Graphics Card buzzing when under load

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Hey folks, I've been having some irritating troubles with a new graphics card, a Sapphire R9 280x that just got put into my new build (hooked up to a Corsair CX750 PSU and an ASrock Z97 Extreme3 mobo). Under normal use, the machine is quieter than my last one by far (only 3 fans, including the CPU cooler and all run at fairly low speeds to keep everything cool), but when I start any kind of GPU-intensive activity such as a game or even watching 1080p video files, the GPU emits a slight but still very audible buzz. I'm given to understand that such a scenario is usually indicative of coil whine but the sound is just so dissimilar from examples that I usually hear; it's not a high-pitched "whine" but a low-pitched, constant "buzz". I've included a link to a video of the sound here (the sound is most pronounced towards the 0:07 mark and onward, after wind noise from the cooler subsides).

Again, this sound only begins when starting a game or other task that puts load on the GPU. Also, it is not, and I say again not the fans. I've used speedfan to manually adjust all of my fans from 0-100% speed and cannot replicate the sound. This tells me that the sound is not mechanical but electrical in nature, which worries me as such things are generally harder to fix. Does anyone have any ideas about what this is and more importantly how I might fix it? The sound is audible at all times during games and it's slowly driving me crazy. Would appreciate any suggestions as to a solution, and if there's more information I can provide please let me know. Thanks.
 
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damric
Yes you can make a homemade noise dampener. I have literally seen people put bubblegum, rubber bands, ect on and in-between the coils (the black blocks). There's a couple remedies in this thread.

http://www.overclock.net/t/990435/regarding-pc-whine/30

I've been pretty lucky on my own graphics cards but I have had some motherboards that literally cried during CPU stress testing. I used to work on variable frequency drives in the mill, and those things sing so loud you need hearing protection.
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damric

damric

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Sep 17, 2010
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CXs just do not play well with graphics cards. They are for office builds. I think I answer this thread 100x/week here at THW, but people still insist on buying these little turd boxes because of the pretty Corsair logo. I digress...

Anyways the problem is that the VRMs and filters (chokes and caps) on the graphics card are having to work extra hard to clean up the dirty 12v that is being sent from the PSU. At just the right frequencies this can make your inductors sing the lovely song that you hear when under load. It's practically like a guitar string, and your inductor coils are the strings. The dielectric in capacitors also does wear out over time, in PSUs, motherboards, and graphics cards. This can also contribute to the orchestra of electronic noise.

For particularly pesky humming chokes, I've seen people dampen them with everything from bubblegum to ceramic paste. You could try that if you are looking for a quick, cheap fix. Just post a pic of your card and I'll show you the likely culprits.
 
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Hrmm. I have an old TX650 lying around, though it's non-modular and I hardly have enough cable management space as it is, so that could be a huge pain in the rear. If I feel like fighting cables I can try to swap it out at some point but I'd prefer not to if there's any other solution.

Anyway, here's a picture of the card in the case, apologies for poor quality, phone was all I had handy.
unnamed_zpsc31dc25d.jpg
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Fair enough. Sapphire R9 280X Vapor-X, Model no: 100363VXSR.
 
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damric

damric

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Ok the little black cubes are likely what is humming. Those are inductors (chokes). Such a pretty card. I would test a better PSU first before I went into modding and possibly screwing up warranties. Sapphire technically doesn't even let you lift off the heatsink like this without voiding your warranty. I would consider contacting Sapphire technical support for an RMA over this, simply because this is a high end card, and they are a bunch of tarts to deal with. I digress...

YODauzb.png
 
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So in the event that Sapphire refuses an RMA (I guess coil whine is hit and miss in this regard) is there anything I can do to at least cut down on the noise?
 
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damric

damric

Illustrious
Sep 17, 2010
8,017
72
37,990
Yes you can make a homemade noise dampener. I have literally seen people put bubblegum, rubber bands, ect on and in-between the coils (the black blocks). There's a couple remedies in this thread.

http://www.overclock.net/t/990435/regarding-pc-whine/30

I've been pretty lucky on my own graphics cards but I have had some motherboards that literally cried during CPU stress testing. I used to work on variable frequency drives in the mill, and those things sing so loud you need hearing protection.
 
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