spinning Noctuas. So, the 3090 FE buzz makes itself heard.
 
Try one of the watercooled models, may have some luck
My 3090 FTW3 HydroCopper surprisingly has zero coil whine even when pulling 500W. Was a pleasant surprise as the XC3 it replaced had minor coil whine when it pulled just 366W.
 
Just finished swapping out cases from an early generation Corsair Obsidian to a Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo, while swapping out the stock 3090 FE cooler with the Alphacool Eiswolf 2 AIO.

My old case was under my desk, so I had never heard any coil whine at all. Had the 3090 since October of 2020.

Sadly, as soon as I booted up my computer, which was on my desk and the case opened, to test if things were kosher (PUBG and running a 240hz monitor), the coil whine began and it was UNBEARABLE. I'm most likely going to put it back underneath my desk, close the case, and hope to God I won't hear that again. I'll most likely undervolt as most people have suggested as well.

Including pics of my progress, damn that stock 3090 cooler is HEAVY
 

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