Is there anyway to reduce motherboard (NOT GPU) coil whine?

[Space Lynx]

My Gigabyte B650m Aorus Elite AX has insane coil whine when it is running in benchmark or demanding program. It so high pitched it literally hurts your ears after a bit, its been this way since I got it. Most games don't trigger the coil whine, its only synthetic benchmarks and very demanding games. Even with that though, there is a low barely audible coil whine running at all times.

I read review for this mobo on Amazon just now and on Microcenter and both of them stated motherboard coil whine as a problem as well.

The 6800 XT has not even had a tiny amount of coil whine, in my previous build or this one, so I know it is not gpu coil whine, I had that in my old like 7950 card once, so I know what that is like and that is not what is happening here.

This is my first experience with coil whine on a motherboard, I didn't even know it was a thing until now. Any advice welcome.

I just turned on Spread Spectrum in BIOS to see if that might fix it (it was a hail mary pass, I had no reason to think it would) and it did not fix it. So, I am going to set that back to auto.

 

[lightning70]

Mine has this sound in the BIOS for some reason.
(Z690 Gaming X DDR4)

 

[Space Lynx]

Mine has this sound in the BIOS for some reason.
(Z690 Gaming X DDR4)

So you hear like a high pitch whistle sound only when browsing your BIOS? That is rather odd I have to say.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Seems like a decent enough board probably just bad luck... That motherboard has 6 phases for the vcore with 2 power stages in parallel so it shouldn't be too hard to single out what inductor is whining as far as a fix there are various things that could help but honestly I'd just get a replacement if it bothers you enough.


My Z390 Maximus Code had minor coil whine paired with a 9900k overclocked to 5ghz but it was hard to hear outside of the case door being open so I just dealt with it.

 

[Space Lynx]

Seems like a decent enough board probably just bad luck... That motherboard has 6 phases for the vcore with 2 power stages in parallel so it shouldn't be too hard to single out what inductor is whining as far as a fix there are various things that could help but honestly I'd just get a replacement if it bothers you enough.


My Z390 Maximus Code had minor coil whine paired with a 9900k overclocked to 5ghz but it was hard to hear outside of the case door being open so I just dealt with it.

Yeah, this one gets so loud it legit hurts your ears if you are running synthetic benchmarks. I am going to turn off curve optimizer and run aida64 and see if that makes it go away, if it does I will do that, I don't care about overclocking that much.

edit: yep its still there. its such an annoying sound ffs. whenever the load starts, its instaneous the whistle starts up. I didn't care at first when I was benching yesterday, but its legit starting to annoy me.

 

[qubit]

RMA it, it's likely faulty. I've run those demanding tests on my Asus mobo from 2011 (2700K CPU) and never had this problem.

 

[lightning70]

So you hear like a high pitch whistle sound only when browsing your BIOS? That is rather odd I have to say.

Exactly. It sounds very thin, but in general use there is no sound. I'm using 12600k the motherboard didn't make any noise even on the heaviest prime95.

 

[Space Lynx]

Exactly. It sounds very thin, but in general use there is no sound. I'm using 12600k the motherboard didn't make any noise even on the heaviest prime95.

I have no issue in my BIOS, or even at my desktop now. I just ran Endwalker benchmark again and no noise. That is a very easy game to run though, so I tried a more demanding game and it does get a high pitch going. Legit gives me a headache.

RMA it, it's likely faulty. I've run those demanding tests on my Asus mobo from 2011 (2700K CPU) and never had this problem.

I most likely will, I don't think its faulty, the board itself is very stable and does everything I need it to. It seems to be a design problem imo, since there are two other people in two different/recent reviews complaining of the same coil whine.

 

[Ivan Bliminse]

So you hear like a high pitch whistle sound only when browsing your BIOS? That is rather odd I have to sayF

For years i thought i had a constant whine from my pc, i tried various different things etc... replacing most parts with fans, asking friends for advice, even taking my pc to pc shops.
In the end i found out there was nothing wrong with my pc at all, my problem was Tinnitus.

 

[Space Lynx]

For years i thought i had a constant whine from my pc, i tried various different things etc... replacing most parts with fans, asking friends for advice, even taking my pc to pc shops.
In the end i found out there was nothing wrong with my pc at all, my problem was Tinnitus.

Sorry you have that. No that is not the problem here.

 

[qubit]

For years i thought i had a constant whine from my pc, i tried various different things etc... replacing most parts with fans, asking friends for advice, even taking my pc to pc shops.
In the end i found out there was nothing wrong with my pc at all, my problem was Tinnitus.

There's nothing nice about that. Sorry you're suffering it.

 

[Space Lynx]

There's nothing nice about that. Sorry you're suffering it.

I think its a fairly common problem. Humans were never meant to be exposed to even highway level noises, super power vaccuum cleaners, let alone concerts and loud music in cars. Our ears just can't handle it, last I checked its expected that vast majority of all humans will develop that ear problem sometime in their life. It's one reason I quit the headphone hobby.

 

[xrobwx71]

For years i thought i had a constant whine from my pc, i tried various different things etc... replacing most parts with fans, asking friends for advice, even taking my pc to pc shops.
In the end i found out there was nothing wrong with my pc at all, my problem was Tinnitus.

Yep, I was ignoring mine, until you mentioned it. Haha.

 

[Space Lynx]

Back on topic:

I am working on an audio video feed today so you can hear the coil whine I am talking about, its weird as well. It def has a different pitch to it then the coil whine from my 7950 days. It legit is like a banshee shrieking. fml, I don't want to tear it all down again to get a new mobo... so much work. bloody hell.

oh well, just got to get to it.

 

[GerKNG]

Disable all the c states and energy saving features.

 

[Deleted member 185158]

There's a thread with a resolve to coil whine. Essentially, you just paint the coil with clear nail polish. This helps to absorb or block the sound.

But you literally hear the electrical frequency being passed through the coil.

Sometimes you can alter your power delivery to the component it drives and it may change the frequency (sound pitch) so that you don't hear it.

I'm still looking for that thread, I can't seem to find it.

 

[Space Lynx]

Disable all the c states and energy saving features.

Giving it a try now thanks.

There's a thread with a resolve to coil whine. Essentially, you just paint the coil with clear nail polish. This helps to absorb or block the sound.

But you literally here the electrical frequency being passed through the coil.

Sometimes you can alter your power delivery to the component it drives and it may change the frequency (sound pitch) so that you don't hear it.

I'm still looking for that thread, I can't seem to find it.

I may also give this a try at some point, cause I am really burned out on this PC buiilding hobby and just want to make this whine go away, I'm happy with the rest of the PC. lol just bad luck on that mobo

going to try to make a video of the sound it makes later today when I wake up (I haven't been to sleep yet) and I will post back here with the video so you can all hear how horrible it sounds.

 

[Deleted member 185158]

Here, found it!

How to quickly & easily fix coil-whine(coil choke noise)

A forum user recently asked about Coil Whine, which is the noise a choke coil sometimes makes as it operates. This is almost always a video card problem, but can happen on any other computer or electronics components employing a choke in it's circuitry, including motherboards & power supplies...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Blaeza]

I was about to suggest Tinnitus, but I see that's been covered. I get it quite bad sometimes. Too much Drum and Bass assaulting my eardrums.

Pardon my ignorance, but I thought you could only get coil-whine from a fan or other moving object?

 

[Deleted member 185158]

I was about to suggest Tinnitus, but I see that's been covered. I get it quite bad sometimes. Too much Drum and Bass assaulting my eardrums.

Pardon my ignorance, but I thought you could only get coil-whine from a fan or other moving object?

Anything that passes electrical current at the human ear range you will hear. Typically a coil because of the amount of windings, the sounds becomes audible. All electricity makes a "sound" that's how speakers where born.

 

[Space Lynx]

Pardon my ignorance, but I thought you could only get coil-whine from a fan or other moving object?

I thought so too! Google search said it can happen to motherboards too, though it is more rare. Also, the review for this mobo I have, both on Amazon and on Microcenter state coil whine problems on the mobo itself, so I know its not just me. Wish I had read reviews first! I bought it in person though and it was a bundle deal... and I just assumed it was fine cause well you know Aorus Elite sounds good to the ear.

 

[Deleted member 185158]

I wad cotton or toilet paper and stuff into onboard speakers. Sometimes that beep is soo loud and annoying. XD

 

[Space Lynx]

just played witcher 3 next gen update, no coil whine at all. it seems to only be a handful of games and synthetic benches.

so perhaps someday I will try @lexluthermiester super glue trick, I did spot the choke I would need to do it on, its right next to the ram.

not sure if I will or not yet, for now, I am content and will leave it be.

also sorry no audio, I can't figure out how to upload audio without a youtube video and I just can't be bothered to do all that right now.

anyways, have a good week everyone!

 

[The King]

Complete shot in the dark here has I don't have these boards to play around with...

If the coil noise is coming from the VRMs on the motherboard then maybe changing the VRM switching frequency can help.

@buildzoid An idea for another a not so low effort content YT video.

What is causing the coil whine on these B650 mobos and can you stop or reduce it.
Anyway!

 

[lexluthermiester]

If the coil noise is coming from the VRMs on the motherboard then maybe changing the VRM switching frequency can help.

Nope. The noise is not generated by the MOSFETs. It's coming from the choke coil. The coils themselves are vibrating. That is input voltage on the head of the circuit. You can't change it.