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

[Mussels]

I used nail acrylic in the past on a 8800GT. It was easy to apply and worked well. Not sure if acrylic has any degradation concerns though though it never gave me any issues and card was inexpensive enough that it wasn't too concerning at the same time. I'd probably do it again on a relatively inexpensive GPU unless there is a clear and obvious reason to avoid it and use something else instead that's just as simple and easy. That card had terrible coil wine under load before and was perfectly quiet after. It was easy to apply too due to the brush.

I just did this to a PSU, since i'd ran out of superglue
It's not as good at the wick effect part, but it does work

 

[lexluthermiester]

I see.
My main question is - should I remove it or it's fine to leave it like that?

I would clean it up.

 

[CoilWhineMakesMeWhine]

I bought this, but I'm concerned since I've read that people advise not to use on electronics.
Although on the acetone container it says that it can be used to clean electronics.

Since the motherboard is made of silicone and plastic, if I apply acetone with a cotton swab around the coils (not the edges, just the near parts engulfed in superglue), is it gonna dissolve it? Also, what about the nearby parts?

Ignore the yellow circle.
I highlighted in red, the parts I want to clean the superglue off of.
Should I only wipe over them once and then clean it with alcohol? Leave it a little? Or?
I'm not exactly sure how to proceed.

 

[Mussels]

You use it on the cotton swab, and use a clean one after to remove it
You're using extremely small amounts - you dunk one of these in the acetone and wipe it over what you're cleaning, then turn it around and use the dry end to soak it up

 

[CoilWhineMakesMeWhine]

You use it on the cotton swab, and use a clean one after to remove it
You're using extremely small amounts - you dunk one of these in the acetone and wipe it over what you're cleaning, then turn it around and use the dry end to soak it up
View attachment 303504

I see. I'll have to be very careful.
Thank you!

 

[lexluthermiester]

Although on the acetone container it says that it can be used to clean electronics.

If that's what it says, then the company has done testing to confirm product compatibility. You'll be fine. As Mussels suggested, use cotton-swabs(QTips like) and be gentle.

 

[Mussels]

I see. I'll have to be very careful.
Thank you!

It evaporates, so it doesnt linger for long unless you use far, far too much

Be careful of the fumes, they smell bad and aren't good for you - have some ventilation going on

 

[CoilWhineMakesMeWhine]

The acetone doesn't dissolve it as easy as I thought.
Unless I soak the cotton swab really well in it and then press it till it leaves a drop or two on the pcb, it doesn't have any effect. It evaporates very fast.
Then, when the superglue starts to dissolve a little, the cotton swab "hairs" stick to the components.
I took a picture so you can see what I'm talking about -

Should I try to use more till it dissolves all of it or stop?

 

[lexluthermiester]

Should I try to use more till it dissolves all of it or stop?

No, just do enough to clean things up and call it good.

 

[CoilWhineMakesMeWhine]

No, just do enough to clean things up and call it good.

What could I use besides cotton swabs?
Because stuff from them breaks off so easily and it very hard to clean up.

 

[Veseleil]

What could I use besides cotton swabs?

Micro fiber cloth.

 

[Shrek]

Anyone tried superglue debonder?

Amazon.com : super glue debonder

 

[lexluthermiester]

What could I use besides cotton swabs?
Because stuff from them breaks off so easily and it very hard to clean up.

Micro fiber cloth.

This.

Anyone tried superglue debonder?

Amazon.com : super glue debonder

That kind of stuff works, it's just very expensive and it's not much better than straight acetone.

 

[Mussels]

What could I use besides cotton swabs?
Because stuff from them breaks off so easily and it very hard to clean up.

lint free cloth of any kind - the downside is they'll probably be destroyed by this

 

[CoilWhineMakesMeWhine]

Well, I was able to remove about half of it.
When it started dissolving and I used the cloth I mostly smeared it. Had to go over the same place few times - applying acetone - wiping - applying acetone - wiping and so on.
With all those small contacts it was especially hard to get in there.
At least the tops of the components are squeaky clean. That's for sure.
I was hoping to try other things but I'm handing it to someone who needs it.
This didn't work out for me, but, if you're reading, don't let this dissuade you. It might just work for you!
Plus, everybody has been so helpful here, I'm happy to have met you all!
Thank you!

 

[Mussels]

That's why it's not recommended to use large amounts or over large areas - just the seam

Glad you managed to get it under control, in the end

 

[lexluthermiester]

That's why it's not recommended to use large amounts or over large areas - just the seam

This! Using enough to seal the gaps is all that is really needed.

 

[CoilWhineMakesMeWhine]

That's why it's not recommended to use large amounts or over large areas - just the seam

Glad you managed to get it under control, in the end

I was a little too generous with the application, I'll grant you that, mostly because I saw many people didn't have success. I applied twice on the coils I singled out as the noise perpetrators.
However, I must say, the laptop motherboard has very tiny, super crammed components. I couldn't even get the nozzle between the coils and other stuff, not the usual "between coils situation".
It was also more fluid than I expected. Not sure if temperature played a factor in this, but I had around 30 degrees Celsius inside.
I was keeping it slightly inclined, right against the edges of the coil while moving slowly but it spread to the sides more than I expected.
For my next step, I was looking into changing the two coils that made the noise but someone needed the laptop. I showed them the issue but they said it doesn't bother them at all so I gave it away. The noise is is not that loud as it might seem in the videos I made but I definitely found it annoying when scrolling on a page, while reading in complete silence.

 

[Mussels]

Yeah the noise gets to me as well, I'd have done something to fix it as well if i had to deal with it regularly

 

[Lagoochu360]

Greetings! Roughly 7 months back I posted in this thread about my Sapphire Pulse 6800XT having coil whine and how the glue method worked dampen the noise a lot.

Recently for a friends build, I attempted the fix for their Powercolor Red Devil Ultimate 6900XT since their model coil whines excessively even when greatly undervolted. This time I properly disassembled the card and used Krazy Glue brand specifically the liquid kind with a tip applicator. I applied a good amount of liquid glue to all the edges of the chokes. I noticed after letting the glue sit for 20 mins that there was a bit less glue than before which means that some of it was able to wick into it so I applied a bit more to be safe. After half a day of letting it dry, the noise was still there initially but slightly reduced. However after more than a day of curing and letting the GPU break in some heat cycles gaming for a day, the glue finally did its magic and the coil whine is pretty much non noticeable anymore unless you put your ears right up against the case.

So once again this operation was a success. Thanks for reading and the help.

 

[Mussels]

Greetings! Roughly 7 months back I posted in this thread about my Sapphire Pulse 6800XT having coil whine and how the glue method worked dampen the noise a lot.

Recently for a friends build, I attempted the fix for their Powercolor Red Devil Ultimate 6900XT since their model coil whines excessively even when greatly undervolted. This time I properly disassembled the card and used Krazy Glue brand specifically the liquid kind with a tip applicator. I applied a good amount of liquid glue to all the edges of the chokes. I noticed after letting the glue sit for 20 mins that there was a bit less glue than before which means that some of it was able to wick into it so I applied a bit more to be safe. After half a day of letting it dry, the noise was still there initially but slightly reduced. However after more than a day of curing and letting the GPU break in some heat cycles gaming for a day, the glue finally did its magic and the coil whine is pretty much non noticeable anymore unless you put your ears right up against the case.

So once again this operation was a success. Thanks for reading and the help.

I'm pretty sure the vibration as they whine is what helps the wick effect shift the glue around and settle the components in. It's tough to recommend doing so before things have fully dried for safety reasons, even if we know its not conductive.

 

[CoilWhineMakesMeWhine]

Greetings! Roughly 7 months back I posted in this thread about my Sapphire Pulse 6800XT having coil whine and how the glue method worked dampen the noise a lot.

Recently for a friends build, I attempted the fix for their Powercolor Red Devil Ultimate 6900XT since their model coil whines excessively even when greatly undervolted. This time I properly disassembled the card and used Krazy Glue brand specifically the liquid kind with a tip applicator. I applied a good amount of liquid glue to all the edges of the chokes. I noticed after letting the glue sit for 20 mins that there was a bit less glue than before which means that some of it was able to wick into it so I applied a bit more to be safe. After half a day of letting it dry, the noise was still there initially but slightly reduced. However after more than a day of curing and letting the GPU break in some heat cycles gaming for a day, the glue finally did its magic and the coil whine is pretty much non noticeable anymore unless you put your ears right up against the case.

So once again this operation was a success. Thanks for reading and the help.

That's great!
Maybe I shouldn't have waited 24 hours.
Oh well..
If this proves to be a safe and effective method it should be put in the original post.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Greetings! Roughly 7 months back I posted in this thread about my Sapphire Pulse 6800XT having coil whine and how the glue method worked dampen the noise a lot.

Recently for a friends build, I attempted the fix for their Powercolor Red Devil Ultimate 6900XT since their model coil whines excessively even when greatly undervolted. This time I properly disassembled the card and used Krazy Glue brand specifically the liquid kind with a tip applicator. I applied a good amount of liquid glue to all the edges of the chokes. I noticed after letting the glue sit for 20 mins that there was a bit less glue than before which means that some of it was able to wick into it so I applied a bit more to be safe. After half a day of letting it dry, the noise was still there initially but slightly reduced. However after more than a day of curing and letting the GPU break in some heat cycles gaming for a day, the glue finally did its magic and the coil whine is pretty much non noticeable anymore unless you put your ears right up against the case.

So once again this operation was a success. Thanks for reading and the help.

Sweet!

I'm pretty sure the vibration as they whine is what helps the wick effect shift the glue around and settle the components in. It's tough to recommend doing so before things have fully dried for safety reasons, even if we know its not conductive.

I'm not sure it matters much. As long as the glue is set and can't drip anywhere, it's good to go.

Maybe I shouldn't have waited 24 hours.

I never wait that long. Maybe an hour. While superglue take a day or so to fully cure, it's sets in seconds if not minutes.

 

[Lagoochu360]

I'm pretty sure the vibration as they whine is what helps the wick effect shift the glue around and settle the components in. It's tough to recommend doing so before things have fully dried for safety reasons, even if we know its not conductive.

I believe this is what helped the most. The card used to have a most annoying coil whine when played at 90-120fps but it went from less noticeable on initial fix to almost silent as it was put through 6+ hours of gaming load. For this brand of glue it says it takes overnight to fully cure, so in my opinion the combination of vibrating the coils when its dry enough to not drip but still curing and wicking its way to the coils with some heat kind of like a hot glue effect that did the trick.

That's great!
Maybe I shouldn't have waited 24 hours.
Oh well..
If this proves to be a safe and effective method it should be put in the original post.

Both cards appear to be working fully fine. No weird smells and temperatures sensors are normal. The coil whine is virtually silent under 144hz gaming now.

 

[Mussels]

I'm not sure it matters much. As long as the glue is set and can't drip anywhere, it's good to go.

People keep using all sorts of different liquids and adhesives, is my concern. After seeing that ferrite choke dancing around the GPU power cable earlier i can totally see smaller vibrations helping settle in the adhesive.

I believe this is what helped the most. The card used to have a most annoying coil whine when played at 90-120fps but it went from less noticeable on initial fix to almost silent as it was put through 6+ hours of gaming load. For this brand of glue it says it takes overnight to fully cure, so in my opinion the combination of vibrating the coils when its dry enough to not drip but still curing and wicking its way to the coils with some heat kind of like a hot glue effect that did the trick.

Both cards appear to be working fully fine. No weird smells and temperatures sensors are normal. The coil whine is virtually silent under 144hz gaming now.

This might be safer advice then, give it at least an hour to dry on the surface and then give it some load for both heat and vibration to help settle it where it's needed most within 24 hours of applying.
Like melting in a waxy thermal paste, where the excess meets the air and dries but the inner layer stays moister (like the stock ryzen thermal paste that sticks those wraith coolers so hard the CPU pulls out of the socket)