Strix 3080 OC - Coil whine

[Zeroed85]

I have terribly loud coil whine/buzz from my Strix 3080 OC. I have the card installed to an EKWB waterblock which makes the noise even more so unpleasant. I know that Asus implemented a noise mitigation feature into some of the Z590 motherboards to mitigate coil whine from the VRM and I wonder if the same noise mitigation could be implemented into a VBIOS for Strix GPU's?

[kubr0]

my Strix 3080 Ti OC luckily has 0 coil whine, even when the card is drawing 300+ FPS. My friends Strix 3070 Ti OC who I build a PC for just recently is the same. It might not even be caused by the GPU itself, but by the combination of PSU and GPU, since ASUS seems to be doing really well when it comes to coilwhine in the recent years. Do you have the chance to test the GPU with a different PSU?

Btw I don't think you can get rid of coil-whine with an SW-fix

I was built in 85 too

[Zeroed85]

my Strix 3080 Ti OC luckily has 0 coil whine, even when the card is drawing 300+ FPS. My friends Strix 3070 Ti OC who I build a PC for just recently is the same. It might not even be caused by the GPU itself, but by the combination of PSU and GPU, since ASUS seems to be doing really well when it comes to coilwhine in the recent years. Do you have the chance to test the GPU with a different PSU?

Btw I don't think you can get rid of coil-whine with an SW-fix

I was built in 85 too

I do have a spare PSU but I suspect it would be a pain to swap it out. My main PSU is a Seasonic Prime Platinum 1300W. Asus did bake Noise Mitigation into one of the later BIOS's on the XIII Hero so maybe it is possible?

[kubr0]

Coil-whine is HW-based, I don't think that a SW solution is going to make any difference there. Even if they are marketing such a feature, its weight is definitely going to be on the HW side. If the whine on the GPU is being caused by the mobo or PSU, no SW-fix is going to help that ...

[Silent Scone@ROG]

1) PSUs produce their own coil whine. How much depends on the quality, type, specs, and size of the components used.

2) The graphics card also produces some coil whine. Again, how much depends on the quality, type, specs, and size of the components used.

3) Interaction between the PSU and graphics card can result in louder coil whine.

4) Coil whine is related to frequency and current.

5) Rapid changes in current demands (such as rapid load modulation when transitioning from low power state) is a major contributor to piezoelectric noise (some capacitor types are more prone to this).

6) As ripple frequency and other sources of power related noise can impact the level of coil whine, some combinations of psu and graphics cards may exhibit more noise than others. For a vendor, it is very difficult to account for all permutations because cost is a factor if you want to increase resilience to coil whine. There is only so much a vendor will or can do.

7) As current plays a part, the amount of audible whine will vary from system to system.

[Zeroed85]

1) PSUs produce their own coil whine. How much depends on the quality, type, specs, and size of the components used.

2) The graphics card also produces some coil whine. Again, how much depends on the quality, type, specs, and size of the components used.

3) Interaction between the PSU and graphics card can result in louder coil whine.

4) Coil whine is related to frequency and current.

5) Rapid changes in current demands (such as rapid load modulation when transitioning from low power state) is a major contributor to piezoelectric noise (some capacitor types are more prone to this).

6) As ripple frequency and other sources of power related noise can impact the level of coil whine, some combinations of psu and graphics cards may exhibit more noise than others. For a vendor, it is very difficult to account for all permutations because cost is a factor if you want to increase resilience to coil whine. There is only so much a vendor will or can do.

7) As current plays a part, the amount of audible whine will vary from system to system.

Thanks for the detailed response. Are there any recommendations you can make to try to lessen or even eliminate the coil whine?

[Zeroed85]

This is unfortunately the amount of coil whine I have from my Strix 3080 OC. It's pretty bad. It would be so nice to get rid of it.

https://youtu.be/ndm03zRqQos

[JoergH]

You can undervolt the GPU which will reduce Coildwhine a lot!

Other then that, there is no way (beside changing the card).
I had 2 RTX 3080 Strix with massiv coilwhine and returned both od that reason.
Now i got the 3. (and last) Card, and this card has very much lower coilwhine.
The first 2 cards, i can hear the coilwhine clearly from 60 FPS+
The 3 card, i start hearing it at 150FPS+ and it is by far not that loud as the old cards.

This is lottery, and it is not related to a manufacturer!
But i payed 1300 Euro for the card, i therfor it has to be perfect...

DO NOT OVERVOLT THE CARD, THIS MAY DAMAGE IT!
I am not responsable for any damaged you did to the card!
I would:
Try to undervolt the card! This is something that i would do even if there was no coilwhine.
You get much better temps, lower fan-noise and if done right, the same (or better) performance.

Save starting point for testing (THIS IS NOT THE OPTIMUM, only a starting point to test coil-whine-results):
850mV with 1800Mhz
This should do every RTX3080 easy and you can check if coilwhine is better then.
If not, return the card.
If yes, find the best UV-Setting (900mV with 1900Mhz) for example!
DO NOT OVERVOLT THE CARD, THIS MAY DAMAGE IT!

[Silent Scone@ROG]

Thanks for the detailed response. Are there any recommendations you can make to try to lessen or even eliminate the coil whine?

Given the above, the only real recommendation is to use a reputable power supply brand. These things are the byproduct of natural phenomenon in the world of electronics that's mostly outside of ones control, including vendors. There are far too many combinations of components to account for each scenario.