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7970, clicking noise underload

J

jrrandell

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 24, 2010
Messages
410
So I finally just got my 7970 and am starting to try it out, but iv noticed something, when there is activity on the card there is a faint clicking like noise. It doesnt sound like anything bad.

Im just curious if this is a normal sound for this card under a load or is something wrong with the card.

Im 99% sure its not the fan because CCC says the fan is 39% but the clicking start and stops when I alt tab in and out of games.
 
Uhhh if the sound is alt tabbing, are you sure that it is the card and not your HDD?

If it is the HDD then i wouldn't consider that a safe sound at all for the poor fella.
 
Revdarian said:
Uhhh if the sound is alt tabbing, are you sure that it is the card and not your HDD?

If it is the HDD then i wouldn't consider that a safe sound at all for the poor fella.
Click to expand...

Running an SSD xD so its not the HDD, my HDD are nothing but data storage and and not in use at all right now.

Also this sound is brand new, and I know this cause im very anal about all the clicks hums and vibration in my case :S
 
Ok if it is a clicking noise, and it isn't the fan directly, watch out for a cable moving close to some fan in your system.

Because no electronic can generate clicking noises by itself, it has to be a mechanic event.
 
Revdarian said:
Ok if it is a clicking noise, and it isn't the fan directly, watch out for a cable moving close to some fan in your system.

Because no electronic can generate clicking noises by itself, it has to be a mechanic event.
Click to expand...

Its hard to explain without letting you hear it, I would kind of describe it as a buzzing noise but that's going slow enough to hear. Kind of like electricity flowing through a bad conductor, ( but WAY less intense)

See What I really curious is this maybe just the background noise of the card that im hearing, because its a completely difference card than a 6870, which is what im used too.

Basically i'm Just trying to find out if its just a harmless noise, or bad card and if/or i'm just a nazi for every little sound.

To try and determine the sounds I have just:
Tried different power cable since the ones im using were taken apart to Mod
Turned off all fans manually except PSU (CPU off and GPU to 20%)

Can still hear sound easily. Oh also just to add here the side of my case is off as well.
 
Last edited:
Ahhhh coil whine!

It means that at some moment, the card vibrates at or near a natural frequency of some part of itself, this vibration is composed of the fan settings and the actual speed the card is running at.

Dont mind the name, even if it isn't high pitched it can be coil whine :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coil_Noise


EDIT TO ADD:
You can try and take a small cardboard tube, use it to funnel the sound in one ear so you can pinpoint the offending piece, then just put some glue on it, the change of the system will change it's natural frequency and thus should stop the sound :)
 
I had coil whine the first 2 days but it disappeared. I turned fans down low to be sure, and the noise is gone.

I'd say wait a few days
 
Revdarian said:
Ahhhh coil whine!

It means that at some moment, the card vibrates at or near a natural frequency of some part of itself, this vibration is composed of the fan settings and the actual speed the card is running at.

Dont mind the name, even if it isn't high pitched it can be coil whine :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coil_Noise


EDIT TO ADD:
You can try and take a small cardboard tube, use it to funnel the sound in one ear so you can pinpoint the offending piece, then just put some glue on it, the change of the system will change it's natural frequency and thus should stop the sound :)
Click to expand...

This is why I come here :D

After reading this it makes sense. However the article doesn't mentions if its reason to worry or not, especially in this case of a high end video card :(

So im still not sure if its an issue or not :S

Edit:

I can easily wait it out for a few days since I got 2 weeks before 30 day return period is up.

The glue, thing. I could definitely give it a try, but ill wait and see what happens first.
 
jrrandell said:
Its hard to explain without letting you hear it, I would kite describe it and a buzzing noise but that's going slow enough to hear. Kind of like electricity flowing through a bad conductor, ( but WAY less intense)
Click to expand...

Don't know if it's the same as you but...
I've been using 3DMark11 while overclocking my 7970. When clocks go too high and artifacts show up, I get a buzzing from my card. As soon as I close the 3DMark11, noise stops immediately. Buzzing sounds kind of a crackling electric sound.

Card runs fine otherwise at default clocks up to 1100/1525 (1.17v card)

Not sure what causes it or if it's normal. It doesn't sound good.
 
manofthem said:
Don't know if it's the same as you but...
I've been using 3DMark11 while overclocking my 7970. When clocks go too high and artifacts show up, I get a buzzing from my card. As soon as I close the 3DMark11, noise stops immediately. Buzzing sounds kind of a crackling electric sound.

Card runs fine otherwise at default clocks up to 1100/1525 (1.17v card)

Not sure what causes it or if it's normal. It doesn't sound good.
Click to expand...

I agree it sounds like this, but I haven't been overclocking so that should be a cause of the issue

Edit: Also cant record the sound, my headset wont pick it up over the GPU fan at 20% So its not very loud, its just distinct and thats why im hearing it.
 
Ya with the side of my case on and all the fans on normal speeds its not even something I can hear unless I put my ear to the case. So this and the fact im not used to the sound will make me forget it pretty quickly.

Assuming its coil noise there's no reason to return this card right? I may overclock in the future, if I actually need to in games.

Thank you for the help everyone.

Edit: question? would changing the voltage stop the coil whine since the electricity flowing would be at a different freq?
 
Last edited:
The coil noise isn't harmful.

Lower voltage doesnt change the frequency, you can over or under clock and see if it helps you a little.
 
Revdarian said:
The coil noise isn't harmful.

Lower voltage doesnt change the frequency, you can over or under clock and see if it helps you a little.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks ill give that a try, but in all honestly I can barely even notice it now xD

I think the fact it was just a new noise is why it was annoying me.
 
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