High-pitched noise from X1900XTX

[quicksilverXP]

-Just bought a BBATI Radeon X1900XTX. My system is as follows:

E6300
Gigabyte 965P-S3
Hitachi 250GB SATA HD
X-Infinity 500W PSU
2x1GB Patriot PC2-5300LLK

It started during the shder tests for 3dMark06. Seems to be coming from the back of the card. During the 3dMark tests the sounds resembled the subtle high-pitch whisper of a hard dribe. Nothing too bad...

Then... just to test out the card I loaded the Company of Heroes demo... and during the menu screen the whisper becomes a high-pitched whine... similar to the sound of a 56K Dial-Up to AOL (remember those?). It changes in pitch with every different menu option clicked.

I know it's the videocard because I have the setup right in front of me. And it never had this sound with an EVGA 7900 GT KO. Ohh... and card is not overclocked.

I'm guessing there's a correlation between graphical intensity and sound... which doesn't sound good at all.

PSU Problem? Card problem?

Thanks in advance

PS. I have PCI frequency at 100 Mhz... and nothing is overclocked.

[NoPeace]

You using the stock HSF? If so then it's probally that since they do make a high pitched sound.

NoPeace - out

[quicksilverXP]

Heatsink is a Hyper 48. The sound isn't that of air whatsoever. It's mor of like an electrical noise... like a capacitor whine.

[TV Addict#2]

I've read post where others say their x1900xt buzz too,rage3d if I remember correct and a few post down some more examples,mine it don't do it

[dnottis]

My nvidia 6800 and 7800's would do that. Neither my X1800 or X1900XTX do that. I'd say it's prolly the quality of a capacitor. You might wanna try to RMA the card to be safe....

[alexio]

Yeah it's most likely one or more of the caps. You can RMA it or wait for it to go away (which often happens). It's your choice, but I'm pretty sure they'll take it back. Like dnottis said this stuff happens more often with Nvidia cards, so you're just unlucky.

[cantankerous]

Its fine, lots of card do this including mine. Whenever under heavy stress it whines and chirps, tons of these cards do it and I have never heard of a card dying from making that noise. I have had my card since this past Feb. still going strong with an oc. I wouldn't worry about. Some people have noticed the noise went away overtime of the card being 'worked in'.

[quicksilverXP]

Yeah. I've actually read all six pages on the Rage3d page which discusses this. Some people attribute it towards the power supply... some swear the PSU is more than enough to compensate. One person did it test and found out his 1900XTX was drawing more than 30A at one point. So it's all up in the air but no one's X1900 has died as a result of it.

I do no want to RMA it because of the noise. ATI has a 3 yr warranty and if it breaks down within then I can just RMA it then. No use making it harder for both me and ATI.

Has anyone tried switching out a weaker PSU with a stronger one (one that has more than 30A on ONE rail... not combined)? Many believe this is what fixes the problem.

[4Qman]

quicksilverXP,

Hi mate, Im building a Rig for a friend and have a 600w PSU on a Conroe setup and im getting the noise you mention. Im about to change to a Zalaman cooler so ill let you know if its the Cap above as mentioned.

Also this card only does it when in 3D mode so i imagine its as the guys said a Cap. Anyway ill post my findings.

[quicksilverXP]

I don't think it has anything to do with the cooler though. From what I've read a good quality PSU can "reduce" the noise but not necessarily eliminate it. What PSU do you have?

Some people had good luck by switching to a PSU that does not have multiple 12v rails... For example.. the PC Power and Cooling 510... which is very powerful on a single 12v rail.

How loud is your noise? Initially, mine was PIERCING the first time I booted it. I adjusted the "Robust Graphics Booster" to Turbo in my S3 bios and increased the PCI-E to 105. It lowered it... don't know if that will help you.

[quicksilverXP]

Also... anyone ever try one of these... I believe Thermaltake also makes one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104019

[4Qman]

PSU is a Enermax NoiseTaker 600w, it seems ok now and the noise wasnt loud to start so hopefully its sorted itself. :rolleyes:

[Joe Camel]

my master card "sings" sometimes.

it also does 846/945 (in CrossFire) under D-Ice with a Zippy 700w PSU

IMO: it ain't the cooler, PSU or sign of a bad card.

[[cTx]Philosophy]

I dont think its ur card at all, I also have the 965 ds3 and my mobo makes a pitch noise when loading @ 100%

Alot of users have been reporting the same issue..

Check into it and report back..

[cantankerous]

Yeah. I've actually read all six pages on the Rage3d page which discusses this. Some people attribute it towards the power supply... some swear the PSU is more than enough to compensate. One person did it test and found out his 1900XTX was drawing more than 30A at one point. So it's all up in the air but no one's X1900 has died as a result of it.

I do no want to RMA it because of the noise. ATI has a 3 yr warranty and if it breaks down within then I can just RMA it then. No use making it harder for both me and ATI.

Has anyone tried switching out a weaker PSU with a stronger one (one that has more than 30A on ONE rail... not combined)? Many believe this is what fixes the problem.


I'm sorry to say but some time ago ATI now only warrant their cards for 1 year instead of 3. I used to only buy BBATI because of their warranty but now no reason as their is just the same if not worse than some other manufacturers? How is a lifetime warranty? Powercolor offers that on their X1900 line of cards.

[freecableguy]

inductors in the power generation/regulation circuit will "sing" when high current passes through them

[lopri]

inductors in the power generation/regulation circuit will "sing" when high current passes through them
How "safe" is it for a long-term? (say ~2 years)

[cantankerous]

who knows, the card has barely been out 10 full months for anyone to find out.

[Magnj]

Turbo Whine

[IvanAndreevich]

I always get pissed when this question comes up over and over again and people start chatting away about it. How about using the search function? FCG is right AND there is a way to fix the high-pitched noise.

quicksilverXP I bet it's your mobo.

[quicksilverXP]

I did a search function both here and on google and the most detailed thread I found was on Rage3d and I figured XS was a place I relied on more for helpful information.

One thread came up but the thread was about 18 pages. I'm in law school so I don't exactly have the luxury of coming home to rummage through endless pages of information that "might" answer my question.

But I do appreciate everyone's help regarding this matter.

[IvanAndreevich]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=112394&highlight=high+pitch

You find the inductor. You put a bunch of dielectric glue on the inductor. The noise goes away.

[masterofpuppets]

My card does it too under alot of load, and my card is pretty much dead (crashes and artifacts all the time). So I'd RMA it to be safe if I were you.

[quicksilverXP]

Only problem is that it doesn't occur during Orthos Prime whatsoever. It only occurs during shader intensive tests (such as the shader tests in 3dMark06).

[revenant]

my cards make some noise while they're loading textures for 3dmark benches.. like a hissing noise.. I reckon that's the sound of 50gb/s of memory bw being used! :)

[IvanAndreevich]

My card does it too under alot of load

my cards make some noise while they're loading textures for 3dmark benches
Read 1 post above yours before posting.

quicksilverXP
The inductor is responsible for the PCI-E slot power, or when graphics card is drawing power, memory / cpu power circuit inductors experience a slightly different voltage which makes them resonate and make that :banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:in noise.