4870 Voltage Regulator Noise?

Dopekitten

Member
Jul 11, 2008
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Ok, I have a conundrum here for you.

I recently upgraded my ati drivers from 9.6 to 9.12 (I have a 4870 512mb), and when i start up stalker, during the "credits/videos" before the menu, and durning the menu, my video card makes a fast beeping noise (not beeping persey--it sounds like a tea kettle boiling, but its a very fast beeping really).

I looked this up online--people say that it's most likely a voltage regulator, but I also hear that the 4870 uses digital regulators, so they can't make noise. I also tried uninstalling the old drivers, reverting to 9.6, reflashing my 4870 bios back to orginal (I had flashed it to the Asus Top bios), and underclocked my card tons--still the same problem.

Here's another catch though. It ONLY makes the tea-kettle noise in the startup of Stalker. In the actual game, it makes a vibrating noise, but its not high-pitched anymore (it does this also in furmark). However, it does nothing in games like TF2 and L4D, even with graphics turned up all the way.

Anybody know what the problem is? How i can fix it? Or if i need to return it to Visiontek? (Lifetime warranty ftw)
 

thilanliyan

Lifer
Jun 21, 2005
11,848
2,051
126
I get the same with my 4870...it only happens when the frames per second is very high (ie. like 100+ or probably even more) which is why you won't hear it in game. That kind of noise is fairly common with video cards these days.
 

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
I believe it is the Coils or so i have been told, my 4890 whines alot too. Not too bad in most games i play(L4d2, Dragon age, Oblivion) but pretty bad in crysis.
 

Qbah

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2005
3,754
10
81
I had the same with my HD4870 512MB during the loading screens in Crysis. The whining was VERY loud but went away each time the loading was over... Perhaps taking the card out and moving it physically a bit (like shaking) can help? Just don't overdo it :p
 

Dopekitten

Member
Jul 11, 2008
67
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I had the same with my HD4870 512MB during the loading screens in Crysis. The whining was VERY loud but went away each time the loading was over... Perhaps taking the card out and moving it physically a bit (like shaking) can help? Just don't overdo it :p

I actually did that, becuase it was making a slight buzzing noise while not in games--and that is fixed now. (I took the card out to check the serial number).

Is this return worthy though? Visiontek has a lifetime warranty, and this just started, so it's something broken in the card. (By worthy I mean, will they send me a new one?)
 

Ben90

Platinum Member
Jun 14, 2009
2,866
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I had the same with my HD4870 512MB during the loading screens in Crysis. The whining was VERY loud but went away each time the loading was over... Perhaps taking the card out and moving it physically a bit (like shaking) can help? Just don't overdo it :p

No lol dont shake your card, when i turn folding at home on my 4890 its extremely noticeable, but thats only when i sleep so i really don't care...

Dont want to start a debate, but do Nvidia cards do this? my old 7800gtx never did, but im guessing because that used like 1/3rd of the power as this card
 

Qbah

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2005
3,754
10
81
No lol dont shake your card, when i turn folding at home on my 4890 its extremely noticeable, but thats only when i sleep so i really don't care...

Dont want to start a debate, but do Nvidia cards do this? my old 7800gtx never did, but im guessing because that used like 1/3rd of the power as this card

I took mine out and moved it around a bit and after putting it back inside the noise stopped. Since the caps have fluid inside them physical movement might change their characteristics a bit, enough for the sound to stop. Also changing that will influence current movement in a minisule way which can also cause the noise to go away.

It did help the OP, so that's all that matters. Perhaps he connected the 6-pin cables the other way round and it changed load a bit and caused the coils to react a bit different hence stopping the whining sound? So many things could have happened but taking the card out made a bg enough influence on the system for the annoyance to go away. Remember this s electronics and not large scale block building so even a small change in load distribution can have an impact on something like sound coming from components.
 

Dopekitten

Member
Jul 11, 2008
67
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Let me clarify what the situation is now.

The shaking did help--it removed all unusual noises that had been happening--except for the odd squealing during the startup video of STALKER and the menu as well.

In fact, as far as I have been able to determine, the menu in STALKER (and the startup credits/video) are the ONLY places it makes this noise--which seems absurdly odd. I can't fathom why there would be this noise from a game. I could understand if it happened all the time--but since it doesn't...who knows...

Perhaps it's high FPS--but i get lots of FPS in tf2, and there isn't any problem.

Regardless, this video card has never really been a "star" in the sense that its benchmarks are below average for the card, even when overclocked, and while it probably doesn't really matter--I'm a benchmark junkie, and considering this could be an opportunity to send it in on warranty, I'd be interested in figuring out how to make this problem repeatable (outside of STALKER, since visiontek probably doesn't have that on hand).
 

SonicIce

Diamond Member
Apr 12, 2004
4,774
0
76
How do you know its exactly coming from the video card? I upgraded my cpu one time and heard a type of noise like that. Maybe its the power supply. either way im not sure what anyone can do about it lol
 

Ben90

Platinum Member
Jun 14, 2009
2,866
3
0
I took mine out and moved it around a bit and after putting it back inside the noise stopped. Since the caps have fluid inside them physical movement might change their characteristics a bit, enough for the sound to stop. Also changing that will influence current movement in a minisule way which can also cause the noise to go away.

It did help the OP, so that's all that matters. Perhaps he connected the 6-pin cables the other way round and it changed load a bit and caused the coils to react a bit different hence stopping the whining sound? So many things could have happened but taking the card out made a bg enough influence on the system for the annoyance to go away. Remember this s electronics and not large scale block building so even a small change in load distribution can have an impact on something like sound coming from components.
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