Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti - Coil Whine (?)

[Adamantis]

Have recently bought a Asus Strix GTX 980 Ti and unfortunately it had coil whine. Took it back to the store and got it replaced but the new card seems slightly worse then the previous one.

Was wondering how common it is with coil whine on this card. Have read in some reviews that the card is built in a "special way" to prevent coil whine and several reviews say its absolutely silent or no signs of coil whine, but have also seen two reviews where they do have problem with it (sweclockers testcard and one user review on newegg).

Am i just having bad luck or is there a problem with coil whine?

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Marketing blurb says "provide 2X reduced component buzzing while under full load"...whatever that means....nothing in my opinion but if it is bad or at least not 2X better than your old/equivalent card...take the second one back

[Adamantis]

Both gtx 980 ti strix has sounded very bad and loud, but the second one worse than the first. According to the guys in the store that was the 8th card they tested with problems.

Have just spent the last couple of hours switching PSU's just to exclude that (switched to a new PSU the day before I got the GPU). Didn't notice any difference when switching PSU's. I do have a very slight whine with my old gtx 760 but that is at start menus etc when fps is at 1700 and doesn't even compare to the whine I get with the 980 ti. The whine from the gtx 760 is quite subtle, but the 980 ti whine I can hear from another room.

Will probably return the card completely tomorrow and wait for 980 ti poseidon instead. Will probably be better and easier with that card when I get some watercooling.

[CharlieHQ]

my doesnt have coil whine. Could be your psu crap 12V rail. either way the damn card is voltage locked. Even with custom bios. Funny part is EVGA, MSI, Inno3d doesnt locked it. Flash a custom bios and overclock awayyyyyyyyyyyyy.

[Adamantis]

I tried two different PSU's, and also different PCIE cables from the PSU, but had the same annoying coil whine on both PSU's.

At start menus it was very loud and i could clearly hear it from other rooms. With Witcher 3 for example i had around 2500 fps at the start menu with the 980 Ti Strix and the coil whine was horrible. It went down some when playing and fps was around 85, but it was still loud enough to bother me even when i was a 4-5 meters away.

Now i am currently using an old Asus GTX 760 DCII OC (while waiting for a 980 Ti Poseidon), at the start menu for Witcher 3 i have about 1700 fps and a barely audible coil whine (i need to listen and concentrate to even notice it). If i understand correctly some coil whine is to be expected when fps is at those numbers. But since there is practically no coil whine with the gtx 760 i don't think it's related to either of my PSU's that i have tried with.

[Adamantis]

And finally got my 980 Ti Poseidon instead, more or less no coil whine on this card.

A slight whine during 3dmark11 and at start menu for games, but its barely audible.

[Vlada011]

Adamantis wrote:
And finally got my 980 Ti Poseidon instead, more or less no coil whine on this card.

A slight whine during 3dmark11 and at start menu for games, but its barely audible.

It's normal to card produce interrupted whine during extremely high fps... 300,400,500..
Best example is Windows Experience Index ...

[Adamantis]

Vlada011 wrote:
It's normal to card produce interrupted whine during extremely high fps... 300,400,500..
Best example is Windows Experience Index ...

Yes I am aware of that, but the coil whine that both strix cards made was a bit on the extreme side. Every time you paused a game, open map, inventory etc it was so loud I heard it from different rooms.

My old gtx 760 and current 980 ti poseidon can produce a slight whine in those situation, but it is barely audible. I more or less have to concentrate to hear it. There is an enormous difference between those cards and the two strix I had.

The strix cards also had coil whine during game play.

Maybe I'm just extra sensitive to those frequencies. Have an old monitor at work that produce a high pitch sound whenever it goes to "sleep mode" due to inactivity, but most people that I have asked about it can't hear it while I hear it very well.

[mario_letta]

Apologies for resurrecting this topic from the abyssal depths, but as a recent owner of this similar (GTX 980 Ti Matrix Platinum) beasty card I couldn't help myself. Today is the second day since the installation and first day of putting the card through some gaming (Battlefield 3). What a sight, everything is so smooth - except for one thing - noise/whine/buzz, whatever you want to call it, is truly obnoxious and I can hear it even with my headphones on!

Note: the computer doesn't have a case yet (planning to get one in a week or so) and therefore it is currently lying flat on the motherboard's case but even then I find it hard to believe that a GPU (especially of this premium quality) making this type of noise would be considered normal under any circumstance.

Fellow owners, some insight to if it is normal, is there anything to reduce the whine, should I return the card and hope for a replacement or other thoughts of yours would be greatly appreciated.

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Maybe wait for the case for a final test but if you can hear it with headphones on then I would send it back....

:eek: