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R9 290 Squealing noises

D

Dopekitten

Member
Hey, so I bought this card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125479 recently, and I've noticed this odd issue where when I try running benchmarks (valley, compubench, etc...) my card will start making very loud squealing noises.

The noises don't occur in normal usage like games or just general PC use. I worry that this is perhaps a bad sign. Should I try to RMA for replacement?
 
Could be coil whine. If so, not uncommon during very high frame rate situations. Turn on vsync and see if it goes away.
 
If you RMA, you could always end-up with the same issue.

Its called coil whine. I have 4 xsapphire Cards in my rig and I noticed that two of them make louder coil whine, especially at high frame rates.

Like the user above mentionned, enabling Vsync will help for sure. It is a very good advice.

I don't really mind it and I only notice it in benchmarks.
 
Coil whine. If you don't like it, RMA it for refund because chances are if you exchange, the next model will do the same thing. After the refund, try another manufacturer. Some manufacturers do things to prevent coil whine, others don't. Seems very common with a lot of AMD 290 cards..

Conversely, some cards only do it at super high framerates, vsync may alleviate it as others have mentioned. If you're comfortable with that, then you can keep it and always use vsync. But your card will operate fine. It will just make that stupid coil whine noise when vsync is off (assuming vsync helps on your card)
 
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What could frame rate possibly have to do with the speed of a fan? Wouldn't high FPS indicate less load, therefore less heat, therefore less fan speed, therefore less coil whine?
 
Probably around half of all cards I've owned have had coil whine, and I haven't noticed much difference in either camp.
 
moonbogg said:
What could frame rate possibly have to do with the speed of a fan? Wouldn't high FPS indicate less load, therefore less heat, therefore less fan speed, therefore less coil whine?
Click to expand...

Its not fan noise. When running bench marks and the fps get real high, or like maybe
when in menu mode of some games, the coils make a whine sound. Kind of image them as "free wheeling". No load, but still running flat out.

Example. 3DMark, default Ice Storm, I see 1600-2400 fps, coil whine is loud. Default Cloud Gate, 300-400 fps, coil whine is audible but not nearly as bad as Ice Storm. Fire Strike, no coil whine at all. Lower the frames rates, less noise.

I set Vsync and its stays at 120 unless my card can not keep up. No whine.
 
I have the same problem with my Nvidia card. When V-sync is off and framerate gets really high (above 200) the card will start to make an annoying squealing noise. I've had it for 2 years and it's still working, so I'm proof that this isn't a sign of a bad card.
RMA probably won't make a difference.
 
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Silverforce11 said:
About as accurate as me saying "NV cards have a higher chance of randomly combusting due to poor PCB"
Click to expand...

Okay? I'm only basing this on amazon and newegg verified purchase reviews in addition to my own experience. Of course there is always the possibility that verified purchasers (and newegg notates VERIFIED PURCHASERS) of these cards, all 100% of them, are liars. My personal experience is I haven't had any Kepler card with coil whine, and I had 2 7970s with coil whine - and there are more reports of coil whine with AMD 290 cards than there are with Kepler cards. This is factual - but I'm not saying that it doesn't exist on both sides. But, the reviews of verified purchasers seems to indicate it's a bigger problem with the 290. That is factual. You can read the reviews with the 290s getting more 3 and 4 star reviews based in part on this, while the 780 for the most part is straight 5 star. Again, there's always the possibility of the verified purchasers all being liars. But the reviews are there, that's what i'm basing it off of as well as my own experience - I had 2 dual-X 7970s with coil whine (although my ref 7970s were ok) and zero kepler cards with coil whine. Oh. Those dual-x 7970 cards coil whined LOUDLY. It was absolutely ridiculous. Just my experience and what i've seen based on newegg/amazon verified reviews. If you care to argue that these reviews are in fact, all liars, even though they purchased cards, you're free to do so.
 
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blackened23 said:
Okay? I'm only basing this on amazon and newegg verified purchase reviews in addition to my own experience. Of course there is always the possibility that verified purchasers (and newegg notates VERIFIED PURCHASERS) of these cards, all 100% of them, are liars. My personal experience is I haven't had any Kepler card with coil whine, and I had 2 7970s with coil whine - and there are more reports of coil whine with AMD 290 cards than there are with Kepler cards. This is factual - but I'm not saying that it doesn't exist on both sides. But, the reviews of verified purchasers seems to indicate it's a bigger problem with the 290. That is factual. You can read the reviews with the 290s getting more 3 and 4 star reviews based in part on this, while the 780 for the most part is straight 5 star. Again, there's always the possibility of the verified purchasers all being liars. But the reviews are there, that's what i'm basing it off of as well as my own experience - I had 2 dual-X 7970s with coil whine, no kepler cards with coil whine. Just my experience and what i've seen based on newegg/amazon verified reviews. If you care to argue that these reviews are in fact, all liars, even though they purchased cards, you're free to do so.
Click to expand...

I held off upgrading this past year because of user reviews of the 7970 cards. Whenever I had the itch to pull the trigger, I'd scan all the reviews and forums on the various 7970s out there. Between coil whine and failed cards (after a few months of use) I'd say to myself "I'll wait for next gen AMD cards to come out".
Meanwhile, GTX770 and GTX780 cards always had clear contenders. No reports of issues and satisfied customers. I always passed because the 780's were to pricey for my tastes and i couldn't bring myself to by a GTX770 with only 2gb of ram.
 
pauldun170 said:
I held off upgrading this past year because of user reviews of the 7970 cards. Whenever I had the itch to pull the trigger, I'd scan all the reviews and forums on the various 7970s out there. Between coil whine and failed cards (after a few months of use) I'd say to myself "I'll wait for next gen AMD cards to come out".
Meanwhile, GTX770 and GTX780 cards always had clear contenders. No reports of issues and satisfied customers. I always passed because the 780's were to pricey for my tastes and i couldn't bring myself to by a GTX770 with only 2gb of ram.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't problems like coil whine depend on who manufactured the card not the chip inside it? As in MSI, Asus, Sapphire, etc? What difference does it make if the chip inside is Nvidia or AMD?
 
pong lenis said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't problems like coil whine depend on who manufactured the card not the chip inside it? As in MSI, Asus, Sapphire, etc? What difference does it make if the chip inside is Nvidia or AMD?
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That really depends on whether the card in question is a reference board or not. Reference boards, all of them, are manufactured by AMD and Nvidia. So if a problem exists that exacerbates coil whine, the problem begins with the design/engineering procedure at AMD or NV. Now it is entirely possible that some manufacturers take additional steps to "remove" coil whine - there are in fact things that can be done to minimize the noise or prevent it from being perceptible to human ears. Presumably, some manufacturers do this, some do not. I do think nvidia tries to prevent it at the source, with the design of their ref boards. The facts are, though, that there are more end user reports of coil whine with AMD cards than there are with NV 700 series cards. Who the fault lies with isn't completely known but for anyone that has studied statistics, samples are representative of populations so if x% of 100 users report coil whine with a certain brand of 290 card and y% of 100 users report coil whine with a GTX 780 card, that's probably representative of 100% of all cards, or the entire population, of the market. Like I said - generally speaking, customer satisfaction is higher on the NV end with less reports of coil whine. I actually don't think i've seen any newegg reviews mention coil whine with any GTX 780. The last reference nvidia card I heard with a few reports was the 670, but i'm not sure if that was the ref version or not. Have not seen any reports with 700 series.

Some people will happily use vsync (if it works, it doesn't always) to prevent coil whine. Some cards whine even with vsync. And if you're using lightboost 144hz, coil whine doesn't matter whether vsync is on or off and you just have to RMA the card. Coil whine also varies in terms of how audible it is - sometimes it is barely audible, while other cards have RIDICULOUSLY loud coil whine. The dual-X 7970s I had briefly, had INCREDIBLY loud coil whine. It was unbelievable. I mean, if it's not perceptible I don't care. But if it's loud, screw that - RMA time.
 
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pong lenis said:
Are there official statistics for this?
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He's talking about Newegg user reviews. It depends on how you rate the reliability of them. Personally, since it's completely unchecked and uncontrolled, I put zero validity into it. There have been instances of illegitimate user reviews on popular shopping sites before.
 
Coil whine is unfortunately a huge greyzone.

Companies are not obligated to RMA due to coil whine. Some might do it anyway due to reputation.

However, coil whine in 2013. Really? Classic example of quantity over quality. And thats where all electronic companies goes it seems.

I have a feeling we need legal changes to get rid of coil whine for good.
 
3DVagabond said:
He's talking about Newegg user reviews. It depends on how you rate the reliability of them. Personally, since it's completely unchecked and uncontrolled, I put zero validity into it. There have been instances of illegitimate user reviews on popular shopping sites before.
Click to expand...

Illegitimate user reviews that are verified purchases. That's interesting, it really is. Oh hey guys, let's spend 550$ to make an illegitimate review on a website. I'm also not only talking about newegg reviews. There are reviews everywhere, amazon, newegg, the list goes on. Many web reviews of the 7990 noted insane coil whine - and these were all reference boards designed by AMD themselves.

Take this 7990 review from TPU for instance:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/amd/hd_7990/31.html

What is a major issue, though, is the extremely annoying coil whine the card emits as soon as it runs a 3D application. The whine is generated by resonating power circuitry coils and is a problem that can be resolved; it's just an engineering challenge. NVIDIA did so for the GTX 690 and GTX Titan; both cards don't have such coil whine issues.
Click to expand...

http://beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=63437

AMD Radeon 7990 - coil whining itself into a haze of mediocrity
Click to expand...

Youtube : 7990 coil whine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gb1uJWq7pY

Youtube: more 7990 coil whine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rblEniCNKF8

Kotaku 7990 review:

http://kotaku.com/the-amd-radeon-7990-graphics-card-benchmarked-479798072

Also the coil whine on some [7990] cards is unbearable
Click to expand...

Hardwarecanucks 7990 review:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...0843-amd-hd-7990-review-malta-arrives-13.html

It provides smoother gameplay, more consistent framerates and lower power consumption without costing a dime more or exhibiting the HD 7990’s tendency for distracting amounts of coil whine. AMD does however hold a serious edge in the value-added department with their inclusion of eight free games. Indeed, when we look at the HD 7990, we see unrealized potential above all else.
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I have a feeling that it is "quantity over quality" as shintai mentioned. These quality issues seem to be much less of an issue with the GTX 700 series, whether you admit it or not. I have absolutely no doubt that these issues with the 7990 carried over to a significant portion of the 290. And like I said, those user reviews that you're so quick to discard are actually verified purchasers.
 
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User reviews give a little insight, but they can't be taken completely at face value, since the majority of people only give reviews when they are upset, or very pleased. That said, you can still find a trend when looking at the user reviews, assuming there is a reasonable number to read.
 
blackened23 said:
Illegitimate user reviews that are verified purchases. That's interesting, it really is. Oh hey guys, let's spend 550$ to make an illegitimate review on a website. I'm also not only talking about newegg reviews. There are reviews everywhere, amazon, newegg, the list goes on. Many web reviews of the 7990 noted insane coil whine - and these were all reference boards designed by AMD themselves.

Take this 7990 review from TPU for instance:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/amd/hd_7990/31.html



http://beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=63437



Youtube : 7990 coil whine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gb1uJWq7pY

Youtube: more 7990 coil whine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rblEniCNKF8

Kotaku 7990 review:

http://kotaku.com/the-amd-radeon-7990-graphics-card-benchmarked-479798072



Hardwarecanucks 7990 review:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...0843-amd-hd-7990-review-malta-arrives-13.html



I have a feeling that it is "quantity over quality" as shintai mentioned. These quality issues seem to be much less of an issue with the GTX 700 series, whether you admit it or not. I have absolutely no doubt that these issues with the 7990 carried over to a significant portion of the 290. And like I said, those user reviews that you're so quick to discard are actually verified purchasers.
Click to expand...

There is no verification of who the buyers are or there affiliations, if any. We aren't talking about the 7990. Also I'm not saying there is or isn't coil whine issues, Simply stating that user reviews aren't anything that I put any credence in as a whole.

Iran has elections. Does that mean they're legit?

Here's one of the conditions of their user review policy.
Illegal content, including Promotional or any form of astroturfing.
Click to expand...

I've linked to the definition of astroturfing, since it's not a common known description. There's a reason they put that in their conditions. It's because it's a known tactic and is why I don't put a lot of faith in most reviews of that type.
 
blackened23 said:
Illegitimate user reviews that are verified purchases. That's interesting, it really is. Oh hey guys, let's spend 550$ to make an illegitimate review on a website. I'm also not only talking about newegg reviews. There are reviews everywhere, amazon, newegg, the list goes on. Many web reviews of the 7990 noted insane coil whine - and these were all reference boards designed by AMD themselves.

Take this 7990 review from TPU for instance:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/amd/hd_7990/31.html



http://beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=63437



Youtube : 7990 coil whine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gb1uJWq7pY

Youtube: more 7990 coil whine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rblEniCNKF8

Kotaku 7990 review:

http://kotaku.com/the-amd-radeon-7990-graphics-card-benchmarked-479798072



Hardwarecanucks 7990 review:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...0843-amd-hd-7990-review-malta-arrives-13.html



I have a feeling that it is "quantity over quality" as shintai mentioned. These quality issues seem to be much less of an issue with the GTX 700 series, whether you admit it or not. I have absolutely no doubt that these issues with the 7990 carried over to a significant portion of the 290. And like I said, those user reviews that you're so quick to discard are actually verified purchasers.
Click to expand...

You're making up you own statistics, you just glanced at a few user reviews on the internet and selected the ones that agreed with your preconceived opinion. I can do the same thing with an Nvidia card, I could also explicitly search for 700 series coil whine problems, but it wouldn't prove anything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDg9QWuqMIg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Per2vwwxCt4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWG7A9uUmeA

Based on these I can firmly say that the GTX 780 suffers from more coil whine more than the 7990, whether you admit it or not. I have absolutely no doubt these issues have been carried from and over other Nvidia cards.
 
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