Saphire 4890 making hissing sound

i get that in my 4890 when fan is up to 100%

sounds like one of the caps, i would send it back

he does not state than the noise is coming from the fan, he does say "It's kind of an electrical hissing sound" and that's what makes me think its one of the caps, a high pitched whine almost like a dog whistle will be one of the caps, whatever the problem he needs to RMA the card

This might be a good indication that it is the fan on the card, as if you're not running a 3d application it won't be under full load, which means it won't be generating as much heat...which therefore means the fan (temperature controlled) will not be at 100%.

So...it sounds like the fan. You can test it very easily by putting your finger on the center of the fan to slow it down; does the sound go away and then come back when you take your finger off? (obviously don't hold your finger there for very long or you'll overheat your card.)

if the sound doesn't change then its what i said above, a bad capacitor

Just got the new card. It's making the same sound. This one sounds a little worse. It sounds like a fan until you turn Vsync off, then I hear it really screech. Strange.

Everything appears to be performing just fine though.

Reply from Saphire tech support...second reply:

Dear Customer,



Please be informed that if the high frequent noise came harder when running 3D applications.

This is inductor working noise and this is a normal behavior.

Maybe the noise will be different than each card because each inductor has different behavior.



Replace the cards can reduce the noise but it will not go away but just becomes lower.



This is a normal behavior and will not influence or damage the card



Thanks.

Sounds like it's common with most 4890 cards, and even some newer Nvidia and the ATI 4870 cards. I found this yesterday.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1410274

It's not super bad, but it's really noticeable for me because I'm in a quiet room and often times don't even wear headphones for sound or even have speakers with sound.

I had my brother listen to it, and at first, he couldn't even hear it. I really had to point it out for him to hear it. Once he did, he didn't even think twice about it. It was nothing to him. I'm thinking it's probably nothing to most people, that's why not everyone is saying anything.

It is normal, it is not manlfunction, jsut a byproduct of what happens when we push so much current through electronics these days. Only those gifted with very good hearing will even notice this I might add. So think of yourself lucky

If it really is too much to tolelrate you can attempt RMA, not all cards produce the same level of hum. It is also dependant on ambient temperatures, gpu load, gpu temps, PSU functionality.. blah blah blah.

Just one of those things.

Oh, and those curious.. It is caused by the rapid expansion and contraction of components due to the alternating magnetic fields produced by the current.

I have a sapphire 4870 and I've had it running for months with no problems. Like many others have said, it's just what happens with newer, higher voltage cards. I actually took some dynamat (sound absorbing material usually used for car audio) and coated the inside of may case. It helped a little but having very good hearing still allows me to hear this high pitched squeal. I took it off my desk and put it in the case opening slot of my desk. I can't hear it anymore. Don't worry about it, there's no problem.