Coil whine is now the standard.
Coil whine is now the standard.
I have examined a desktop I assembled myself, testing three different 9070xt GPUs with three distinct PSUs. Two pre-built systems—one featuring a 9070xt and the other a 5070ti—also showed excessive coil whine on the GPUs while running at 9800x3d. All setups used a 9800x3d graphics card. Is this becoming the new standard? My earlier i7 10700k paired with a 3060ti produced a much quieter build. Does this indicate an expected trend with more powerful hardware? I’m surprised to need heavy underclocking or limiting FPS below 150 to manage this issue. It feels like purchasing a high-performance machine that only reaches 60 mph top speed. I have no clear solution and find it extremely frustrating and discouraging. How has your experience been? Thank you!
I have now examined a desktop I personally constructed, testing three distinct 9070xt GPUs with three different PSUs, two pre-assembled units (one featuring a 9070xt and one with a 5070ti), and all of them exhibited excessive coil whine on the GPUs. We need more details about the specifications of each system, such as:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
Please include the age of the PSU along with its make and model. Also, the current BIOS version for your motherboard.
Is PC gaming simply fading away?
No.
What have others experienced?
I’ve fixed a few systems where coil whine was noticeable. The latest case I dealt with involved a Sapphire Nitro + RX 6700XT, and the whine would appear immediately during CoD: Warzone.
Outside of those instances, no games have ever triggered noticeable coil whine.
Just a note: coil whine is common in most PC components with power delivery areas and subpar parts. This was observed in EVGA RTX3000 cards around the time Amazon’s New World launched, as well as in some Asus boards from about ten years ago. A BIOS update resolved the issue in that latter case.
The only instances of noticeable coil whine I've encountered so far involve the initial Powercolor 9070 models due to faulty fan bearings that were later replaced in subsequent batches. Additionally, coil whine might stem from power supply units on certain cards, even though they appear to function correctly.
Thank you. I’ll share the current specs once I have time. At this stage, it seems irrelevant because it spans a wide range of setups—four GPUs (3 9070xt, 1 5070 ti), three motherboards, various PSUs, different RAM, NVMe drives, cases, fans, etc. All components were updated from BIOS to chipset to Windows, resulting in numerous configurations and still causing coil whine. I believe costs are rising while quality control is slipping. It’s hard to know how to avoid it or assemble parts that work well. Right now it feels like the new standard.
It doesn't seem to be like this, and some are significantly worse than others.
Maybe issues with the electrical power connections are the concern.
A skilled person might develop a business focused on aftermarket electronics-grade epoxy or silicone coil resin to reduce vibration and eliminate coil whine. Tight initial winding could further minimize vibrations, similar to the movement of cricket legs.