GTX285 Buzz During 3D Applications

[CurseTheSky]

When looking over the countless posts about the latest and greatest in the graphics world, I saw a few people warn about buzzing coming from their new graphics cards in games, etc.

Well, now I have the same problem.

When I start up a game, I get a very annoying buzz sound (I've heard the sound from other electronics in the past, sometimes things affected by EMI, emitting certain frequencies, etc.). The buzz changes pitch (slower and deeper) when I get off a game's menu screen and into the game itself. If I shut the game off or alt-tab out of the game, the buzz goes away.

I heard some say that it was a PSU problem, but as far as I know the PSU I have is generally well regarded and definitely more than enough to power my system.

Any ideas? Should I contact EVGA?

 

[taltamir]

are you sure its not the FAN spinning up?

 

[Painman]

Known issue with many newer nV cards.

If you don't mind VSync, you can try enabling it and see if it reduces/eliminates the noise.

 

[CurseTheSky]

It sounds like the noise dies down after a while. I noticed after I was alt-tabbed out for a while, when I tabbed back in there was no buzz.

As long as it fixes itself in a week or two I'll be happy.

Thanks.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Issue covered in detail here

edit - also has a solution to the problem although doing it might void warranty.

 

[alcoholbob]

It's called penny-pinching by your manufacturer. I've got a pair of 285 SSCs...very annoying considering the price of these cards and the margins they run with them.

 

[josh6079]

Ahhhh, dammit.

This is not good news. I knew the problem was there and that it was probably a luck of the draw situation, but that article states that some of the only safe bets are the FTW editions by EVGA?

That hampers down on selection and price...

 

[BFG10K]

Originally posted by: josh6079

That hampers down on selection and price...

If you game with vsync and/or framerate caps it won't be present much. The card usually only squeals under an excessive framerate, instances like sitting in a game's menu with an uncapped framerate.

I don't use vsync, but I game with headhones, so it's not a big deal to me.

 

[SunnyD]

Don't feel bad, my 4870 does it too, particularly at boot and on the windows desktop.

 

[josh6079]

I think the most demanding game I'll probably throw at my GTX 260 is ETQW, so if that doesn't stress the card enough to cause the sound it's all good.

 

[Zenoth]

For me it's doing it when 3DMark06 loads up a benchmark (any of them). What I can clearly hear is a buzz coming from what I think are the GPU's capacitors, but the monitor itself (CRT) is also doing it either before or after the card does it (it seems to be related somehow to the refresh rate and/or screen resolutions changes before the test is fully loaded, but I'm not sure). Curiously, however, it hasn't been doing any buzzing sounds at all outside of synthetic benchmarking (I played Crysis, Fallout 3 and Medieval II: TW with it so far and I didn't hear anything).

And my card is currently at stock frequencies, but I don't think it's related to the card's frequencies (since it's doing it in 3DMark06, and Vantage as well on my Vista partition). When it's doing it however it is certainly very audible, it's actually loud and annoying, it's high-pitched and it almost sounds like the card is yelling out of suffering and agony, I really don't like the sound. If it was doing it regularly and especially during gaming I would have returned it for sure. But to be honest I can deal with that buzzing if it remains present only during synthetic benchmarking or while loading up a map in a game or something like that, and if the sound stops after the said map or anything else loads up then I'll be happy.

I don't know if on a pure technical and physical point that buzzing is simply unavoidable and that the engineers just can't avoid it, but if it can be avoided by better engineering the cards and their circuitry then I'm wondering when that day will come.

 

[alcoholbob]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
I don't know if on a pure technical and physical point that buzzing is simply unavoidable and that the engineers just can't avoid it, but if it can be avoided by better engineering the cards and their circuitry then I'm wondering when that day will come.

The buzzing is easily fixed by several device/design options--all of which increase the price of production.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Yeah, but you would expect the IHVs to use quality components for atleast the high end/premium parts.

 

[Hauk]

Y'all quit whining! Install more case fans!

 

[alkalinetaupehat]

My 260 and 285 both squeal somewhat when doing F@H. lol if you really want squeal, you should hear my old rig running P95. The 285's squeal is noticeably quieter and slightly lower pitch though.

 

[exar333]

It is annoying though...

 

[zod96]

That's why I ditched my GTX260. The buzzing was way way to annoying to keep the card. My 4870 is dead silent no buzzing..

 

[Tweakin]

I have two EVGA GTX 285 SC's and neither make any noise...lucky I guess.

 

[Zillatech]

Originally posted by: zod96
That's why I ditched my GTX260. The buzzing was way way to annoying to keep the card. My 4870 is dead silent no buzzing..

My EVGA GTX260 has 0 Buzzing that this thread is talking about. I DO use V-Sync though because without it, I'd get serious tearing in my 3D Apps. Has anyone confirmed the problem goes away when "V-Sync" is enabled??? Except for benchmarks (3DMark, etc.) I would think that almost everyone would be using V-Sync these days while running on LCD's.

There must be a simple solution to the problem because if Nvidia was indeed at fault for using shotty components and it was causing this annoying noise in most video cards, wouldn't you think that the masses would be up in arms filing a law suit or something? All I know is, my GTX260 makes no such noise and I'm very sensitive to strange sounds coming from my "rather quiet" PC.

Maybe an RMA is required for those who are experiencing the problem ...

 

[alcoholbob]

This is the sort of thing I call "perspective." One man's treasure is another man's garbage. You can ask 10 people their opinion on something and you'll get completely differing opinions. Part of this is due to sensory capability. Some of this is due to inconsistent testing methodology. And some of this is due to perception.

I bet if we took a recording quality microphone we'd all have the same raw data output. But one will say there is where someone will say there isn't.

I find this extremely typical regarding sound. One man will complain about aluminum cone resonance. Because he can hear it. The next ten will say it doesn't exist. But the raw SPL data is the same.

But that's what an engineer does--he tries to figure out how to fix a problem even if he himself can't perceive it. This was true in the audio world regarding resonance, negative feedback, harmonic distortion, cycle delay. Some people could hear it, some couldn't. If you put them in an anechoic chamber, a few more would probably hear it, but still, not all. The numbers will support the position that a problem does exist even if individual opinions are inconsistent.

 

[zod96]

Its luck of the draw. My friend has a GTX260 that is dead silent. But I've gone threw 2 of them. Both buzzed like crazy, and one was from EVGA and one was from XFX....

 

[Thor86]

No buzzing or squeeling from my XFX GTX 285.

 

[darXoul]

My 280 FTW does buzz a bit (e.g. in Crysis menu, some Witcher scenes, etc.) but it's pretty minor and not really intrusive/annoying. I always use vsync so it might have helped a bit (but doesn't guarantee dead silent operation). Coil whine seems to very common with the latest nV cards, the 55 nm models look to be the most affected ones.

 

[Omerta]

It is annoying. It would also happen to my 4870x2 while playing Crysis. Nothing is wrong with the card, don't worry about it.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

My 55nm GTX260 Core 216 buzzes.

But, my HP LP2275w doesn't have a wall wart/external transformer, and all the AC->DC circuitry is in the monitor, a foot away from my face. It's significantly louder than my graphics card. My roommate can't hear the monitor (I guess it's a pretty high frequency buzz, and annoying as hell) but he can definitely hear the graphics card buzz/not buzz as I switch F@H on and off.

I have three Logitech Z-5500 satellites also one foot away from my face. They hiss louder than my graphics card buzzes.

And the CFLs in my room ALSO buzz louder than my graphics card.

PS: With the card's fan set to 80% in RivaTuner (I'm always Folding with it) the buzz becomes inaudible since the fan is now louder.