Asus Strix G18 - low "coil whine" at idle?

[trishia42]

New Asus Strix G18 (i9-13980HX (so 2.2 to 5.6 GHz) and nVidia 4070, 32 GB) - has low audible coil whine sound when idle which doesn't get worse with load. Pretty low but noticeable (at least to me) in a quiet environment. Tried a whole bunch of things; various states for CPU/GPU, undervolting the CPU, undervolting the GPU, using only iGPU/dGPU, lowering the frame rate, lowering the maximum processor state (anywhere from 60-99%), updating drivers, updating BIOS (304 => 309 => 312 => 313), no help.

The only thing that seemed to stop it was disabling the 'Processor Performance Boost Mode' in the Windows power options - any other setting for it and the noise was still present.

So next I tried leaving it to 'Enabled' and modifying the PL1/PL2 values in Armoury Crate - went real low, but no change. So then I went back to a Enabled mode and changed the 'Maximum Power Frequency' in the Windows options to even BELOW the clock speed of 2.2, but noise was still there. If I set the 'Processor Idle State' to 'Disable Idle' instead of the 'Enable Idle' default, it also stops (while Processor Performance Boost Mode is still on), but then of course the CPU is always at 100%

So I guess the minute you enable turbo mode, full voltage goes across the components regardless whether it's needed or not? I am unsure exactly of where the noise comes from since it pretty much starts at the number 2 key and goes almost all the way across to the numerical keypad so could be CPU, could be GPU but inclined to believe the first one based on the data above. Of note, the noise isn't present in the BIOS. I don't understand where it's coming from and how I can remedy it without fulling throttling the CPU. Any options, help, suggestions, things to try are definitely welcome. This is driving me insane.

[Darnassus]

If it sounds like a table is being dragged along the ground from far away when you move your cursor around, and stops when you let go of the mouse.. that's your CPU.

The GPU is much louder in its whine. 

Sucks Asus faffed up like this.

You cannot do anything to fix it. I have tried gluing chips, stuffing thermal pads in there, nothing works. Just pray a BIOS update or something lowers the voltage or something.

[trishia42]

Yeah, your first comment pretty much describes it properly.  It's sort of minor, so I had decided to let it go.

Now, I did exchange the first laptop (it had some stuck pixels in the corner, and was running at 75 degC while idle, which was suspicious), but the second one also has the same issue with this slight CPU whine (so did the two display models I've seen).  Again, sort of minor.  But now, this second one also has the GPU coil whine others have been describing that starts only when I play a game - in some games it lasts a couple of seconds only on the menu and then fades within the first 10 seconds of the game, but in games where it looks like the graphics aren't quite as demanding, it just stays there in the background - this constant buzzing sound, which is honestly really annoying when you are playing a pretty quiet game. 

I know this is an issue that has been reported a lot this year, and now I really don't know what to do anymore - I am considering returning and going with a different brand altogether despite having owned Asus laptops for more than 15 years now.  I could live with the CPU whine but the GPU whine is much louder - I honestly can't believe they just let that out of production and didn't think it was a problem when other manufacturers have the same parts an no such issues.  I may try a few things this week-end, but I find it very discouraging - it is such a nice laptop apart those issues.  I just don't know if I can stand that loud GPU whine : (.