“After replacing the PSU, the video card coils stopped whining”. An extremely common statement and yet it always remains on a subjective level, which is a pity. But that is also why we will now look at things in an exact, numerical way. We do this by testing several graphics cards, where for each, noise levels of VRM coils are monitored with each ATX (3.0) power supply used. So how is it with the “whining”? When is it stronger and when is it weaker?
Tonal peaks and noise levels in aggregate
| PSU | Dominant sound freq. and noise level | NF-F12 PWM | NF-A15 PWM | ||||
| Sapphire RX 7600 XT Pulse | MSI RTX 4070 Ti Super 16G Ventus 3X | Gigabyte RTX 4090 Gaming OC 24G | |||||
| Frequency [Hz] | Noise level [dBu] | Frequency [Hz] | Noise level [dBu] | Frequency [Hz] | Noise level [dBu] | ||
| Asus ROG Strix 850G Aura | 6088,7 | -74,9 | 6267,2 | -77,6 | 8863,1 | 80,0 | |
| BeQuiet! Dark Power 13 | SilentiumPC Fluctus 120 PWM | 5583,4 | -77,0 | 10540,1 | -73,1 | 7240,8 | 81,0 |
| Cooler Master GX III Gold 850 | 4561,4 | -76,6 | 6088,7 | -77,2 | 10240,0 | 78,0 | |
| Corsair RM850x Shift | 5120,0 | -77,5 | 6088,7 | -74,8 | 8863,1 | 80,4 | |
| DeepCool PX1000G | 5120,0 | -76,4 | 10540,1 | -75,7 | 8863,1 | 81,9 | |
| Enermax ERT850 EWT | 5915,4 | -77,1 | 6088,7 | -78,0 | 10240,0 | 82,7 | |
| FSP Hydro G Pro ATX3.0 | 8610,8 | -80,0 | 10240,0 | -76,5 | 8863,1 | 81,5 | |
| Gigabyte GP-UD850GM PG5W | 5915,4 | -74,4 | 6088,7 | -78,0 | 8863,1 | 81,5 | |
| Chieftec Polaris 3.0 (PPS-850FC) | 4974,2 | -78,5 | 6267,2 | -77,4 | 8863,1 | 79,8 | |
| MSI MPG A850G | 7034,6 | -77,3 | 12901,6 | -78,0 | 8863,1 | 81,1 | |
| Seasonic Vertex GX-850 | 7034,6 | -76,5 | 10540,1 | -74,6 | 8863,1 | 81,7 | |
| SilverStone DA850R Gold | 5583,4 | -73,2 | 10540,1 | -73,7 | 8863,1 | 82,5 |
Great job, I don’t think anyone has ever tested this before! Indeed, the differences look quite small if compared to coil whine variance between GPU models. Based on your data, every other change will have a bigger impact than replacing the PSU. Undervolt, underclock, switching to a non-mesh PC case.
This is very interesting. Anecdotally, my 4090 Suprim X has occasional coil whine when working on Folding@home. Its not consistent, perhaps 1/24 hours it’ll whine, and of course its worse the more power its drawing. This was on my Corsair HX750 Platinum (2022? version) with the VHPWR adapter with 3 PCIE cables.
I switched to an FSP Hydro Ti 1000W and I used the native VHPWR cable and I haven’t noticed any whine since.
The sound that you have registered and no longer register may be the result of higher harmonic frequencies, which may eventually arise depending on the of noise in the power grid. The latter is always unique and each source may react differently to it. It is impossible to generalise here. What worked “somehow” with the same components in your country may work differently elsewhere (because the power supply is connected to a different network, with a different noise). And then there is what always applies. The sound that subjectively disturbed you may have disappeared, but the character of the coil whine may have changed so that someone else evaluates it as more disturbing (because again there may be a different frequency to which another user’s hearing is more sensitive, and which you may not mind). Personally, especially after this test, I have a great respect for this topic and I consider it advisable not to draw any conclusions, because they may be subjective. In any case, it is very dangerous to give any advice to anyone. They are always irresponsible because there are too many variables.
I think the idea is very cool, but the writing is very poor, overly wordy, meandering and back and forth… For example, adding snakey paragraphs of caveats (along the lines of subjective opinions or perceptions) to a conclusion is never interesting (and I would say, shouldn’t be the concern for an article, only to desperately fish likes on reddit etc).
Or when you want to explain the role of the PSU in the whole phenomenon (seemingly, interestingly as possibly the main culprit), you never actually say anything regarding the PSU… But mostly some general stuff about coils, with very indirect, vague sentences amounting to a murmuring. However an interesting detail is mentioned about VRM smoothing… Which actually brought me here, as I wonder if more or better VRMs or better PMW controller might work against it. Maybe a good topic on its own.
Subjective opinions or perceptions? Are you sure you are under the right article? I don’t understand any of your objections, but we will be happy to give you the space to show how this topic should be treated objectively. 😉
There is a mistake – Seasonic and MSI have the same spectrum image for the 4070 Ventus.
Thank you for the heads-up. It’s corrected! 🙂