Question Annoying buzzing (coil whine?) from new machine

Mac34

Member
Dec 4, 2012
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Hi,

I just built myself a new gaming PC, which I've been greatly looking forward to in these slow covid-times.

The computer consists of these parts:
Asus Rog z590-E
Samsung EVO 980 Pro
Corsair 32 gb ram 3400mhz
Corsair RM1000i PSU
MSI RTX 3090 Suprim
Intel 19600K (waiting for the 11990k)

Unfortunately there is coil whine (?) from my computer, not during gaming - just doing light stuff in Windows.

It sounds like a scratchy buzzy sound of a buggy fan or fan blades softly hitting a wire. When opening windows, or loading programs, the buzzing sound becomes louder for a few seconds. When the computer is more or less idle, then there is less noise.

I used to have a Z490-f motherboard, and had a similar issue before I updated to a new bios. Then disabling C-States for the CPU removed the noise. This didn't work this time, and there is no new bios available.

Any tips or help would be greatly appreciated. This kind of issue is frustrating, and hard to pinpoint/fix. :(

Thanks for reading.
 
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UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
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You've posted several times in the past about having coil whine with your components (and replacing several of them).

Maybe the issue is with your electricity (or you're overly sensitive to electronic noise).
 

Mac34

Member
Dec 4, 2012
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Ok, that was constructive... As I wrote I experienced a similar issue before, but found a solution (just for sake of eliminating potential causes). Btw. I live in a new apartment, so it's not bad electricity/current.

Upon closer inspection, I think the buzzing might be coming from the PSU. Does anyone know of a type of wiring/cable, bios setting etc. that might remedy the issue? Could it be a defect PSU, or maybe a known issue with one of the other components. It's a bit vague sorry, but I'm kinda in the dark here.

Any advice would be great, thanks again.
 
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UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
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Ok, that was constructive... As I wrote I experienced a similar issue before, but found a solution (just for sake of eliminating potential causes). Btw. I live in a new apartment, so it's not bad electricity/current.

Upon closer inspection, I think the buzzing might be coming from the PSU. Does anyone know of a type of wiring/cable, bios setting etc. that might remedy the issue? Maybe the PSU is defect?

Any advice would be great, thanks again.
Why are you so confrontational?

I mean it's normal for someone who has seen your previous posts about coil whine to ask about. Everyone comes across a component here and there that might be worse than others, but you've experienced multiple times.
 

Mac34

Member
Dec 4, 2012
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Why are you so confrontational?

I mean it's normal for someone who has seen your previous posts about coil whine to ask about. Everyone comes across a component here and there that might be worse than others, but you've experienced multiple times.
Because that came across as a snarky comment towards a polite request for help. And now my post/thread has been hidden. Gee, thanks a lot.



If you have an issue with the moderation, make an MD thread. Do not post about it in your thread.

(BTW, your multiple (9x) edits were the cause of your threads becoming disapproved).

esquared
Anandtech Forum Director
 
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daveybrat

Elite Member
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Jan 31, 2000
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That's just part of the GPU lottery with video cards. Some have little to no coil whine and some have moderate to severe coil whine. As you have a good power supply, i'd go with your video card as the culprit.
 

Mac34

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Dec 4, 2012
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Thanks for the reply. It's definitely the Corsair RM1000i causing the issue, which is a known problem it seems (after googling it).
 

mindless1

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
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It's going to be a coil in the PSU, with loose windings resonanting at a certain switching duty cycle, so anything you do that changes the load can change the noise level.

You could warranty replace it, try changing some setting that affects power consumption (or swap in different components or over or underclock things), or open psu, locate which one is making noise and coat it with some thermally stable goop (not hot glue lol). In the past I've used epoxy and that worked great but I would NOT use one with ferrous metal in it like JBWeld... probably not enough steel in it to matter but there are better options.
 
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Mac34

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Dec 4, 2012
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It's going to be a coil in the PSU, with loose windings resonanting at a certain switching duty cycle, so anything you do that changes the load can change the noise level.

You could warranty replace it, try changing some setting that affects power consumption (or swap in different components or over or underclock things), or open psu, locate which one is making noise and coat it with some thermally stable goop (not hot glue lol).

I'm just going to return it, and get a new one. I'll let the glue rest this time, better to keep the warranty intact. :)
Thanks for the advice.
 

Mac34

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Dec 4, 2012
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I'm just going to return it, and get a new one. I'll let the glue rest this time, better to keep the warranty intact. :) The last time I bought an RM1000i (for my last PC), the first one died after a few hours. Guess my luck isn't the best...

Thanks for the advice.
 

Mac34

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Dec 4, 2012
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Hopefully your newest PSU fixes all of that coil whine you've described in the past, and hopefully it doesn't turn out to be capacitors on that new motherboard.

https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...ing-sound-while-gaming.2561931/#post-39758340
That was actually my first PC in nearly 15 years, and being solely used to Macs the slight "normal" coil whine from high-end gaming GPUs was new to me. The other issue was a bad bios, that created a non-localized buzzing sound on the motherboard. But I've more or less mentioned this already.

Either way, I have a new PSU on the way. Fingers crossed.
 
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UsandThem

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That was actually my first PC in nearly 15 years, and being solely used to Macs the slight "normal" coil whine from high-end gaming GPUs was new to me. The other issue was a bad bios, that created a non-localized buzzing sound on the motherboard. But I've more or less mentioned this already.

Either way, I have a new PSU on the way. Fingers crossed.
That's what I was attempting to get at before things in here um.........got weird. ;)

Things like using a pure sine wave UPS, a case with sound deadening material (and not an open top case which lets a lot of noise escape), to making sure none of the audio cables were picking up interference. It was things like that I wanted to make sure they weren't the one causing the problem. Hopefully a new PSU will correct the issue.

Figuring out lingering issues usually takes a few questions to eliminate other possibilities. I've had some components cause coil whine in the past, and I'm sensitive to high frequency noise. I've actually had my wife listen to it, and she could barely notice it, while for me it was really grating on my ears.
 
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Mac34

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True, being a Mac-user for many years, one gets very sensitive to PC noise. :) I was getting frustrated because of the issues with my new PC, and tempers ran hot unfortunately. :p

Thanks for the input. This time the direction of the coil whine is very clear. During gaming the PSU sounds almost like it's croaking. Definitely not normal.
 
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UsandThem

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FYI, I just got a new PSU, and now everythings fine. The first PSU had serious coil whine, good riddans. :)
Glad you figured it out.

Now remember, when you come back in the future, and I ask a few qualifying questions, let's both start a little bit better than this time. :p