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The original was posted on /r/sffpc by /u/tom_ped_red on 2025-01-02 14:48:47+00:00.

Hello there. I want to share with you the results of two sets of GPU coil whine testing I performed a while ago.

Three years ago I built myself a new PC. I bought a new GPU and experienced coil whine for the first time. I quickly educated myself about this topic and decided to test other GPUs hoping that one of them wouldn’t have this issue. Unfortunately, all of these listed below suffered from coil whine:

  • ASUS GeForce RTX 3060 Ti ROG Strix GAMING
  • ASUS GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua Edition
  • Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3060 Ti VISION
  • Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3060 Ti AORUS ELITE
  • Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3070 VISION
  • 2x MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Suprim X
  • EVGA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti FTW3 ULTRA GAMING

Then, I took a two-year break from tinkering with my PC. Along the way, I was watching reviews of RTX 4000 series GPUs and kept seeing comments from people saying that their GPUs don’t have coil whine. I couldn’t find an answer to why all of my previously tested GPUs had this problem, so last year I decided to do it again. This time, I wanted to test every idea that either came to my mind or that I came across while watching reviews that could be a possible solution to this problem.

These were the GPUs I tested:

  • 2x GeForce RTX 4070 Founders Edition
  • 3x GeForce RTX 4080 Founders Edition
  • ASUS GeForce RTX 4070 ProArt
  • 3x Asus GeForce RTX 4070 Ti ProArt
  • Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Aero
  • PNY GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Verto White Edition

TLDR: all of them had coil whine.

My testing methodology looked as follows:

  1. Remove drivers from previously tested GPUs (with the help of the DDU app) or reinstall Windows if needed.
  2. Mount a new GPU into the PC and install the newest drivers.
  3. Run the following apps:
    • 3DMark Demo
    • WarThunder
    • War Mongrels Demo
    • Wolfenstein II: New Colossus Demo
  4. Look for any coil whine.

These apps/games were chosen because I don’t have a big library of games (especially lacking newer releases) and currently don’t have access to fast Internet, so I had to choose something free and fast to download in case of possible system reinstallation.

From what I have observed coil whine becomes audible in two scenarios:

  • GPU under light load generating more FPS, like in the case of WarThunder (300+ FPS)
  • GPU under heavy load generating less FPS, like in the case of Wolfenstein (60…90 FPS)

In the beginning, I wanted to know if it was possible to find a GPU without coil whine, but after hearing coil whine in most testing scenarios, I quickly transitioned to looking for a GPU with the least amount of coil whine.

Now I’ll explain all the ideas I tested. Please keep in mind that some numbers provided may not be 100% accurate.

Idea 1.

Maybe I was just unlucky and eventually, I’ll find a GPU without coil whine. Nope.

In total 19 GPUs (8 3000-series and 11 4000-series) were tested and all had coil whine.

Idea 2.

Maybe there is a problem with my AMD-based PC, and switching to Intel could solve the problem. Nope.

I decided to test some GPUs on an Intel-based rig, so I bought the following components:

  • Intel Core i5-13500
  • ASUS ROG STRIX B760-I GAMING WIFI
  • Corsair Vengeance 32GB

The coil whine was still present.

Idea 3.

Maybe there is something wrong with my ASUS motherboard? Nope.

I suspected my ASUS motherboard because I’m one of those unlucky ones who have to deal with system instability and random BSODs. [LINK] This motherboard doesn’t work well with RTX 4000 series GPUs. Thanks ASUS.

I bought a Gigabyte B550I AORUS PRO AX motherboard and tested some GPUs with it. The coil whine was still present.

Idea 4.

Maybe there is a problem with my PSU? Nope.

This guy showed that moving a GPU from one PC (with a bad PSU) to another one (with a good PSU) eliminated coil whine. [LINK]

I bought the following PSUs and tested some GPUs with them:

  • Corsair SF750 750W
  • Lian Li SP850 850W
  • Corsair SF1000L 1000W
  • NZXT C750 750W
  • BE QUIET! Dark Power 13 750W
  • Asus ROG Loki 750W

The coil whine was still present.

Idea 5.

Maybe I should use an officially provided NVIDIA splitter cable instead of a single Corsair cable? Nope.

In one YouTube video, some guy showed that using different cables eliminated his coil whine.

At some point, I was performing tests twice: with and without splitter cable. The coil whine was still present.

Idea 6.

Maybe all I have to do is buy Founders Edition or GPU that was explicitly labeled as noncoil whine in a review? Nope.

There were so many people claiming that their FEs don’t have coil whine. I also found this review where the reviewer explicitly said that his ProArt sample didn’t have coil whine. [LINK 18:15]

I tested 5 FEs and 4 ProArt GPUs. All had coil whine.

Idea 7.

Maybe there is something wrong with my power strip and all I need to do is to connect my PC straight to the wall? Nope.

One guy showed in a YouTube video that plugging his PC directly into the wall eliminated his coil whine issue.

I tested many GPUs with my PC connected through a power strip or directly to the wall. The coil whine was still present.

Idea 8.

OK. Coil whine is a fact. Maybe by undervolting my GPU as low as possible, I could get rid of it. Nope.

Truth be told in many cases GPU coil whine was greatly reduced. Still there but quieter.

Idea 9.

Maybe my old monitor (1080p 60Hz) or cables I use to connect it to GPUs are the problem? Nope.

Out of curiosity, I tested a higher-resolution monitor with a different set of cables. I bought a 2160p 144Hz monitor (PHILIPS Evnia 5000 27M1F5800) to see firsthand if it’d affect coil whine in any way. I was especially curious if a higher load (4x bigger pixel count) would make coil whine louder in less demanding games capped at 144 FPS.

Conclusion

I skipped gaming for the last 7-8 years focusing on education and early web dev career, and wanted to finally build myself a silent PC that would allow me to play older games with higher framerates.

Last year’s testing came from my growing frustration. I had no one to ask what was the source of the issue last time I did the testing or if any of my ideas would solve it, so I decided to do it myself. I was also tired of comments where people were expressing their lack of this problem not providing enough detail on their PC configuration, game settings, etc. I also stopped trusting reviewers because I noticed most of them either ignored or skipped coil whine subjects focusing mainly on FPS numbers. I concluded that if I wanted to get answers I’d have to do the work myself.

In case of any questions, additional details or clarification feel free to comment.

Lower GPU power consumption = less coil whine

In most cases setting a 60 FPS limit eliminated or greatly reduced coil whine.

Obviously when you limit FPS in a less demanding game like WarThunder (that gets 300+ FPS when uncapped with either 100% utilization or hitting CPU bottleneck) naturally GPU gets lower utilization and draws less power thus eliminating coil whine.

The situation changes when we do the same thing with a higher demanding game like Wolfenstein. Here I got 90 FPS when uncapped, but capping them at 60 FPS didn’t make the coil whine disappear, just made it a little less audible. It was still loud though.

This concerns me because I plan to cap my games at 120…144 FPS. I see no need to go higher. Older and lighter games aren’t a problem, but those with higher base requirements may still make GPU coil whine appear.

Undervolting also greatly helps with reducing coil whine when implemented correctly and lower power consumption is a bonus I really like. But I don’t want to get annoyed by coil whine whenever I decide to play a game.

Bonus

Things I noticed while testing the aforementioned components.

GeForce RTX 4080 Founders Edition

  • When the PC was starting, the GPU’s fans accelerated to 1100 RPM, and after the system launched they switched to fanless mode. I’m mentioning this because ProArt GPUs handled this process better.
  • 1100 RPM is the lowest I could set, which is a shame because I’d like the option to set it to a lower value for lower-demanding scenarios, providing quieter active cooling.
  • The rear fan in all 3 samples produced an unpleasant sound at around 900 RPM and 1400+ RPM, like something was hitting the fan or was loose. I looked into it and found nothing that could be a source of this sound.

GeForce RTX 4070 Founders Edition

  • 1400 RPM is the lowest I could set. In my opinion, the fans were too loud.

Asus GeForce RTX 4070 & 4070 Ti ProArt

  • Unlike FE models, fans didn’t start spinning after turning on the PC. GPUs stayed fanless during boot, desktop, and low load only activating after reaching a high enough temperature. Very nice.
  • With undervolting applied this model had the quietest coil whine, sometimes to the point of not being able to hear it at all. I was even considering keeping it, deshrouding, and mounting Noctua fans on top of it.
  • 1100 RPM is the lowest I could set.
  • Fans from …

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