5870 - Avoiding Capacitor buzz

S

SoulWind

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 3, 2005
Messages
132
I'm in the market for a 5870, but one of my biggest concerns is noise. Generally I can handle some fan noise, but what I can't stand is capacitor buzz. I had a GTX 285 awhile back that I returned due to the high pitched capacitor whine.

My computer is almost silent, I can just barely hear the sound of the fans when at idle.

Anyway, I've heard mixed comments on the 5870, some people report hearing the high pitched sound, others don't seem to.

I was looking at the Sapphire 5870 Vapor-X, does anyone know if this card experiences this issue at all?

The other card I was looking at is the MSI Radeon 5870, as although it appears to have a stock cooler, they are heavily advertising their use of Solid State Chokes and Solid Caps, which eliminates all risk of noise.

Thoughts/recommendations anyone?

Also, I may look to replace my HX620 with a HX750, as some people have commented that the HX620 seems to be more prone to causing these issues than other PSU's.
 
FWIW, neither of my 5870's have any coil whine, my gtx 285 used to whine a lot (with vsync off). Tun vsync on and whine usually goes away. Btw "coil whine" comes from inductors and not capacitors afaik.
 
Ive had two 5870's without coil whine. I had coil whine in a 4870 that was annoying as hell.
 
My Asus doesn't have any coil whine. I also just built a system for a customer, and he has a basic MSI 5870. It doesn't have any whine either. I think it's just the luck of the draw as to whether or not the card you get has coil whine.
 
yeah i'm hoping to avoid coil whine though, I really don't want to take the chance, which is what makes me consider the MSI. I guess no one has a Vapor-X yet
 
Turn vsync on in all games, frame rate caps to 60fps, the card lowers output to match. Problem solved.
 
I wonder why some people insist on calling this issue 'capacitor noise'. There's only one, brief moment when caps could make noise and you will notice it if you're in the same room as it.
 
Your cards are probably making some noise at high load, you just don't hear it over the fan.
 
Haven't noticed any whine from my Sapphire 5870 (reference cooler, launch week). My comp isn't super quiet, but it isn't loud either. Its in a HAF 939 will all stock fans.
 
FranklyShankly said:
FWIW, neither of my 5870's have any coil whine, my gtx 285 used to whine a lot (with vsync off). Tun vsync on and whine usually goes away. Btw "coil whine" comes from inductors and not capacitors afaik.
Click to expand...

Exactly the same experience here. My GTX-285's would whine all day and night. My 5870s are absolutely quiet.
 
certainly gives me hope that if I go with the Sapphire I should be ok. I know Sapphire likes to bill their "Black Diamond Chokes' as a feature, so hopefully the quality is there.

It might end up coming down to what I see stock on at a reasonable price first :)

These days 5870's are getting pretty easy to find, so i'm assuming by late january we should be able to have a full selection
 
Easy to find, yeah, but still over MSRP.

Fine with me, though, as I've already got mine. Now I'm working on getting some monitors :)
 
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