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

[lexluthermiester]

Also, sticking one's ear up against it can be reasonably definitive.

Today's Low Tech Solution(tm)

True. As a rule that's generally how one would do it. Yet for troublesome noises that defy easy identification the method mentioned by Bill works a fair treat.

 

[Mussels]

Dont think its the PSU, its a new Seasonic Titanium 850W.

It may not be - but it CAN be. Keepan open mind, as PSU's and components age these things change over time and are not something to treat as a yes/no answer.

Even if the hardware is good, some combinations just resonate specific frequencies and have issues.

Even on my GTX 1080, if i ran specific things like heaven benchmark - when you quit you get an exit screen that could hit 1000+ FPS, and the GPU whined horribly
Testing it again on the fractal, that was totally gone - the PSU made the GPU whine. Extension cables can also make it a lot worse, same as using pigtail PCI-E power cables - spreading the load helps the PSU, which reduces whine.

 

[qfg77]

I tried the super glue approach on my custom water cooled 4090 Gigabyte OC. It was super whine-y beforehand. It’s now completely silent. Thanks so much to the OP for this suggestion. I used a low viscosity super glue like they suggested.

One thing to note is that it took a few days for the glue to harden completely and for the noise to go away. I also added fat thermal pads to my backplate as it was amplifying the noise like crazy. The combination of the two, or maybe just the super glue, made the system completely silent.

One snafu I had was that super glue spread on my PCI lane and the card wouldnt boot. Fortunately, the glue didn’t harden all the way and I was able to scrape the glue from the lanes. Otherwise, glue is a bit messy on my PCB but that didn’t affect anything really.

 

[Shrek]

The problem is that one voids the warrantee if one superglues the coils.

 

[qfg77]

The warranty was voided the moment I removed my backplate: there was a screw there with a warranty sticker on it. So anyone installing a waterblock on a GPU voids the warranty.

 

[lexluthermiester]

The problem is that one voids the warrantee if one superglues the coils.

While true, most cards/motherboards/PSUs that develop coil-whine do so after the warranty are expired.

The warranty was voided the moment I removed my backplate: there was a screw there with a warranty sticker on it. So anyone installing a waterblock on a GPU voids the warranty.

Not in NA or EU. Both regions have adopted laws that make warranty exclusion for such reasons unlawful. Anywhere else, it'll depend on the local consumer protection laws.

 

[qfg77]

Got it, I guess I took a bigger risk than I expected in that case!

 

[lexluthermiester]

Thanks so much to the OP for this suggestion.

You're welcome. Glad it helped!

 

[Mussels]

Here in AU, they have to prove what you did caused the fault
Water damage from liquid cooling? no warranty
Custom water cooled but the issue was the nvidia supplied power cord melted? you'd be covered

And if you're confident the glue had nothing to do with a reason for needing an RMA in the future, i'd RMA it anyway and just not mention it

Also, super glad this fixed your coil whine... it's such an annoying problem

 

[MarsM4N]

Not in NA or EU. Both regions have adopted laws that make warranty exclusion for such reasons unlawful. Anywhere else, it'll depend on the local consumer protection laws.

Is that a new law? Over here, according to ComputerBase from their 2020 report only Asus, EVGA, KFA & MSI allowed to disassemble a card.
Sapphire & AsRock only with "goodwill", Zotac only the first 2 years.

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

Is that a new law? Over here, according to ComputerBase from their 2020 report only Asus, EVGA, KFA & MSI allowed to disassemble a card.
Sapphire & AsRock only with "goodwill", Zotac only the first 2 years.

In the US, our president issued Executive Order 14036, giving the Federal Trade Commission jurisdiction to enforce the right to repair. Whether that includes disassembling GPUs or not I do not know.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Is that a new law?

It is recent in the US. Canada, the UK and the EU have had something like it on the books for longer(not sure how much longer).

Whether that includes disassembling GPUs or not I do not know.

It does.

 

[MarsM4N]

It is recent in the US. Canada, the UK and the EU have had something like it on the books for longer(not sure how much longer).

Yes, you're talking about the "Right to repair" legislation.

However, it isn't already baked out & they are still working things out. To my knowledge it's mostly about designing products repairable & providing replacement parts for a cetrain time frame and for prices that make repairs cheaper than throwing the product away and buying a new one. It's more about reducing e-waste. Not sure if it covers self repair, but replacement parts will have also provided to "non certified" repair shops, which will drive the prices of repairs quite down.

 

[Bomby569]

Not in NA or EU. Both regions have adopted laws that make warranty exclusion for such reasons unlawful. Anywhere else, it'll depend on the local consumer protection laws.

For EU can you quote a source for this. I'm not doubting i just wanted to have one.

 

[lexluthermiester]

However, it isn't already baked out & they are still working things out.

No, a federal agency ruled that removing a warranty sticker and disassembling a product can not be used as a reason to invalidate a warranty, especially on products that can reasonably be expected to need servicing. Technically, under that ruling, the fix described in this thread doesn't violate warranty either as it is only adding to the product it's being applied to and not specifically altering the construction design.

FTC Staff Warns Companies that It Is Illegal to Condition Warranty Coverage on the Use of Specified Parts or Services

The Federal Trade Commission staff has sent warning letters to six major companies that market and sell automobiles, cellular devices, and video gaming systems in the United States.

www.ftc.gov

For EU can you quote a source for this. I'm not doubting i just wanted to have one.

I don't know where the specific EU statues are for that, sorry. I do know that it's a part of the consumer protections laws. Maybe someone from the EU can chime in?

 

[MarsM4N]

No, a federal agency ruled that removing a warranty sticker and disassembling a product can not be used as a reason to invalidate a warranty, especially on products that can reasonably be expected to need servicing. Technically, under that ruling, the fix described in this thread doesn't violate warranty either as it is only adding to the product it's being applied to and not specifically altering the construction design.

FTC Staff Warns Companies that It Is Illegal to Condition Warranty Coverage on the Use of Specified Parts or Services

The Federal Trade Commission staff has sent warning letters to six major companies that market and sell automobiles, cellular devices, and video gaming systems in the United States.

www.ftc.gov

Well, that's nice for you. The FTC has zero jurisdiction in Europe, so they can still get away with their warranty sticker shenanigans over here.

 

[lexluthermiester]

The FTC has zero jurisdiction in Europe, so they can still get away with their warranty sticker shenanigans over here.

As stated above, the EU has similar consumer protection laws.

 

[Space Lynx]

@lexluthermiester

going to try this on my mobo if all else fails in next couple days... thread below I made if you interested. i will be making a video to share the sound later today

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

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...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[lexluthermiester]

@lexluthermiester

going to try this on my mobo if all else fails in next couple days... thread below I made if you interested. i will be making a video to share the sound later today

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

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...

www.techpowerup.com

This method works just as well on motherboard & PSU coils as it does GPU coils. YouTube video?

 

[Kazuaar]

Hi guys, Thank god to found you with this super glue solution for cw. I just purchased an ASUS ROG Strix 4080 for my son to Christmas,
and I'm absolutely disgusted at this sound from such a crazy expensive hardware.
Do you have a picture what parts need to be superglued on the card?
That would be a huge help because I'm not really an electronic engineer...
Oh, and is this glue would be ok for the procedure?

Products

www.loctiteproducts.com

Thanks a lot!

 

[lexluthermiester]

Hi guys, Thank god to found you with this super glue solution for cw. I just purchased an ASUS ROG Strix 4080 for my son to Christmas,
and I'm absolutely disgusted at this sound from such a crazy expensive hardware.
Do you have a picture what parts need to be superglued on the card?
That would be a huge help because I'm not really an electronic engineer...
Oh, and is this glue would be ok for the procedure?

Products

www.loctiteproducts.com

Thanks a lot!

Hey there, Welcome to TPU!
First point, I would highly recommend you get in touch with ASUS about this as they are generally good about warrantying cards with noisy chokes. If you take the card apart and perform this kind of modification, they might claim the warranty is void. IF because of where you live in the world a warranty claim is not possible, then let's proceed, but please take extreme care.

The following photo is from that card's review by @W1zzard here at TPU.

ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 STRIX OC Review

The ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 STRIX OC is a masterpiece graphics card design. It looks fantastic and is built like a tank, thanks to thick metal used on both the main cooler shroud and the backplate. The card is also the highest-clocked in our reviews and comes with a super powerful VRM.

www.techpowerup.com

Make sure this is your card. If not, please take a photo of the card you have and upload it and I'll direct you on which parts are the choke coils.

Shown above are the main coils of concern. The SAP2 coils are designed to be fill through coils and are unlikely to be the source of the noise. However, if you find that they are, the only thing you can do it is to apply glue to the bottom of the choke as there might be a vibrations being generated from between the coil and the PCB. Makes sure to use enough to wick all the way through the spacing between the coil and the PCB.

 

[Kazuaar]

I can't tank you enough!
Probably ASUS won't accept my ticket here in Hungary...
By the way is the linked glue good for the process or do you suggest another one?

 

[Wirko]

I can't tank you enough!
Probably ASUS won't accept my ticket here in Hungary...
By the way is the linked glue good for the process or do you suggest another one?

It's good. Any liquid cyanoacrylate glue will do. However, you need it to be as thin as possible, which means that you need fresh glue. Avoid buying it if it's nearly expired (the shelf life is supposed to be one year). Use it in a few weeks after opening.

The glue becomes thicker over time, it's still good for other purposes then but it won't get under the coils easily, or not at all.

 

[Kazuaar]

It's good. Any liquid cyanoacrylate glue will do. However, you need it to be as thin as possible, which means that you need fresh glue. Avoid buying it if it's nearly expired (the shelf life is supposed to be one year). Use it in a few weeks after opening.

The glue becomes thicker over time, it's still good for other purposes but won't get under the coils easily, or not at all.

Thank you very much! By the way do I need to turn the PCB upside down to help glue to flow everywhere or just spray it into the covering cap?

 

[lexluthermiester]

I can't tank you enough!

You're Welcome!

Probably ASUS won't accept my ticket here in Hungary...

I wondered if that was going to be a thing.

By the way is the linked glue good for the process or do you suggest another one?

Yup, that stuff will be perfect.

The glue becomes thicker over time, it's still good for other purposes then but it won't get under the coils easily, or not at all.

That only happens if the lid isn't sealed well. Otherwise it stays very liquid-like for years when stored properly.