Do All GTX 980 Ti Suffer From Coil Whine?

tolagarf

Member
I'm at a point where I can't even believe how unreal my situation is...

Bought 3 x Gigabyte GTX 980 Ti, 2 with stock coolers and one G1 Gaming. All of them produced coil whine to a certain degree in games, GTA V and Elite: Dangerous were the worst cases. Some games adaptive sync can get rid of it, but not these two games. Actually it's kind of in between electronic buzzing and coil whine.

I even tested all 3 graphics cards in two different PC's, both X99 systems, both ASUS motherboards, but different models. Also the PSU's are EVGA and Coolermaster, and have run with GTX 780 Ti's without producing any coil whine in games (with the exception of when hitting 2000+ FPS in game menus).

Now it turns out my old GTX 680 also has a slight buzz in GTA V, I guess this game just tortures graphics cards. But anyway I'm curious if the Titan X suffers from the buzzing sound as well, or it's only the 980 Ti series that's being affected. This is a serious issue when using only Noctua fans, since those high pitched sounds will just go right though the chassis even with Fractal Define R4/R5.

Edit: This guy completely kills it regarding my issue with coil whine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjXJ1vk-4HU
 
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Every electronic component has coil whine to an extent, just ask a dog or someone with exceptional hearing. I've heard all of my graphics cards whine in some torturous scenario or another but only had one with a genuine problem (out of about 10). 970's seem to have a reputation for it but I think that's just because they are quiet running cards.

I mean don't game in a silent room purposefully listening for coil whine, it will ruin your life. If you can genuinely hear it all the time and it's a replicate-able issue then RMA it.


Just because a PSU doesn't make another card whine doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't contributing to the problem. Reference 980Ti's and Titan X's share the same PCB and components so they should behave exactly the same in that respect. I don't think any further measures are taken to mitigate coil whine on Titans.

JR
 
I've had several 970's and all had massive coil whine. I didn't know what it was untill I got my first 970. After those, I even noticed my old 6950 had it and I didn't even knew it had it, even after having it for 3 years lol.

I now run an reference EVGA 980Ti and I can honestly say that I didn't hear any coil whine while gaming on 1440p at 144Hz, on High in Battlefield 3. Only heard the coolers fan, not coil whine though.

I've ordered a Gigabyte 980Ti G1 Gaming today and will recieve it next week and will test it out. And I will probably sell my reference 980Ti at some point as I just can't stand the loud reference fans, it just drives me nuts.

So to answer your question, maybe... maybe I just got a lucky card...
 
This coil whine hasn't really been an issue down here i haven't really heard anyone having issues down here must be a European thing.
 
Oh I'm sure I've just had an unlucky streak. As I mentioned, I've had two different 780 Ti's running in these two systems here, none of them had any signs of buzzing or whine coming from them, even under torture. The only exception would be a few game menus, where the cards would hit a couple of thousand FPS. But as soon I got in game, it was gone again.

But these 3 new cards whine even at 60 fps, at 100+ it's really noticeable even with the stock fans running.
 
Cant hear any coil whine from mine even when overclocked unless my head is next to the card. but then again I have a 7mm tempered glass blocking alot of sound :)
 
I'm running a FurMark burn-in test on the G1 Gaming currently to see if it could possibly remove some of that annoying whine. I've heard this can help, however I'm not sure if this is the right program to use for that purpose? Any suggestions perhaps?
 
I'm running a FurMark burn-in test on the G1 Gaming currently to see if it could possibly remove some of that annoying whine. I've heard this can help, however I'm not sure if this is the right program to use for that purpose? Any suggestions perhaps?

first suggestion, don't use furmark

It kills cards
 
Can't it be due to the PSU though?... and I don't think it's all that much Nvidia's fault as you wrote in the description box. As it's Gigabyte who is the manufacturer behind that specific card and from what I know, they built it from the ground up... so might mean that they have cheaped out on something, perhaps?.

I returned mine though as didn't quite like it... looked out of place in my rig.
 
After 4 of them I'd get a bit suspicious and make sure it is the graphics card that is making the noise (PS I can't really hear it in the video).
 
After 4 of them I'd get a bit suspicious and make sure it is the graphics card that is making the noise (PS I can't really hear it in the video).

Put some headphones on and turn the volume up, You can hear it quite clearly, Sounds like crickets in a field, Starts around the 15 second mark.

4th GTX 980 Ti in for testing, this one is even worse than the first G1 Gaming. Now with video. I'm starting to get really pissed off about this. And this isn't even normal coil whine, it's just a high pitched electronic buzz. So turning on v-sync does nothing to remove it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfYmn-n2m2k&feature=youtu.be

As Feronix said though, After 4 cards I'd get a bit suspicious.

Probably just Gigabyte using subpar components though.

Coil whine can be dramatically reduced using quality internal parts of the card i.e caps etc...This was shown when looking at cards like the 8Pack OCUK 970/980's.
 
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Can't it be due to the PSU though?... and I don't think it's all that much Nvidia's fault as you wrote in the description box. As it's Gigabyte who is the manufacturer behind that specific card and from what I know, they built it from the ground up... so might mean that they have cheaped out on something, perhaps?.

I returned mine though as didn't quite like it... looked out of place in my rig.

It's not the PSU. 3 former cards with same issue got tested in two different setups, one with bronze PSU and one with a gold PSU. Plus the store acknowledged the fault with the first G1 Gaming.

But you are right of course, this might be Gigabyte's doing.
 
It's not the PSU. 3 former cards with same issue got tested in two different setups, one with bronze PSU and one with a gold PSU. Plus the store acknowledged the fault with the first G1 Gaming.

But you are right of course, this might be Gigabyte's doing.

Coil whine can be avoided by the manufacturer using higher quality components on the PCB but more often that not these companies cheap out and use something that's a little lower quality as it's cheaper for them even though they still charge a mint for these cards.
 
After 4 of them I'd get a bit suspicious and make sure it is the graphics card that is making the noise (PS I can't really hear it in the video).

My old ASUS Matrix Platinum GTX 780 Ti didn't have this issue, well except for a tiny amount under load. But you really had to stick your ear towards the card in order to hear it. Once the side panel was on, couldn't hear it. These four Gigabyte 980 Ti's, I can hear it even with sidepanel on and headphones on (open ended).

Edit: At this point I actually regret selling my 780 Ti. This upgrade has been hell. And my old GTX 680 has a fan that's dying, even gets stuck sometimes.
 
My old ASUS Matrix Platinum GTX 780 Ti didn't have this issue, well except for a tiny amount under load. But you really had to stick your ear towards the card in order to hear it. Once the side panel was on, couldn't hear it. These four Gigabyte 980 Ti's, I can hear it even with sidepanel on and headphones on (open ended).

Edit: At this point I actually regret selling my 780 Ti. This upgrade has been hell. And my old GTX 680 has a fan that's dying, even gets stuck sometimes.

Can you not get a refund and get something else ?
 
Just to be absolutely sure, does your CPU have an integrated GPU, can you try running the system without the GPU installed?

Could be a combination of PSU and GPU as well, I've seen that happen where a card did have coil whine on PSU A, but not on PSU B.

But yeah you might just be really, really unlucky. Can you not return the card to the shop and buy a different brand to see if that helps?
 
System 1: Intel i7 5930K, ASUS X99 Sabertooth board, EVGA SuperNova 850 G2 PSU

System 2: Intel i7 5820K, ASUS X99-A board, Coolermaster B700 PSU

So no integrated GPU :)

Yes I can return this one, and just get something else. I'm considering my options right now. I hear good things about MSI Gaming 980 Ti, however at first I didn't really want this one due to all the red colors on it. Oh well might just have to accept that the world loves red :p

I could also grab a Titan X as they're getting a lot cheaper now, but I might run into the same problem here. However I've heard that coil whine on the Titans are rare.
 
For gaming the Titan X really isn't worth it over a 980 Ti unless you're running 2 in SLI for 4k.

What about the Asus Strix series?
 
For gaming the Titan X really isn't worth it over a 980 Ti unless you're running 2 in SLI for 4k.

What about the Asus Strix series?

The Strix would be a sure bet, however those new models won't be available in Denmark before September it seems. Doubt I can wait that long. For some reason both ASUS and EVGA have a very hard time keeping stock of the 980 Ti series in Scandinavia.
 
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