Question Is there any data on RTX 4090 coil whine

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Wolverine2349

Senior member
Oct 9, 2022
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I have tried 4 different RTX 4090 including 2 Gigabyte Gaming OCs and a Gigabyte Aorus Master and a PNY XLR8

Unfortunately all had too much a buzz like noise that will not be drowned out by the sound of game in a quiet area of the game. Though in areas of the game where sound is louder it can it would be drowned out, though looking for less whine than that.

I had a GeForce RTX Gaming OC 3090 Ti and it had almost no coil whine at all in any situation and it was so hush and faint and very hard to detect even if you looked for it.

Sadly not the case for the 4 RTX 4090s I have tried.

3 of the I sold and now left with a Gaming OC again with the same issues.

Is there any setup or any ones with no or extremely little coil whine??

Or is it just a reality that all 4090s have it more than just a little and no way around it??

Its hard to believe they could not have any without them as many 3090 Tis tested by Guru3D stated they had a hard time detecting it on those cards and the 3090 Ti power draw is very similar to factory RTX 4090 power draw around 450 to 460 watts,

And yeah I did try power limit and it does almost nothing unless I put it below 60% which is unacceptable gimping of performance. If I could almost eliminate the buzzing/whine at 80 to 85% power usage, great. But having to go below 60% or even as low as 50% is not good.

Strange thing is the whine is actually bad in high end AAA games like RDR2 and GTA V even with FPS only 80 to 120. In Furmark bench Mark at 1080P with MSAA at 8X FPS is like 200 to 300 and like no buzz nor whine. Or course FPS goes into 700s with MSAA off in Furmark and it starts to make a different kind of whine which is ok if FPS goes that high as never in real world usage.

I have seen many reports that say Zotac, Gigabyte supposedly have less chance of it and are better. Though the Gigabytes I had all have too much.

And have heard Asus is worst and MSI also has lots of complaints.

Though I have heard some reports of people insisting they have none even with their ear right by an MSI Suprim X. I wonder is the newer batch of cards from MSI better. I know Suprim X has the best VRM of all cards. The Gaming X Trio has 8 less power stages and only 50 amps at that.
 
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This user solved it: https://www.overclock.net/threads/i-think-i-just-fixed-gpu-coil-whine-for-good.1792401/

General article on coil whine: https://clevercreations.org/what-is-coil-whine-how-to-fix/

One of the comments here mentions using undervolting to eliminate coil whine:
Using super glue (will likely void warranty): https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...asily-fix-coil-whine-coil-choke-noise.294015/

Personally, if money were no issue, I would get the liquid cooled MSI Suprim and if it also whines, cover it and surround it with high density sound dampening foam.
 

gdansk

Platinum Member
Feb 8, 2011
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Here's some more data. The coil whine of my MSI RTX 4090 "Gaming X Trio" is too much to tolerate. Even when limited to 144 FPS. I'll see if I can get a replacement. I suspect they can't all be this bad or the return rate would be 100%.

But I am resigned that this generation or the next I will need to relocate my gaming PC to my "server room" with some appropriate cables. The TDPs are too high for summer and the coil whine is simply another factor encouraging such a move.
 

alcoholbob

Diamond Member
May 24, 2005
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I don't hear any coil whine from my sitting location (around 8 feet from PC) once I power limit/undervolt my 4090 to around 315W or below. Above that it definitely sounds quite audible, and overpowers the noise of all the fans of my PC.
 
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I personally have never heard it. Had RX 580, Geforce 1060 3GB, Geforce GTX Titan X and now Zotac 3090. But my case is lying horizontal on the floor (prefer it that way. easy to tinker with). Maybe vertical orientation changes something?
 

Muadib

Lifer
May 30, 2000
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I personally have never heard it. Had RX 580, Geforce 1060 3GB, Geforce GTX Titan X and now Zotac 3090. But my case is lying horizontal on the floor (prefer it that way. easy to tinker with). Maybe vertical orientation changes something?
I have mine in the standard position, and never heard it either. Is the issue just a matter of luck of the draw?
 

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
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After using the card for a while, I don't find the coil whine an issue as long as the case door is closed. I have the case on the floor though.

The card makes a little noise even on idle. I can't tell if it's coming from the AIO pump or some lower frequency coil whine.
 
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Wolverine2349

Senior member
Oct 9, 2022
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Well I just tried a 4090 Strix. Someone told me they had it and were expecting horrible whine and were surprised it was much quieter than expected and I thought with the swap of parts including new eVGA SuperNOVA T2 1600 and Asus Z790-A Strix mobo would maybe score whine free RTX 4090 setup.

So I got it knowing i could return it to MicroCenter and got store credit since I did not have original payment method.

Unfortunately whine was bad on it. Was it as bad as the horror stories if hearing it scream across other rooms. No., But it was a buzzing chainsaw like sound easily heard and sharp even 5-7 feet away from sound dampened Silent Base 802 with sealed front and top panels and sealed side panels. Could be heard easily even with my house central heat/ac vents running.

It was worse than Gaming OCs I tried. Significantly worse. No. But more than just a little worse. And the Gaming OCs had too much whine, but may have to settle for modestly less Gaming OC type as a whine free 4090 one just seems to not exist unfortunately. But Gaming OC was better than the Strix even if the Strix was definitely far from worst of other 4090 Strix cards, this Strix was definitely not one of the gems either out of Asus cards regarding coil whine.

Next step may be a Zotac and swap out fans best I can as I hear they may have least whine, but their fan motors have horrible hum noise.
 

Wolverine2349

Senior member
Oct 9, 2022
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I don’t believe these high end video cards are pulling much from motherboards at all. (Exception maybe RX 7000 series). Not sure how motherboards can stop video card coil whine.


Well on New Years day in a quest for a whine free card after talking with others on Facbook groups, someone insisted their Gaming OC had 0 even ear right next to it in quiet room. They were willing to come to my house and let my test it to see if it had whine in my PC so I could be sure. And it did have some. They were surprised and stated they had no such noise on their PC. I had already tried different power supplies to no avail. SO they even thought it has to be motherboard. I had them confirm at their house again in quietr room they had 0 coil whine with the same card and I seriously doubt they are lying or why take the troubke as a fellow geek to come ot my house and offer me to biy the card if I liked it as they stated they liked it but were willing to downgrade. Now unfortunately they fell in love with the card and not going to sell it so I can see if it works in my Asus Z790-A STrix with an eVGA Leadex based PSU which they also have

You still do not believe it is possible the motherboard would have any impact at all?

What else could it be then?? I have a APC Smart UPS SMT1500 plugged into a dedicated 120V outlet on its own amp breaker that is on a dedicated circuit installed June 2019 brand new and my electrical service panel brand new almost 10 years ago in 2013 when I bought the house in the Spring 2013. So it cannot be bad or dirty power.
 

Wolverine2349

Senior member
Oct 9, 2022
387
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Out of curiosity, you aren't running games with no FPS limit are you? If you have say 120hz display, you have the FPS capped at 120fps right? Because running the card wide open where it may hit 1000fps (especially in menus) will pretty much cause coil whine on every card made.

Well depends on the game. I mean many games maxed out push no wear near 120 to 144 fps at 4k so no. If the fps gets very high then yes I cap it.

Though there is still whine.

About to try another card
 
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gdansk

Platinum Member
Feb 8, 2011
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I tried another card. "PNY GeForce RTX 4090 24GB XLR8 Gaming VERTO EPIC-X". Overall similar coil whine even with frame rate limit of 144Hz in place. I only have two PCs with 1kw PSUs to test and it's the same sound when powered by either.

I figured this would be the case. Plan to run display/USB cables from my office to my server room seems the only solution now. Superglue beneath the inductors may void the warranty.
 
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Wolverine2349

Senior member
Oct 9, 2022
387
117
76
Tried another PNY XLR8 and Zotac Airo AMP XTREME

Both have same old too much coil whine/buzzing noise.

Not much difference.

Though Zotac fans are taped as if it can pass coil whine test, I will replace term as the fan motors sound awfully bad

Just testing its whine levels with 1 minute gaming sessions so temps do not overheat since fans are not spinning at all.

So far whine still too much. Though trying power limits so see if it has tangible improvement at something other than 50% or lower which gimps the clock speed to 1200 to 1400 and thus perf tanks. The Gaming OC and PNY had like no improvement in coil whine unless I put power limit to 50%. Even lowering clock speed from 2700 to 2200 did like nothing nor did undervolting.

Trying now on Zotac.