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Random Coil Whine

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  • Power Supplies
  • Components
Last response: in Components
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July 10, 2014 8:00:05 PM

Hello! I am new here, and I appreciate your responses :) 

I built my computer two months ago today, and, after using it for a week, I noticed a high-pitched whine. At first, I thought it was the stock CPU cooler (mine would get stay at 5,000 RPM when idling), so I bought an aftermarket cooler. The whining persisted, so I RMA'd the fan and received a new one. The whining persisted.

I poked around on the Internet, and I believe I have coil whine. Honestly, I can't tell if it's coming from the PSU, the GPU, or both. I removed my graphics card from the PCI-E slot and, after listening carefully, determined that the whining may be coming from the power supply (I've also heard that PCI-E slots let out a whining noise, and my ear was right next to them). After I put it back in, I couldn't determine if the whining was louder or quieter.

The whining stops once I do something intense (play games/benchmark tests/etc.). GPU coil whine seems to happen when playing a game and your framerate is far, far higher than the monitor refresh rate. I've played games (such as BF2, which I can run with absolutely no problems) and I hear no whine, which makes me inclined to believe it's the power supply. I've tried turning up the Power Options in Windows to Performance, but that makes the whine worse. I'll try turning up the power settings in BIOS and see if that works, and also try turning it down (right now, it should be set to balanced).

Specs:
GPU: Sapphire Radeon VAPOR-X R9 270X
CPU: AMD FX-8350 @4.0GHz
Aftermarket cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo w/ Noctua NFS12A
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0
PSU: Corsair CX500M
Case: Corsair Carbide 500R

What are your thoughts to fix this? I appreciate your responses greatly :) 

More about : random coil whine

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a b ) Power supply
July 10, 2014 8:07:22 PM

That is the power supply, and you should never run anything intensive of a corsair CX500m PSU. That PSU was never made for medium to heavy usage. I would stop using that PSU and get a higher quality one such as this. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
SeaSonic SSR-550RM 550W
This PSU is by the best brand out there, is 80 plus gold, and is modular. Plus it is really cheap for being modular, seasonic, and 80 plus gold.

And by the way, that Noctua fan is not made for heatsinks, you want a Noctua NF-F12 or run that fan in push pull on the CPU heatsink. I just wanted to let you know that.
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