HIS IceQ X2 7970 Testing

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sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
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Hmm so I guess my options are to request a refund and then order the Saphire Vapor X Ghz edition using my preferred account instead of what I used to pay previously..I'm currently undecided.

Its got the Standard VGA Warranty which does not say anything about a restocking fee. Well at least I hope so.
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
Pretty much or test the card out for a week and see if the coil whine goes away or you get used to it.

If you want to stick to around $400, there are other good options such as MSI GTX670 Power Edition.

It just sucks you got a card that makes coil whine but it's a very common problem going way back to GTX280/HD4890 days even. Even such popular cards as the Gigabyte Windforce 3x 7970 and 670 have it. It's random.
 
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sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
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Yeh it sucks I guess I have bad luck. I would probably stick to Amd this year and so on to see how it is. I guess I would not mind the Saphire Ghz edition with the rebate if that one will not whine.

I'm trying to find out before I hit that refund button on Newegg if they will charge me a restocking fee. I don't like charging other cards that have a balance on them but I guess that is my only option if I want a card by next week rather than waiting a complete 2.5 weeks.
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
Why don't you just contact their customer service? I usually send emails and they respond promptly. Just tell them the card you got has very loud coil whine mechanical noise and that's not an advertised feature of a $400 product :)
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
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Well I spoke with Newegg and they say they don't offer any sales or technical or sales support and I should contact the Manufaturer for a troubleshooting call. Then, if the Manufacturer deems it defective, there will be no restocking fee.

Standard VGA warranty does not state anything about a restocking fee within 30 days if you want the refund. So after I stated that I was diconnected :(

Stupid run around.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
That's why you should just have applied for an RMA and tell them the card is defective outright. Then buy what you want in the meantime.
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
Ya, I don't see anything about a restocking fee for a Standard VGA Warranty but under their General Policy:

"Any return for a refund may be subject to a 15% restocking fee."

So you may want to try tomorrow with another agent or go the RMA route as cmdrdredd suggested.
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
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That's why you should just have applied for an RMA and tell them the card is defective outright. Then buy what you want in the meantime.

Yeah I know but how can you be sure that when they get the card they will understand what I am talking about. I wouldn't want to get stuck with two cards in case they say its not defective. I could not get a hold of HIS so I will email them tonite.

I can still apply for an RMA but according to their terms, if you click replace and do the RMA they just send you another one once they get it and check it. I've never had to do this so I'm not sure if they would ask me what I wanted to do afterwards.
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
I watched your videos again 2 times over and I am just not hearing any coil whine or any electrical buzzing but instead a very loud hum/fan noise. In fact, in both of those videos something is very loud inside your case but I can't tell if it's the videocard of the PSU since you didn't listen to the PSU's fan on the side. At the back of the case, the PSU should be exhausting the heat out and you should be able to put your ear next to the PSU to at least isolate if the PSU is loud or not. You moving the smartphone video towards the GPU and PSU at the same time doesn't help us isolate if it's the PSU or the videocard that's making all that noise since when you move it closer towards the 2 components, they are very close in proximity to one another at that point.

Let's look at your videocard at lot more closely.

What are your GPU fan speeds on this card? Are the fans working at 100%? Why is the videocard equally loud in both videos (it should be extremely quiet at idle for example).

Do you have MSI afterburner screenshot where you can take the readings for us via in game to see your GPU temperatures?

79701150mhztemperatures.jpg


Also can you download HWInfo64 and post a screenshot of that after running Unigine Heaven 3.0 8xMSAA/Extreme tessellation? I want to see your GPU voltage max, your VRM temperatures and your GPU temperatures and GPU fan speed in that program as well (Yellow Sensor button).

Alternatively please post a GPU-Z screenshot at load (use MSI Afterburner Kombuster (the little K letter in MSI afterburner in the top left) to load up GPU Burn-in test or similar to load the GPU and take the readings).
 
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sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
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Good Idea, is MSI Afterburner screenshot a seperate program? I don't get any reading on my MSI AfterBurner program. I can only change the fan speed, everything else is locked. Although I did edit the config file correctly as stated before. I will do that when I get home tonite.

It may be hard to hear in the video but it can be heard when you are next to the case.
Fan is stock speed at 35%, on auto control. Not sure what its set to in game. Will have to do what you said above and see.
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
See in the bottom right of MSI Afterburner something called "Settings". Click that, then go to the 3rd tab called "Monitoring", under that window you should see a heading: "Active hardware monitoring graphs." In there you can check off Fan Speed, GPU temperature, GPU Usage, Fan tachometer, Core clock, Memory Clock, Memory Usage. Under the main "General" tab, select Unlock voltage control, unlock voltage monitoring.

With HWInfo64, you don't have to do any of that. It shows everything in 1 shot.

hwinfo64sapphiredx.jpg


Just make sure you open HWInfo64, then run Unigine Heaven 3.0 or Battlefield 3 or w/e heavy benchmark so we can see maximum readings for everything.

You can try setting up a Custom Fan Profile (Fan tab) in MSI afterburner and then see if it makes the card much quieter. For example, here is mine for the 6950:

msiafterburnerfansettin.png
 
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RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
When you run the unigine heaven benchmark and put your head near the PSU at the back of the case, can you tell if it's loud or not?

Can you also make a video with your case closed while running a benchmark? I mean based on the benchmarks this card should be extremely quiet and based on your fan speeds and temperature readings, it's barely even breaking a sweat. I mean if I took a video and put my smartphone right next to the GPU, it would also be loud since you are zooming in 1 inch to the card but sitting away probably 1 meter from the desktop tower. Your card sounds loud up close but is it loud in the case? Those temperatures of 61*C look amazing. Lower the GPU fan speeds to 10-20% manually in MSI after-burner at idle and see if the card is loud, then start raising GPU fan speeds in idle from 20% to 30% to 40% to 50%, etc. See at which fan speed the card becomes too loud for you.

What specific model of GTX560Ti did you have before btw? Just trying to figure out if your card is very loud, or you are just extremely sensitive to noise levels and the video you made just sounds super loud because the phone was so close to the card or the card's fans are faulty?

Also, you still haven't said if you specifically listened to the PSU under full load. I kinda want to isolate that the PSU is not the loud component so I need you to get down to the PSU level at the bottom of the case and put your ear right next to it where the vent holes are at the back of the PSU when you are running the GPU at 99% in that benchmark.

The other thing you should do is when the GPU is running, use a finger in the middle of each GPU fan and push slightly on each fan to stop it. Do it for the left fan and see if the GPU got quieter, then quickly release the finger, and do it for the 2nd fan. Maybe one of those fans has a faulty bearing.
 
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sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
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I had a video with the case closed and you can't hear anything lol. Got down the level of the PSU and I can hear it going under load, normal fan spinning sound. No noise what so ever.

I increased Card's fan in MSI all the way up to 100% and it still was not too loud for me. It indeed says the fans on the card is quiet. So its quiet strange.

I contacted HIS email support so we will see what they say. Previously I had a Twin Frozr II 560Ti OC
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
Then the card is loud when you open the side of the case, but when you close the case like you would normally have your desktop tower, even at 100% fan speed, it's fine?

So it's not the fan speed of the card that's making that irritating humming noise then?
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
126
Then the card is loud when you open the side of the case, but when you close the case like you would normally have your desktop tower, even at 100% fan speed, it's fine?

So it's not the fan speed of the card that's making that irritating humming noise then?

Yeh and the video with my case open shows my system fans running at low speed toggled through my fan controller so you can hear pretty much just the card. But with system closed, increasing the speed of the Card's fans really makes no difference. You can't hear any different sound from the fans weather you are at 20% or 98% which seems strange.

I played couple minutes of Alan Wake before hitting the sack last night and yup..screeching sound as soon as the game starts. Tried to video it with case closed but the phone's video pics up too much background noise to just focus in on the whine. Its more prominent than Bf3. There is definately a difference running the card idle/heaven benchmark vs playing a game.

During benchmark you don't really hear it that much, in a game its there.

HIS got back to me and asked that I turn the fan down to 20% and see if the noise is there. Then to turn the fan off and see if noise is there. Their responses are pretty tough to understand :/
 

lavaheadache

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2005
6,893
14
81
Meh, coil whine doesn't bother me too much. I've had some loud cards and didn't really care. I game with headphones on or with the volume up anyway
 

Rvenger

Elite Member <br> Super Moderator <br> Video Cards
Apr 6, 2004
6,283
5
81
I am used to coil whine after I owned 1x 7750 2x 7970s and 1x 7950. Gotta love the constant buzzing noise in Diablo 3 :)


Almost every videocard has some kind of coil whine so I wouldn't even worry about it.
 

Borkil

Senior member
Sep 7, 2006
248
0
0
Yeh and the video with my case open shows my system fans running at low speed toggled through my fan controller so you can hear pretty much just the card. But with system closed, increasing the speed of the Card's fans really makes no difference. You can't hear any different sound from the fans weather you are at 20% or 98% which seems strange.

I played couple minutes of Alan Wake before hitting the sack last night and yup..screeching sound as soon as the game starts. Tried to video it with case closed but the phone's video pics up too much background noise to just focus in on the whine. Its more prominent than Bf3. There is definately a difference running the card idle/heaven benchmark vs playing a game.

During benchmark you don't really hear it that much, in a game its there.

HIS got back to me and asked that I turn the fan down to 20% and see if the noise is there. Then to turn the fan off and see if noise is there. Their responses are pretty tough to understand :/

woah i ran alan wake last night too and also had a screeching whine during the initial start loading screens. it has only been that loud for alan wake. normally its a low buzzing that sounds similar to a fan, so i guess i'll be able to get used to it. i read online that someone left a game running for several nights and that reduced the coil whine. does that work?
 

lavaheadache

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2005
6,893
14
81
coil whine intensity tends to mimic how high the fps are. I'm willing to bet you were seeing 3000+ fps in that title screen
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
126
woah i ran alan wake last night too and also had a screeching whine during the initial start loading screens. it has only been that loud for alan wake. normally its a low buzzing that sounds similar to a fan, so i guess i'll be able to get used to it. i read online that someone left a game running for several nights and that reduced the coil whine. does that work?

Well yes it depends on the game and how it runs. I hate the blurry visuals in Alan Wake though. I'm still waiting ofr HIS to get back to me on the next steps. IF they give me a reference number AND newegg agrees to a refund then I will send it back and go for the Vapor X Ghz edition.

But either way it will require newegg getting it, testing it, who knows what they will or will not hear.
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
126
Great, now I noticed it squeels sometimes when I open firefox or scroll up and down on here. High pitch but like a dog whistle type of thing..just short.
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
woah i ran alan wake last night too and also had a screeching whine during the initial start loading screens. it has only been that loud for alan wake. normally its a low buzzing that sounds similar to a fan, so i guess i'll be able to get used to it. i read online that someone left a game running for several nights and that reduced the coil whine. does that work?

My card exhibits minor coil whine but only in Windows Experience Index (WEI) or in 2D/stills where frames skyrocket. For example, if you guys run MSI Kombustor "Triangle of Death (GL2)" test, I am hitting 1200-1250 fps in that and then my card starts to whine. In actual 3D game with 99% GPU load, nothing, distributed computing projects with 99% GPU load, nothing. It's usually these still screens or when the card is completely red-lining in some synthetic test like the MSI K Triangle of Death. WEI seems to bring out coil whine, but bitcoin mining @ 99% GPU load, nothing. Go figure. :D

Great, now I noticed it squeels sometimes when I open firefox or scroll up and down on here. High pitch but like a dog whistle type of thing..just short.

Ya, that's really really bad. Grab MSI HD7970 Lightning, Sapphire Vapor-X if you still want to stick with 7970s, or perhaps consider the slightly cheaper HD7950 Vapor-X:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapphire/HD_7950_Vapor-X/1.html
 
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sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
126
I was surpised that I was scrolling and it sounded like a mouse in my case. Screech, screech each scroll up or down. Thank god Newegg took the HIS ticket number and is refunding me.

I would rather have a 7970 than a 7950 otherwise it would just be going towards the 670. So I think I will look at the Vapor X 7970 GE and MSI Lightning.