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.

[Silent_Scone]

You wouldn't necessarily notice if the system is idle or not due to the speed the modulation occurs, this can happen at low frequencies and voltages, hence why some individuals hear this when simply moving the mouse cursor. These natural phenomena do not disappear simply because of the naming scheme of a PSU . Interactions between certain brands of electrical components can tip the tides. As I mentioned, there is only so much a vendor can do to account for every scenario.

There are some settings you may want to play around with that marginally adjust the slew rate to alleviate some of these traits. Unfortunately, I'm not sure as of writing whether you will find these on your AMD platform. Some users have found that disabling AMD CPB (Core Performance Boost) helps, or try changing the VRM Switching Frequency. A lower value may help with piezoelectric noise.

[valigp]

AMD CPB doesn't change anything. Currently, the only workaround is core voltage increase(try to get idle voltage above 1.2V). But this is not acceptable.

What is a good vendor validated components configuration?

[Samir_00]

Hi, regarding the coil whine, is anyone getting coil whine noise from the 3.5mm audio port on these B650 series motherboard?
I've got B650E-E and my speakers are connected to the 3.5mm audio port on the back of the motherboard. also, when the the front panel 3.5mm audio port for headphones are also leaking coil whine when a game is running.
Regards!

[MoboUser]

I am experiencing the same issue on my brand new ASUS TUF GAMING B650M-PLUS WIFI. I tried with two different be quiet! PSUs. I powered on the MOBO/CPU/CPUFAN/RAM/SSD on a table (without the GPU and the case fans). We can still hear a buzzing noise coming out from the motherboard. Here is the recording: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HExtoulUNtHXQTO3zHvVZjwHrKF_8iki/view?usp=share_link (listen with headphones preferably, don't hesitate to turn up the volume).

[Samir_00]

Thanks for the response!
I believe coil whine on motherboard can be ok, my issue is coil whine noise being leaked via speakrs, i.e., via 3.5mm audio jack port of the motherboard. Meaning, speakers are amplifying the noise and making it worse.
Here's my video demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWV7rhAhSUA
Have you tried connecting speakers to your motherboard audio jack and run game and see if the coil whine is leaking to the speakers?
Also, I contacted ASUS technical team and they re-directed me to the Retailer where I bought it from for the support. So I've request RMA now. I'll keep updating you.
Cheers!

[Edelf]

I've installed the latest bios driver (Version 1405) and the problem remains.
The only way to stop the coil whine was to set the CPU Core Voltage to specific value (tried 1.2 and 1.3). However this has a negative performance impact.
Also tried setting a negative offset on CPU Core Voltage of -100mv and it didn't help.

[Danxi]

This batch of AM5 boards, not just asus, are suffering from coil whines more than before. I wonder is because of certain choice of component or shortages or Amd Zen4 needs a firmware fix to cool down the frequencies.

[Samir_00]

You might be right. Manufacturers might be cutting corners and using cheap materials to manufacture electronics due to current world issues, inflation and cost of raw materials. 🤔

[valigp]

I'm monitoring the SFF discord communities and I haven't seen any reports of coil whine with other vendors. On the contrary, people say they are completely silent. For Asus boards a lot of people reported coil whine on B650e-i even after RMA and a few got coil whine even with x670e-i. Some of them switched to other vendors and resolved the problem. There were some exceptions of Asus B650e-i without coil whine, though. I also RMAd my board twice and no luck. I got 2 boards from Amazon and 1 from Newegg trying to sample different batches. These were manufactured in 2022-11 and 2022-12 and all had identical coil whine.

I tried to survey those with Asus B650e-i and in terms of other HW components the popular ones were Corsair SF750 Platinum and Asus Loki 850/1000 PSUs and RTX 4080/4090 FE GPUs. Funny enough some people reported coil whine even from the Asus Loki PSU. Both of these PSUs are also listed in the PSU QVL list for this board: https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-strix/rog-strix-b650e-i-gaming-wifi-model/helpdesk_qvl_device/

and they are known to deliver very clean power according to cybenetics certification and are regarded among the best you can get. So, I'm convinced this is a motherboard problem.

It's hard to tell if it's an issue related to motherboard component selection or something to do with the power delivery design of the board. The fact that B650e-i has coil whine only during idle points to the design. Generally coil whine happens under high load/power draw.

Honestly, if I wasn't outside the return window I would also switch to another vendor. It is annoying to hear a screeching sound at idle(which is most of the time) when everything else is completely silent. It would be a lot more acceptable to get coil whine under load when the fans ramp up.

[MoboUser]

Yes, there are also many recent reports here: https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/10pma60/asus_rog_strix_b650ei_am_i_the_only_one/

Manufacture date is 2022-11 and 2022-12 also. I am going to return mine and probably switch to MSI to see if it changes something.