What Is GPU Coil Whine? And How To Deal With It?

Imagine that you have just gotten your hands on a brand new GPU, and everything is going perfectly smooth until you realize that there is some strange noise coming out of your GPU.

At first, you might be able to overlook it because of how you are wearing headphones or playing a game, but this noise is something that has made a commonplace inside your system.

Well, it very well could be GPU coil whine, a common issue that has been around for as long as one can remember, and what do we do about coil whine? We figure out how to deal with it.

If you are dealing with something similar, then don’t worry, we are going to help you deal with coil whine, so you do not have to be in a situation where you are dumbfounded trying to figure out what needs to be done.

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What Is GPU Coil Whine?

There is no denying that when you first experience coil whine, it can be a scary experience, but truth be told, it is nothing that you should be worried about.

Coil whine is a common issue in GPUs, and is not something that is going to harm your GPU or affect its performance. Coil whine simply refers to the vibration of the coil found in an inductor.

When the power passes through the coil, it often ends up making an audible noise, and in higher-end cards, there are multiple large inductors responsible for providing power to the card components, and that often results in a louder coil whine.

It is worth noting that every electronic equipment with inductors inside will have coil whine, and the more intensive they are performing, the more frequent it becomes.

The bottom line is that there is nothing to worry about.

What Coil Whine Sounds Like?

This is a tough call, to be honest. It is important to know that coil whine does not specifically sound like a whine, in the first place. It sounds like a rattling noise coming from within the GPU or any other component that has inductors inside.

Now, based on the insulation and how well isolated the component is, the intensity of the coil whine could change, but it mostly varies from device, to device. So, it is better to keep that in mind.

What Can You Do To Prevent Coil Whine?

Although I have mentioned that you do not have to worry about coil whine at all as it is harmless, a lot of people still want to avoid it at all costs.

That’s why, below, I have mentioned some methods that you can use to prevent coil whine from happening in the first place. So, let’s not waste time and have a look.

#1: Undervolt Your GPU

Coil whine often happens in a GPU because of too much power being drawn by the GPU, especially when you are handling an intensive task, and if you really want to take care of it.

I would highly suggest that you are undervolting your GPU in such cases because that can help reduce the coil whine.

Again, undervolting is not something that I would suggest unless absolutely necessary, so before you proceed, keep this in mind.

#2: Disable Your GPU Overclock

Another thing that you can do to take care of coil whine is to disable any overclock you might have on your GPU. This is specifically common for the GPUs that do not come factory overclocked.

If you have any manual overclock that you may have gotten ahead with, this is the time to go ahead and disable it because you will have a better idea as to whether the overclock caused the coil whine to happen in the first place.

Again, this is not confirmed that it will work, but it won’t be hurtful for you to give it a try. So, do look into it when going forward.

#3: Limiting The Framerate

Another thing that you can do to get rid of or reduce the coil whine is by limiting the framerate. This is not something that anyone would suggest, as you are only getting a negative impact on your gaming experience.

But if you are more worried or annoyed by the coil whine, going for this could work, but again, there is no guarantee if this is the right way of fixing the coil whine as it might not work altogether.

#4: Turn On Your GPU’s Low Power Or Eco Mode

Another thing that you can do is lowering the power or turning on the eco mode on your GPU. This way, you will prevent your GPU from running on full power, and since you are finding coil whine a problem, this could help you sort the issue out, in the first place. Again, this might not work for everyone, but you can try and see if it is according to your preference.

#5: Securing the inductor coils

Another thing that you can do, and something that no expert is going to suggest to you, is that you should go ahead and secure the inductor coils.

This might sound like something that is very doable, but the downside to this is that you might have to open up the GPU, and that will definitely void your warranty.

What is the best thing to do? Avoid this, in the first place, and use some of the methods listed above to sort out the coil whine you are facing.

#6: PSU Performance & Replace

If you are really concerned about how the coil whine is affecting your daily-use, I would also advise that you are changing your power supply could be a way out, but again, this can be hit-and-miss.

Before you decide to change your power supply altogether, I would suggest that you just try a different unit and see if that makes a difference going forward. If the difference is there, then you can go ahead with the replacement.

Is Coil Whine A Defect?

Nope, as said before, the coil whine is not at all a defect. It is something that almost every component with electric inductors inside.

Considering how modern GPUs are only becoming more and more powerful and have more and more inductors in them, the coil whine exists on a much wider plane than it used to be.

image of gigabyte gaming series rtx 3080

With that said, modern GPUs are not really that susceptible. I have had an RTX 3080 since launch and have not encountered such an issue so far.

Will The Coil Whine Go Away?

It’s not really a defect that would one day get up and just leave for one reason or another. It is like that by design, and if you are trying to get rid of coil whine, you can try the methods above but rest assured, it is not something that is going to kill your GPU or create a defect you will not be able to live with.

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