Coil Whine on a 970 is it a problem?

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Cally

Limp Gawd
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I have been waiting to buy a 970 for a few months now and today found what I think is a good price $310.

EVGA GeForce GTX 970 04G-P4-3975-KR 4GB SSC GAMING w/ACX 2.0+, Whisper Silent Cooling Graphics Card - Newegg.com

Reading some of the reviews I keep seeing references to coil whine and how loud it is. I use Precision X 16 for my current 670 card. Will that help this problem on the 970?

Also I am using a DVI cord now would I be better off using a HDMI cord or no difference? My monitor is a HP 2511 until I can upgrade it to a 27 - 29.
 
From what I've read the coil whine issues are usually related to your power supply, not the video card itself. The overclocking utility and video cable used won't make a difference. I think if you have a Tier 1 or Tier 2 power supply you won't have to worry about it. I had a pair of STRIX GTX 970s that many people around here and elsewhere said had coil whine issues, but I never experienced coil whine while they were powered by my Corsair HX850.
 
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My power supply is a 750 Corsair. I am thinking I won't have a problem and am going to order this card today.
 
hey cally , I have that gpu , had it since may 2015 and never had coil whine...
I think the 3975 is a good card, dual bios, and at 310 decent price..
Plus evga is a good company to work with if you have a problem.
Also, they have the step-up program ..
I use dvi cord to my asus ve247h monitor without a problem. Powersupply I have is
thermaltake 750watt sp750p bronze model.
 
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Yes ordered the card can't wait to get it now! I would have liked to have the backplate but I can live without it. It has to be a good step up from my 670 that still does good but is showing its age.
 
Like previous folks have mentioned, coil whine usually surfaces when a PS is pushed too hard and/or is a crap brand that doesn't do a good job supplying clean current and holding precise voltage levels. As long as you have a quality supply with plenty of reserves, coil whine typically isn't an issue at all.
 
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I bought the back plate about 1 month ago, and it did lower temps by 2 degrees cel.

probably not worth $20 ........ , looks nice though..
 
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ncjoe said:
I bought the back plate about 1 month ago, and it did lower temps by 2 degrees cel.

probably not worth $20 ........ , looks nice though..
Click to expand...

I was thinking that for a couple degrees the plate wasn't worth it also. If they wanted us to have it so badly they should just be selling them with the plate mounted.
 
This depends on if you are talking about coil whine when playing a game... Or coil whine when running 3D Mark Ice Storm Test 2. I've had five or six 970 cards and they have all had whine over 1300 FPS or so. This is with three power supplies, two motherboards, and three brands of 970. Also I tried different outlets in my house and tried running on a UPS.

Damn near every GPU has coil whine if you go looking for it. Some people aren't sensitive to electronics noises and never even notice it as well.
 
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I've had an MSI GTX970 for a year or so. The only whine I've heard was when the internet announced the memory wasn't really 4GB, but 3.5GB (fast) + .5GB (slow).

It's done everything I've asked of it at 1920x1200.
 
I had coil whine after upgrading psu and vid card at the same time (MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4g & Corsair 750ax). Returned the PSU for another of the same model and the problem still existed. Returned it again and picked up an Antec instead and the problem disappeared.
 
I don't hear coil whine on my Asus 970 Strix.. I bought it refurbished about a year ago off of newegg. It developed a clicking fan, but it went away before my return window ended so I kept it, for the price i was willing to deal with it or put on an after market cooling solution. Luckily I didn't have to do either.
 
Was about to make a similar thread, this can be had on jet for cheaper with code by the way. Any manufacturers that actually try to stop this? Kind of worried about ordering the evga now.
 
butterfliesrpretty said:
Was about to make a similar thread, this can be had on jet for cheaper with code by the way. Any manufacturers that actually try to stop this? Kind of worried about ordering the evga now.
Click to expand...

If you get an EVGA card, get one with the 6+2 power circuitry and you should be fine. The older 4+1 designs are more prone to whine.
 
butterfliesrpretty said:
Not to doubt you just wondering your source for this information.
Click to expand...

I've had multiple 970 models from different brands and sometimes gone through 2 of each card looking for one with little coil whine. I am super sensitive to electronics noises and spent way too much time and effort looking for for a perfect (quiet) card. And I like trying different hardware and just selling the cards when I get bored. In the end of 2014 and early 2015 I went through a few EVGA and MSI cards and settled on a Strix 970 which had the least whine. Sold that Strix when I stopped PC gaming for a whole in mid 2015.

Currently using a Strix 970, I've had three total Strix 970s and all were low in the spectrum for whine.

Just in the last four months... I picked up a EVGA GTX 970 P4 3975 KR late last year after I was using a GTX 950 in a momentary attempt to go super power efficient. That was quite good for low whine, however the card came with a damaged cooler. I RMA'd that for another 3975 which was also good. Then I got bored and sold that and picked up a 390. The first 390 was a MSI card that I returned for a refund because the whine was ridiculous. Picked up a Asus 390 that was better in whine, but still worse than the 970s. Sent that back due to a defective fan and got a refund because the AMD cards suck at Steam In Home Streaming (Steam Link). Went back to a Asus 970 and got a defective card that kept failing at stock speeds. Exchanged that and the new one is fine, both were good on whine.

Also I've checked out a few 970s in friend's PCs and heard whine when they were certain they couldn't hear it. Everyone has different hearing, I'm on the unfortunate end for electronic noises :p
 
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Ocellaris said:
I've had multiple 970 models from different brands and sometimes gone through 2 of each card looking for one with little coil whine. I am super sensitive to electronics noises and spent way too much time and effort looking for for a perfect (quiet) card. And I like trying different hardware and just selling the cards when I get bored. In the end of 2014 and early 2015 I went through a few EVGA and MSI cards and settled on a Strix 970 which had the least whine. Sold that Strix when I stopped PC gaming for a whole in mid 2015.

Currently using a Strix 970, I've had three total Strix 970s and all were low in the spectrum for whine.

Just in the last four months... I picked up a EVGA GTX 970 P4 3975 KR late last year after I was using a GTX 950 in a momentary attempt to go super power efficient. That was quite good for low whine, however the card came with a damaged cooler. I RMA'd that for another 3975 which was also good. Then I got bored and sold that and picked up a 390. The first 390 was a MSI card that I returned for a refund because the whine was ridiculous. Picked up a Asus 390 that was better in whine, but still worse than the 970s. Sent that back due to a defective fan and got a refund because the AMD cards suck at Steam In Home Streaming (Steam Link). Went back to a Asus 970 and got a defective card that kept failing at stock speeds. Exchanged that and the new one is fine, both were good on whine.

Also I've checked out a few 970s in friend's PCs and heard whine when they were certain they couldn't hear it. Everyone has different hearing, I'm on the unfortunate end for electronic noises :p
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Thanks for the information this helps a lot.
 
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