ROG STRIX B650E-I: Coil whine?

[karakartal3]

Hi everyone,

I built a new PC and I'm experiencing terrible coil whine when booting into Windows 11. It almost never stops, even when idling on the desktop. It gets noisier when moving my mouse or scrolling a web page. If I have to describe the noise, it is like a mechanical hard drive writing on the disk, or like a cricket chirping continuously.

Here is my build:
- Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX B650E-I (BIOS version 0821)
- CPU / Cooler: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X / Noctua NH-L12S
- Memory: 2 x 16 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5-5600 CL36
- Storage: 2 x Samsung 980 Pro 500GB M.2 NVME SSD
- Power supply: Corsair SF600 80+ Platinum
- Monitor: Dell U2720QM (plugged via HDMI for 4k60hz)
- GPU: None

Some details:
- I didn't mount the motherboard to the case yet, as I wanted to make sure everything is working before doing so.
- Only the ATX24_1 (24-Pin), EPS_1 (8-Pin) and the CPU fan are connected. On the I/O panel, I have the HDMI and a USB receiver for my keyboard and mouse.
- When I boot on the BIOS, there isn't any noise. I kept the BIOS open for about 15 minutes to check if everything was OK. All components were recognized without issues. CPU temps were between 40-55 °C, which seems pretty normal for a 7700X. Still no noise.
- I have Ubuntu installed on the second SSD, and the coil whine is less present when booting on it. It is still there, but not as much as when I boot on Windows 11.
- The noise seems to be coming from the CPU area, I assume the VRAM area on the left? Difficult to pinpoint with the CPU Cooler on top.

What I already tried but with no change:
- I made sure that the PSU is plugged into a socket with proper grounding, separate from other components.
- I verified the CPU fan doesn't touch anything. And it looks like there isn't a VRAM heatsink fan, or the BIOS doesn't recognize it?
- I tried disabling C-State on the BIOS, but no change.
- I tried undervolting in the BIOS (Precision Boost Overdrive), but no change.
- I tried to change "The Acoustic Noise Mitigation" in the BIOS, but couldn't find the option.
- At first, I thought it was one of the SSD, but I checked them separately, and they weren't the culprit.
- This is my second motherboard. I thought I was unlucky with the first one (same model) and replaced it with a new one.

Did anyone else experience this issue? I'm not sure what else I can do for decreasing the coil whine, or make it disappear if possible.

[ruip]

I am also experiencing this, exactly as described in the first post.

It really does sound a lot more like the sound an HDD would do, and not what I usually associate with coil whine (which Is usually a high pitched sound: example here https://youtu.be/HP73edpQwgc?t=105 ).

This is especially frustrating since I was looking for a very silent build and went with the ROG Loki 850 platinum for the PSU (self described as "The Quietest SFX-L PSU"), and with a noctua NL-D12L for the CPU cooler.

And they are so quiet that they make the issue at hand so much more annoying.

I don't think justifying this with once the fans are at top speed you will not hear that noise, not at this pricepoint.

I am hoping this can be addressed with a bios update.

[Edelf]

I've tried a bunch of BIOS versions, including the latest 1616, and the problem remains.

The only way I've found to stop the noise on my 7950x was to set a fixed CPU Core voltage (in my case, to 1.2v, and I've also set the Core Ratio to 52).

[Hostile_18]

Hi all. I've got this problem with the X670 E-F as well. It was awful and went straight back. Previously had a B650 E-E which was brilliant. Very disappointed, but seems like it's a big issue in recent production.

[Terf]

Have the same issue with my newly bought X670E-F Gaming WiFi. High pitched noise when you use the system, like installing a game. It is also leaking into the sound output (headphone jack) which is even more annoying.. already requested to send it back.

[damian_arg]

Oh, on my Strix B650E-E Gaming Wifi with the same problem. I was thinking this was my AIO but I unplugged it and the whine continues. I have unplugged everything including my GPU and still there. It's really annoying. I can try setting a fixed voltage but it'll be running at whatever defaults are.

[booya]

Everything is upside down! I googled and came to the conclusion that Gigabyte motherboards have the most problems with coil whine. You will find a lot of videos, and in some videos, the microphone transmits sounds like ultrasound. It hits the ears very hard. Sounds are emitted by choke, which is located to the right of the memory slots. I'm afraid to take Gigabytes and decided to take a closer look at ASUS. And here, users write that it's the other way around - it's ASUS that is the worst with this.

I only care if the sound will pass through the front panel of the case, where the vents with filters are. The case itself is closed, but the case cannot be closed in front.

Perhaps I can make some kind of shield 20x20cm out of cardboard or plastic and place it near the place where that choke is located in order to somehow block this sound without preventing much ventilation. This will not block the sound completely, but it may weaken it. And if the case is on the floor and closed, then it can be acceptable.

[bladerunner6]

Anyone come of across revised boards yet with a possible fix like they did for the rtx 40x0 cards?

[damian_arg]

Does anyone know if Asus is aware of this? I believe OP tagged this incorrectly as X670 as the details are B650E. I think it'd be worth following up in my case as the issue matches 100% what OP is saying and I also have the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X.

I have also tested under a linux distro dualbooting and the whine noise was present all the time, really scratching my skull there.

Doing different tests, I have only managed to eliminate the coil whine by manually setting the CPU frequency using Ryzen Master (for example set it at 5ghz ish) and it will be just fine. This works, but it is not ideal as you are not allowing the CPU to lower clocks when doing basic tasks that don't need the extra power, plus running the CPU on 1.4V constantly wasn't nice* (see further down below).

I believe this issue can be fixed with Bios updates as it seems related to power management, when those VRM's aren't operating under load (an easy way to identify this, is to quickly generate a load by dragging a window quickly repetitively) Observe on task manager/HWmonitor the load and the whining goes away.

Another way is to run cpu-z and do a quick cpu bench, the whining will stop during the benchmark, so I hope we hear anything soon

***Going slightly with a different topic, BIOS 1616 is still allowing CPU voltages of 1.4V, which should not(?) happen either as it's meant to be lmited to 1.3V according to previous BIOS versions. Can someone confirm this?

https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-strix/rog-strix-b650e-e-gaming-wifi-model/helpdesk_bios/

I did then set the clocks to default on Ryzen Master and from BIOS used the option to apply a negative curve of 20 to try to reduce voltage/clock and manually applied a voltage of 1.3V - as someone suggested on Reddit but I could still then see some peaks of 1.4V on HWmonitor**

[Rag2]

Hi,

I am experiencing the same issue with a B650M Plus wifi and a Ryzen 5 7600. I found your post and at first, I was excited to find so many advices but in the end, like you, none is working for me.

After a lot of testing, I found that the noise is louder with my Noctua NH D9L than with the AMD cooler. It's like an amplifyer. So I am now between the choice to use a terrible cooler with a jet noise but low scratching from motherboard OR use a decent cooler, noiseless, but experiencing every 10s this old time noise of disk accessing ... (I have only NVME, this is so ironic)

I am also in the hope of a new BIOS fixing this. Until then, I have to live with that noise, I found no fix so far (and I spent hours on the BIOS testing frequencies, voltage, disabling ports, wifi, etc etc ...)

[booya]

There is another option for soundproofing the coil on the board itself, but this effect will be weak. New BIOS version? If only as a placebo or it will affect the stability (overclocking).