My new 7950 is 'buzzing'/'humming' when rendering

[darkewaffle]

3.8GHz Phenom II quadcore
Gigabyte 890FXA UD5
4GB RAM
Seasonic x750 PSU
Sapphire 7950
1680 x 1050 resolution

So the 7950 arrived last night and I went through the usual steps; download drivers, uninstall new drivers, restart, driver cleaner, power down. Unplug the case, dusted, unplug the previous card (5770), remove 5770, insert 7950, plug in 7950 (same power cable, just using both six pin connectors instead of one), plug in case, power on, driver install, restart.

Initially, everything seemed to be going smoothly. Sitting idle after startup the card behaved perfectly normally, but as soon as I started up a game (SWTOR) to see how it ran I immediately noticed a strange noise coming from the card, it was kind of an electrical buzz. The most similar noise I can think of is the sound you can sometimes hear from powerlines running between telephone poles, but quieter and a little softer.

The sound is produced almost whenever the card renders something, but not 100% of the time. For instance, it was audible during the OCCT GPU test, but faded (entirely? hard to tell with other fans) when I turned the 'work per run' setting up to 8. It was audible during the GPU-Z render test as well. Furmark seemed similar to OCCT in that it was audible under certain scenarios but not all of them. How noticeable it was during the other games I tested I'm not certain off the top of my head.

Also, performance seems spotty. SWTOR ran very poorly, with all settings on low I was still only getting 20-40 FPS in what I'd consider 'normal' areas that my friends tend to get 2-3x more frames in (with them running at both higher/maxxed settings and higher resolutions) and turning settings up ingame or in the drivers reduced performance further. Dragon Age 2 and Metro 2033 actually seemed fairly smooth, though Metro appeared to stutter a bit. BFBC2 ran well but BSODed once and CTDed two or three times pretty quickly. Unfortunately I don't have many of the more taxing modern games to provide a comparison to, but I do have Crysis and FFXIV that I can try out.

I'm going to try a 'full' reinstall when I get home tonight, and if I'm still having problems I think I'll try putting my 5770 back in the same spot to ensure it's not something that somehow happened to the PSU/PCIe slot/cable when I pulled it initially.

Anyone else run into similar problems before and have any idea what it is/what can be done? Sound like an RMA?

 

[MrK6]

That buzzing/humming you're hearing is what is known as "coil whine" and is common on graphics cards. It only happens when rendering certain things, like extremely high FPS (in the 1000's). Some have it worse than others. You can isolate which coil is whining and put some gum on it to stop the buzz if it's really loud.

As far as your SWTOR FPS goes, I'd imagine it's your CPU more than anything. The game is incredibly CPU limited (as most MMO's are). The CTD in BFBC2 I can't quite say - did you overclock the card at all?

 

[darkewaffle]

Thanks, that does seem to fit after looking up a bit more and it's more common than I realized; seems like you can mitigate it sometimes with VSync or by capping framerates so that does explain the OCCT results and I'll double check VSync settings at least to see if it'll help.

I think not expecting that coupled with SWTOR's problems got me wondering, but it sounds like SWTOR is dealing with a lot of optimization issues as well, with all kinds of hardware underperforming. I'd guess new game on new hardware with virgin drivers isn't really doing me any favors.

It just sucks going from a $100 card to a $500 card and feeling like nothing changed lol. The only other game I actively played that my 5770 couldn't really handle was FFXIV, I'll boot that up tonight and see what it's like, though I think I'll still fiddle with the 7970 to see if I can't reduce the whine too.

And if I wanted to just test raw card performance, what's a good candidate for that? Basically I just want to test the card's throughput and hopefully make sure it's all working like it ought to be in a situation you know isn't CPU bound; I think F@H works for that, anything else?

 

[Ovven]

Just replace the card. There's no need to live with coil whine when you can easily do that with a new purchase. Either the seller or the manufacturer should be able to accommodate you.

 

[notty22]

I know it's basic question, but you are plugging both (2) 6 pin pci-e power cables in to the new card. Your old 5770 only required 1 .
It seems odd that you don't notice a huge gpu increase going from a 5770 to the 7950.

 

[Quantos]

For what it's worth: I've noticed that VSync, even if properly used in fullscreen and everything, doesn't always work in SWTOR. Also, the GPU usage itself seems to be somewhat buggy. In relatively easy to render situations (the inside of my ship comes to mind), the GPU usage goes crazy.

 

[bryanW1995]

Just replace the card. There's no need to live with coil whine when you can easily do that with a new purchase. Either the seller or the manufacturer should be able to accommodate you.

What? Why? This issue was correctly diagnosed above: it is due to extremely high fps. I've had the exact same issue on 3 separate (nvidia) video cards over the years while playing nwn2. The options screen has fps in the 3000 range (according to fraps), and there is an extremely annoying, high-pitched whine while that screen is up. However, when I turn vsync on and the fps stay at a constant 60, there is no coil whine. Why would somebody deal with the hassle of an RMA when the issue has already been diagnosed and there is an easy fix available?

 

[MrK6]

Thanks, that does seem to fit after looking up a bit more and it's more common than I realized; seems like you can mitigate it sometimes with VSync or by capping framerates so that does explain the OCCT results and I'll double check VSync settings at least to see if it'll help.

Generally once you give the card a decent load to bring the frames down, it should quiet. Vsync is always a great alternative as long as you're staying about 60FPS :thumbsup:.

I think not expecting that coupled with SWTOR's problems got me wondering, but it sounds like SWTOR is dealing with a lot of optimization issues as well, with all kinds of hardware underperforming. I'd guess new game on new hardware with virgin drivers isn't really doing me any favors.

It just sucks going from a $100 card to a $500 card and feeling like nothing changed lol. The only other game I actively played that my 5770 couldn't really handle was FFXIV, I'll boot that up tonight and see what it's like, though I think I'll still fiddle with the 7970 to see if I can't reduce the whine too.

From my experience, that's the blight of MMO's in general. There's a lot more to be accounted for than in a single player game, and it really does put a heck of a load on the CPU. The draw distances alone are something with which to be reckoned. Unfortunately, as mentioned, your CPU isn't helping you any. My i5-2500K @ 5.0GHz still bottlenecks my 7970 in SWTOR from time to time, it's just the way it is.

And if I wanted to just test raw card performance, what's a good candidate for that? Basically I just want to test the card's throughput and hopefully make sure it's all working like it ought to be in a situation you know isn't CPU bound; I think F@H works for that, anything else?

Stand alone benchmarks are good, 3DMark11, Unigine Heaven, etc. Also look at single player games with built in benchmarks like Metro 2033.

 

[Tempered81]

And if I wanted to just test raw card performance, what's a good candidate for that? Basically I just want to test the card's throughput and hopefully make sure it's all working like it ought to be in a situation you know isn't CPU bound; I think F@H works for that, anything else?

take a game that you play, like SWTOR. Use the highest possible resolution and AA+AF+ in-game Quality settings. Try this using your 5770 and your 7950.

You'll likely end up with 10 fps on the 5770 and 35 on the 7950. You can judge the difference.

 

[darkewaffle]

I know it's basic question, but you are plugging both (2) 6 pin pci-e power cables in to the new card. Your old 5770 only required 1 .
It seems odd that you don't notice a huge gpu increase going from a 5770 to the 7950.

Yep, it's definitely hooked up. And yea, I practically bought it because I thought it was my 5770 struggling in SWTOR at long last since most of the other stuff I play regularly is extremely underwhelming for modern GPUs (NWN, TF2, BLC, LoL). So bit disappointing to still be having such poor performance, but I'm hoping I'll be able to chalk that up to new game on new hardware with a little more testing.

Generally once you give the card a decent load to bring the frames down, it should quiet. Vsync is always a great alternative as long as you're staying about 60FPS

That's part of what's still got me wondering though, as SWTOR was causing some of the most significant whine of anything I tried last night while still having some of the poorest performance. I was reading about some of SWTOR's performance issues though and apparently it runs off of two processes instead of one and someone in the TOR thread here mentioned having noticeable performance increases with the UI disabled (CTRL+U), I'm kind of wondering if the UI is rendered separately or on top of the game itself, which would at least seem to fit the symptoms. Who knows.

Anyway thanks for all the input, put my mind at ease at least. The Metro 2033 benchmark sounds like a good idea as well.

 

[striker7968]

i have been having the same problem. I don't think it is coil wine. I bought the XFX 7970 BE and it would buzz under load. It had nothing to do with the fan speed. So I rma'd it. I now have the MSI 7970 OC version. It does the same thing. It seems to coincide with the frame rate. Slower framerate=slower buzzing, exc. Anybody have any ideas?

 

[Magic Carpet]

Are you sure, it's not the PSU?

 

[blackened23]

i have been having the same problem. I don't think it is coil wine. I bought the XFX 7970 BE and it would buzz under load. It had nothing to do with the fan speed. So I rma'd it. I now have the MSI 7970 OC version. It does the same thing. It seems to coincide with the frame rate. Slower framerate=slower buzzing, exc. Anybody have any ideas?

I had it and it went away after 2 days.

 

[Obsoleet]

Are you sure, it's not the PSU?

Another vote for the PSU. It's very hard to tell. I'm guessing it's being put under a higher load than with the older, weaker card.

I've had coil whine, and it has never been from the video card.

 

[DigitalWolf]

Yep, it's definitely hooked up. And yea, I practically bought it because I thought it was my 5770 struggling in SWTOR at long last since most of the other stuff I play regularly is extremely underwhelming for modern GPUs (NWN, TF2, BLC, LoL). So bit disappointing to still be having such poor performance, but I'm hoping I'll be able to chalk that up to new game on new hardware with a little more testing.



That's part of what's still got me wondering though, as SWTOR was causing some of the most significant whine of anything I tried last night while still having some of the poorest performance. I was reading about some of SWTOR's performance issues though and apparently it runs off of two processes instead of one and someone in the TOR thread here mentioned having noticeable performance increases with the UI disabled (CTRL+U), I'm kind of wondering if the UI is rendered separately or on top of the game itself, which would at least seem to fit the symptoms. Who knows.

Anyway thanks for all the input, put my mind at ease at least. The Metro 2033 benchmark sounds like a good idea as well.

I'm a longtime lurker here but when I was reading this I wanted to post.


When you say you are plugging both 6 pin connectors into the card. My Sapphire 7970 has one 8 pin and one 6 pin connector. Do the 7950's only have two 6 pin connectors? I personally haven't seen one is why I'm asking. My previous card was a 6950 Toxic and that had one 8 and one 6 pin as well. *edited for clarity*

I don't have an AMD quad core but I do have an FX-8120 that I played TOR on. With my 8120 OC'd to 4GHZ and using my 27inch Dell IPS with a native resolution of 2560x1440 and settings as high as they can go. With TOR I quite often see fps in the 100+ range. Unless I turn vsync on which didn't actually work in beta but does work now. (at least when I turn it on my fps sit at 59fps). (I would think your cpu and gpu would be pretty close to the same performance in this game especially at your resolution)

That paticular machine runs a Corsair 750.. so I would think the Seasonic would be ok.

 

[Wreckem]

I'm a longtime lurker here but when I was reading this I wanted to post.


When you say you are plugging both 6 pin connectors into the card. My Sapphire 7970 has one 8 pin and one 6 pin connector. Do the 7950's only have two 6 pin connectors? I personally haven't seen one is why I'm asking. My previous card was a 6950 Toxic and that had one 8 and one 6 pin as well. *edited for clarity*

I don't have an AMD quad core but I do have an FX-8120 that I played TOR on. With my 8120 OC'd to 4GHZ and using my 27inch Dell IPS with a native resolution of 2560x1440 and settings as high as they can go. With TOR I quite often see fps in the 100+ range. Unless I turn vsync on which didn't actually work in beta but does work now. (at least when I turn it on my fps sit at 59fps). (I would think your cpu and gpu would be pretty close to the same performance in this game especially at your resolution)

That paticular machine runs a Corsair 750.. so I would think the Seasonic would be ok.

7950s have 2 six pin connectors.

I have a XFX and there is no noticable "coil" whine, and the bios they put out in response to the review copies being extremely loud seems to have fixed the fans sounding like jet engines when the card was under load.

 

[DeeJayeS]

Been testing my Sapphire 7950 OC, it also hums when under load (rest of my system is fine--no coil whine at all).

Not sure what I should do at this point, RMA/returning could give me an even worse card acoustically speaking.

Thoughts? I'm inclined to demand perfection on a $480 item.

 

[lavaheadache]

Been testing my Sapphire 7950 OC, it also hums when under load (rest of my system is fine--no coil whine at all).

Not sure what I should do at this point, RMA/returning could give me an even worse card acoustically speaking.

Thoughts? I'm inclined to demand perfection on a $480 item.

Keep the card. Fwiw, my 7970 does it too

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I wouldn't go through the Rma hassle over coil whine. It's a 50/50 shot the next card will have it to. It's really up to you though as you did spend nearly $500 and you have the right to demand it be flawless.

 

[Absolute0]

I have only noticed the coil whine on my 7970 while benchmarking. It is a symptom of intense load. It does not occur during normal gaming. Hopefully some graphical settings or vsync will help you.

 

[Obsoleet]

Guy, I'm telling you- I have done RMAs over coil whine.. IT'S NOT THE CARD.
Replace/RMA your PSU.

 

[Cookie Monster]

The buzzing can come from any components from your PC that uses inductors/chokes i.e. Videocard, motherboard, PSU, etc.

Just a quality control issue but shouldn't affect anything negatively other than being really annoying to some with good hearing range.

 

[toyota]

Guy, I'm telling you- I have done RMAs over coil whine.. IT'S NOT THE CARD.
Replace/RMA your PSU.

stop stating that as fact because you do not know for sure. it can most certainly be the card as the gtx470, gtx260, and gtx570 that I have used all did that at super high framerates like in start up vids.

 

[Grooveriding]

It's normal to hear coil whine if your card is running full bore without framerate caps. SWTOR in game vsync didn't work for me, I had to force it via the control panel.

Run a standard reproducible benchmark on your system. Hopefully you own Crysis Warhead - if so, run this benchmark http://downloads.guru3d.com/Crysis-WARHEAD-Benchmark-Tool-BETA-download-2072.html at your resolution with 4xAA, everything on Gamer settings but shaders on Enthusiast using the frost bench and 3 loops. Compare your results to this

If you are close, something is going on that is not hardware related, if you are way lower (you'll probably be a bit lower with your CPU) something may be wrong with the card and you should RMA. You have a good PSU so I doubt it is that unless it is faulty. Before any RMA, a clean windows install followed by chipset and graphics drivers should be done first.

 

[Obsoleet]

stop stating that as fact because you do not know for sure. it can most certainly be the card as the gtx470, gtx260, and gtx570 that I have used all did that at super high framerates like in start up vids.

I will not stop stating it because it is a fact he needs to look into. I know for sure, because I've seen it many times. It's being disregarded by the OP and it's at least a 50% chance being his issue.