Coil Whine/Squeal - Which boards are known to be quiet?

[mrcape]

Hello all,

I've seen reports of this sound coming from almost all of the 965 boards and some of the 680's as well. I experienced it myself with the DFI Infinity p965-S and the p5b dlx. Before I order another board I want to run this by the heads over here who build on tons of different boards.

Some guys in the hunt for high fsb may be able to overlook noise, but not me. I can handle fan noise, but a high freq tone is just annoying and cheap. If I hear a whine I'm sending the thing back. I'm building a new machine for gaming, graphic design and audio work. I'll give it a mild over clock, ideally about 2.8-3ghz on Ultra 120. I just decided to bail on the Infinity Dark because it's whistling dixie.

How's the Badaxe2 in this regard? I couldn't find any info on it making sounds.

Please use this thread to discuss board noise on the models you've used. Also discuss why this is happening - is the race to release product killing QC? I think so.

[nealh]

Hello all,

I've seen reports of this sound coming from almost all of the 965 boards and some of the 680's as well. I experienced it myself with the DFI Infinity p965-S and the p5b dlx. Before I order another board I want to run this by the heads over here who build on tons of different boards.

Some guys in the hunt for high fsb may be able to overlook noise, but not me. I can handle fan noise, but a high freq tone is just annoying and cheap. If I hear a whine I'm sending the thing back. I'm building a new machine for gaming, graphic design and audio work. I'll give it a mild over clock, ideally about 2.8-3ghz on Ultra 120. I just decided to bail on the Infinity Dark because it's whistling dixie.

How's the Badaxe2 in this regard? I couldn't find any info on it making sounds.

Please use this thread to discuss board noise on the models you've used. Also discuss why this is happening - is the race to release product killing QC? I think so.

wow was the whine that bad?

crap I am using this mobo on 2 computer builds and I hate high freq. noises as well

[mrcape]

Well, it was noticeable which is bad enough for me. I will admit that my hearing is very sensitive, hence the reason that I'm looking for a quiet board. Things like that will distract me to the point that I won't rest until I can stop it.

btw, how is your badaxe2

[nealh]

Well, it was noticeable which is bad enough for me. I will admit that my hearing is very sensitive, hence the reason that I'm looking for a quiet board. Things like that will distract me to the point that I won't rest until I can stop it.

btw, how is your badaxe2

I am very sensitive to noises as well...I think the Badaxe2 is a nice board...I hear no whine at all

I understand noise is subj. but I think you will find the badaxe2 ok

[mrcape]

Thanks nealth, this is good feedback. If you're worried about the p965-s squeal, there's a thread at DFI club. Someone even went as far as to mic the board and record it. The symptoms range from squeal at load to squeal on mouse scroll and window resize.

Here's the thread -

http://csd.dficlub.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2217

[mrcape]

So are there any other boards for c2d besides badaxe2 that are built solid and whine free? How are the Asus WS boards when it comes to this?

[Cuthalu]

My Asus P5B-E Plus makes annoying noises when CPU or HD's do something. However, this "is not supposed" to be this way, therefore I'm getting replacement for this.

Anyone knows what's the situation with P35-mobos?

[kiwi]

Lower vcore, better PSU and less load (and lower temps) are things that reduce this noise :)

[mrcape]

I've tried a Silverstone Zeus 750, OCZ GXS 700 and an Etasis unit and still get the whine even idle.

What do you guys think about WS class boards? Do you still get whine in some cases?

It's hard to get data on this issue because it's hit or miss board to board. I guess it would require people who are exposed to several builds per week to get exposure to multiple copies of the c2d boards. I'm sure the boards that the reviewers get never have this issue.

Maybe there's a way to poll board owners to see which boards whine.

[babalouj]

The coil whine on the 965-s comes from the inductor directly above the ram slot 2nd closest to the cpu. If you apply pressure to it while its squeeking it will get louder. I am going to try squirting some silicone under it to see if it helps.

[mrcape]

Hm that's cool that you pinpointed it. Let us know how it works out with the silicone.

[babalouj]

I am hoping these are not molded inductors and jsut have a case on top like alot I have seen. If they are molded inductors then the only solution since its completely closed is to replace it.

**Warning educational** I have to use inductors in my RF (radio frequency) designs alot and I have encountered more than a few squeeling inductors, the squeeling comes from non flat DC voltages hitting the inductor. An inductor is a spike surpressor as most of you know. This is because a sudden short spike pulse does not have enough energy to change the magnetic field in the coil but the spike is also absorbed because it does try to change the field even though it is unsuccessful. These squeels we are hearing are a result of switching noise which is not really considered a spike but more of a ripple which would be best dealt with by a capacitor. The squeeling is caused because the spikes DO have enough energy to change the field in the inductor but only for a short time then the field changes back to normal steady state again. This constant changing of magnetic field in the conductor causes vibration and thats what we are hearing. I have found a few ways to stop them in my RF practices. 1) reduce the line noise and ripple by filtering the input with more capacitance 2) use a bigger inductor so it takes more energy to change the field thus supressing the spikes and the squeeling 3) physically stopping the vibrations (silicone or some other method) and 4) just plain replacing it with a better quality capacitor.

Sorry for the lengthy post but I thought that some of you that dont know why it is happening would like to know.

[dinos22]

i've had that issue with both DS3 Gigabyte boards

both of my Asus P5B Deluxe WIFI were fine = no squeal

i tested a really annoying one recently >>> XFX 680i LT >>> :banana::banana::banana::banana: that was bad squeal wise :mad:

P5K i am testing has no squealing that i've noticed

[mrcape]

Good to hear that the P5k is quiet so far. I also wonder about the Badaxe2 and Asus WS series. Any feedback on those in addition to Nealth?

[mrcape]

Hey babalouj, did you try to fix your p965-s yet?

[Eldonko]

Gigabyte DQ6 is noisy as hell, most gigas are TBH.

No sound at all comes from my RD600.

[babalouj]

Hey babalouj, did you try to fix your p965-s yet?

Not yet, I will soon though. Been busy at work.

[Gamergod]

Paint the coils with conductive paint, worked a treat on the MSI Neo 2's

[mrcape]

Why is it that this is happening so often on so many boards these days? Rush to market I think. Also, it seems that this issue always gets buried or shunned. It's as if a lot of the brand boys don't want to hear any negatives about the popular boards. That's gay.

One thing is for certain, it sucks to hear that noise on a brand new system. After experiencing this, I'm certain that many bummed out consumers would pay a $20 premium to a manufacturer that QC tests for 0db board noise as a feature.

[RealTelstar]

If my board squeal like a dying squirrel, I'm gonna get the P5K.

[mrcape]

I wish mine didn't, because otherwise 965-s is an awesome board. If yours is quiet that's great. I think there's too little data to say that it's on most of the boards. Maybe they just got one pile of cruddy coils or they were attached imperfectly or something. I'm going to the p5k but it's so new it could many flaky issues too.

[mrcape]

Damn, wtf is with this lame whine issue. I could give a kcuf less about a stupid, unstable overclock if my board is going to be squealing.

I just read here that it's happening with p5k dlx / 8800gtx -

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2208148&postcount=161