Strange Noises with Sapphire HD 7850 OC 2GB GDDR5

[firenine]

My new Sapphire HD 7850 OC 2GB GDDR5 video card installed in my new system build is emitting high pitched whistling/chirping/buzzing noise.

The noise is louder when scrolling pages, or dragging windows and becomes very louder and evident when scrolling through web pages in Internet Explorer 9 with "Use Smooth Scrolling” enabled.

Considerations:

The noise does not occur when the video card does not have a driver installed;

The noise does not occur when I switch to onboard video card;

The noise does not occur when I switch to a Sapphire HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 video card;

The noise persisted switch the Power Supply (XFX 650W XXX Edition Power Supply);

The noise persisted after disabling the options "CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E)", "C3/C6 State Support" and "CPU EIST Function" in BIOS;

The noise persisted after disabling the options “Audio Controller” (onboard audio) and “Internal Graphics“ (onboard video) in BIOS;

The noise is lower and less evident when “Use Smooth Scrolling” is disabled in Internet Explorer 9 settings;

The GPU “Activity” in ATI Overdrive (Catalyst Control Center) shows 60% when scrolling pages in Internet Explorer 9 with “Use Smooth Scrolling” enabled;

The noise stop by reducing the “GPU Clock” and “Memory Clock” using ATI Overdrive;

I’ve already contacted the reseller for warranty or RMA service and I’m currently awaiting their reply. Is there any other thing that I could do to solve this problem? Any help is truly appreciated!

System specifications:

Video card: Sapphire HD 7850 OC 2GB GDDR5 | P/N 299-1E221-200SA | SKU 11200-14-20G
OS: Microsot Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
CPU: Intel Core i7 3770
MB: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H (rev. 1.1)
MB BIOS: AMI EFI BIOS version F16
VGA Driver: Catalyst Software Suite Revision 13.1 Display Driver version 9.012 (1/17/2013)
Power Supply: OCZ 600W ModXStream Pro Power Supply OCZ600MXSP-NP

 

[3DVagabond]

Sounds like coil whine. Try turning on vsync.

 

[Necc]

Probably Coil whine

 

[firenine]

Sounds like coil whine. Try turning on vsync.

If I enable vsync and the noise stops, in your opinion I should stay with the video card or proceed with the RMA?

I'm asking this because I've already put the card back in the box. :\

Probably Coil whine

I've read that "coil whine" refers to "eletromagnetic coils" (aka Inductors).

Looking in the 7850 image below, the "coils" are the "MAGIC R19" and "1R0" components right? Or those are MOSFETs?

Thank you for the help!

 

[3DVagabond]

Yes, those are the coils/chokes. They will sometimes "whine" when framerates get excessive. It's not really a fault, but some are quieter than others. If you RMA you might get a quieter one, or you might not.

If running with vsync on cures it, but you'd rather not use it, you can cap the frame limit at some higher number that's higher than your games run but low enough to stop the whine.

Some cards seem to be less susceptible to coil whine. MSI PE/lightning models, Asus DCII's, Sapphire Vapor-X, Gigabyte Windforce 3 cards, to name a few.

 

[firenine]

What worried me most was see the GPU “Activity” in ATI Overdrive (Catalyst Control Center) showing 60% when I was just scrolling web pages in IE9.

I'll wait for supplier and shappiretech support responses to see what I'll do. Thank you for you explanation 3DVagabond!

Please post here If someone else experienced the same issue with this video card model.

Thanks!