Question Is there any data on RTX 4090 coil whine

[Wolverine2349]

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.

 

[Majcric]

Well I have an eVGA SuperNOVA P6 1000W coming today from Amazon. Ity is a SeaSonic Focus based PSU and actually better and newer revision. Someone at Overclockers CO UK forums has a X670-E Strix and Ryzen 7700X and they had a Gigabyte Gaming OC that was silent even with ear next to the case under load. They had to return Gaming OC due to bad thermals. I am going to try and replicate that build and hope for silence today.

Hopefully the new PSU will help. I see you've tried a lot of different things already. Does this include the Nvidia Founders edition?

 

[gdansk]

Is yours the very loud whine like Wolverine is describing, or the minor buzz that requires your ear next to the card? The only reason I ask is he might be satisfied with a minor buzz. To my knowledge, all cards that require a decent amount of power will have some buzz.

Very loud.

What about different across different motherboards and which RTX 4090s have you tried? And if across different motherboards, which ones?

I have only tried one of the RTX 4090s (the PNY) I had in different motherboards (MSI B550M Mortar and ASRock X670E Steel Legend). Whine was identical in each.

The only thing that confuses me is if you already glued most (if not all?) the inductors then it's hard to say if the issue is the card... so worth trying a new PSU in that case.

 

[Wolverine2349]

Very loud.

I have only tried one of the RTX 4090s (the PNY) I had in different motherboards (MSI B550M Mortar and ASRock X670E Steel Legend). Whine was identical in each.

The only thing that confuses me is if you already glued most (if not all?) the inductors then it's hard to say if the issue is the card... so worth trying a new PSU in that case.

Yup and I have tried 2 mobos an MSI Z690 Unify X with many cards and 3 different PSUs 2 being CWT based Corsair HX1200 and MSI and one being SeaSonic based Asus ROG Thor II 1000 Platinum and really no difference. Though multiple PSUs on maybe only 1 or 2 cards.

Then switched to Asus Z790-A Strix mobo and eVGA SuperNOVA T2 1600. Tried a few 4090s, Asus Strix 4090 and MSI Suprim X and PNY and all electrical buzzing noise under load with Strix and MSI being the worst though not by far but definitely the worst. One of the Gaming OCs was probably the least bad,m but still too much. The PNY overall worse than Gamming OC but not as bad as MSI and Asus. The last Gaming OC that I returned was clearly the worst one.

Now I am going AMD AM5 system with Asus mobo. Have read better reports with middle high and high end AM5 Asus and RTX 4090s having less whine on Hardware Luxx and overclockers UK forums, though so many do not list their system specs, so hard to tell for sure. But form ones that do, trend seems that way. And also testing a Gaming OC at someone else's house where there's in their Asus X570 Dark Hero had no electrical buzz and very faint whine, it buzzed almost as bad as my own in my system at their house so no it was not the power coming to the house.

So onwards to try an Asus X670E-E Strix and Gaming OC 4090 and eVGA P6 1000W.

 

[Majcric]

IIRC, the coil whine issue started around Kepler the higher end cards like the GTX 780ti. The 9800gtx + I had didn’t have any coil whine at all.

Some folks managed to resolve it by changing power supply’s while others would blame the GPU. I don’t think it was ever pinpointed to either one, it most likely can be both( not necessarily at the same time in the same system unless you get real lucky) and this complicates finding the culprit even more.

 

[blckgrffn]

Are you conditioning your power at all? Was your friend?

I too hate coil whine, but I’ve never gone to such great lengths to rid myself of it. Thankfully changing PSUs was usually enough.

 

[Muadib]

Are you conditioning your power at all? Was your friend?

I too hate coil whine, but I’ve never gone to such great lengths to rid myself of it. Thankfully changing PSUs was usually enough.

What do you mean conditioning your power?

 

[blckgrffn]

What do you mean conditioning your power?

Like with a power conditioner. Looks like this one is called a voltage regulator, but its a different name for the same thing. If your input voltage isn't healthy, then weird stuff can happen. I've used a couple of these when a client had a computer that was strangely unstable at their home but was fine for me. They are nice because they don't have batteries to expire. It brings the input voltage into spec for your sensitive electronics.

https://www.amazon.com/APC-LE1200-Automatic-Voltage-Regulator/dp/B00009RA60/ref=d_pd_day0_vft_none_sccl_1_4/137-5561803-3731146

Or with a nice battery backup that has quality voltage regulation is the next best thing. Just more expensive because batteries.

The other bad thing is how large of a voltage regulator/UPS you need to buy now too avoid choking out your PC when it is under high usage scenarios (I've encountered this as an excellent way to blue screen a PC). A 13900K/4090 can draw some serious power from the wall.

So not only are your actual room cooling needs high, but so is the quality and quantity of your power delivery systems.

If you've got a fan or something else on the same circuit, it can introduce so wonky power as well.

 

[Stuka87]

What do you mean conditioning your power?

It means running the power through something that will filter out noise and set a constant voltage with a clean syne wave. Some areas have pretty dirty power, and can cause all sorts of unwanted oscillations in things like power supplies and audio equipment. You can also get noise on the line from other equipment in your house.

Higher quality UPS systems will also filter the power to remove unwanted noise. Filtering power is essentially a requirement for anybody doing audio work.

 

[gdansk]

For reference I am using a 1500VA CyperPower UPS and observed no impact on coil whine with or without it. But I'm not sure if it's "higher quality".

 

[blckgrffn]

For reference I am using a 1500VA CyperPower UPS and observed no impact on coil whine with or without it. But I'm not sure if it's "higher quality".

I would consider that one to be high quality, personally. It has the more advanced sine wave method of voltage correction. Lesser UPS's cheap out.

I was casting about for some difference between the OP's setup and his friends.

 

[Stuka87]

For reference I am using a 1500VA CyperPower UPS and observed no impact on coil whine with or without it. But I'm not sure if it's "higher quality".

Its certainly not a cure all. But it can address it if it is being caused by dirty power.

 

[Wolverine2349]

Are you conditioning your power at all? Was your friend?

I too hate coil whine, but I’ve never gone to such great lengths to rid myself of it. Thankfully changing PSUs was usually enough.

I have an APC Smart UPS SMT1500 so in a way yes. And that is a workstation grade line interactive UPS. I have done like all I can

My friend is not conditioning their power. Is that supposed to help or hurt.

And sadly just tried an AMD Ryzen 7700X with an Asus X670E-E Strix mobo and eVGA SuperNOVA P6 1000 and a different Gaming OC 4090 and really no difference. In fact worse yet the motherboard itself makes an annoying coil whine at idle. No Intel 13th Gen boards had near that amount.

 

[igor_kavinski]

In fact worse yet the motherboard itself makes an annoying coil whine at idle. No Intel 13th Gen boards had near that amount.

You have super sensitive hearing. Maybe you don't listen to loud music through headphones?

 

[Muadib]

Like with a power conditioner. Looks like this one is called a voltage regulator, but its a different name for the same thing. If your input voltage isn't healthy, then weird stuff can happen. I've used a couple of these when a client had a computer that was strangely unstable at their home but was fine for me. They are nice because they don't have batteries to expire. It brings the input voltage into spec for your sensitive electronics.

https://www.amazon.com/APC-LE1200-Automatic-Voltage-Regulator/dp/B00009RA60/ref=d_pd_day0_vft_none_sccl_1_4/137-5561803-3731146

Or with a nice battery backup that has quality voltage regulation is the next best thing. Just more expensive because batteries.

The other bad thing is how large of a voltage regulator/UPS you need to buy now too avoid choking out your PC when it is under high usage scenarios (I've encountered this as an excellent way to blue screen a PC). A 13900K/4090 can draw some serious power from the wall.

So not only are your actual room cooling needs high, but so is the quality and quantity of your power delivery systems.

If you've got a fan or something else on the same circuit, it can introduce so wonky power as well.

It means running the power through something that will filter out noise and set a constant voltage with a clean syne wave. Some areas have pretty dirty power, and can cause all sorts of unwanted oscillations in things like power supplies and audio equipment. You can also get noise on the line from other equipment in your house.

Higher quality UPS systems will also filter the power to remove unwanted noise. Filtering power is essentially a requirement for anybody doing audio work.

Okay, I get it now. I just never seen it mentioned when it comes to computers. Before now, I've only seen power conditioners mentioned with stereo equipment. Thanks guys, I need to research this more.

 

[blckgrffn]

I have an APC Smart UPS SMT1500 so in a way yes. And that is a workstation grade line interactive UPS. I have done like all I can

My friend is not conditioning their power. Is that supposed to help or hurt.

And sadly just tried an AMD Ryzen 7700X with an Asus X670E-E Strix mobo and eVGA SuperNOVA P6 1000 and a different Gaming OC 4090 and really no difference. In fact worse yet the motherboard itself makes an annoying coil whine at idle. No Intel 13th Gen boards had near that amount.

Have you tried just plugged into the wall? Just for a test?

 

[Wolverine2349]

Have you tried just plugged into the wall? Just for a test?

Yes and no difference. Though did not try it with every card.

I also have a dedicated 15 amp circuit installed in 2019 that the UPS is connected to.


I have done like everything and nothing has helped. Though is it possible cold weather with the wire going through the attic affects it? As there is no basement in the house.

 

[Wolverine2349]

Finally got a Gigabyte Gaming OC RTX 4090 and a Thermaltake ToughPower GF3 1200 Watt ATX 3 PSU and by far the quietest coil whine/buzz ever that it is like not audible at all even in quiet room with sound turned off. Only can hear a little whine/buzz if I put ear within a couple inches of case otherwise hear almost nothing when under load when siting at desk case below it in quiet rom with quiet fans.

Finally I did it.

Perhaps it was the power supply with excellent ripple suppression combined with native 12VHPWR connector.

I had tried the MSI A1000G ATX 3.0 with the native 12VHPWR connector before and it did not make any difference. It had good but not great ripple suppression per ARix review.. Perhaps great ripple suppression was the difference or maybe I just got a diamond Gaming OC 4090 or both??
But finally the wait is over.

 

[blckgrffn]

Did the toughpower also reduce whine in your previous 4090 or do you not have it any more to test?

 

[Wolverine2349]

Did the toughpower also reduce whine in your previous 4090 or do you not have it any more to test?

Do not have it anymore to test it with.

 

[Wolverine2349]

Forgot to add I did try an MSI RTX 4090 Suprim X also with the Thermaltake 1200W GF3 and it had too much whine/buzz despite being newer revision that supposedly was better odds of lower whine.

Then I returned that one and got my current Gigabyte Gaming OC which is by far the quietest RTX 4090 setup I have ever had.

Though I tried so many more Gaming OCs prior with different PSUs and all whined/buzzed a bit too much. I had figured to give MSI Suprim X a 3rd and final try as I had heard newer revisions were maybe better, but still too much. Tried so many Gaming OCs as those cards had one of the best track records for least to no whine and all had a little too much until my current one with the ToughPower GF3 1200W which is the only Gaming OC 4090 I have tried with my current ToughPower GF3 1200W. Only other card tried on this PSU was a Suprim X newer revision that did whine too much though probably not as bad as horror stories of the worst cases.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I'm feeding my 4090 gaming oc with an evga supernova 1300w g2 attached to an apc 1500va pro and never have heard anything apart from the fans out of it. I'm using the stock 4 to 1 adapter so each connector has its own 12v rail.

I do not regret buying this card and plan to keep it for a long time.