Video card making high pitched annoying noise. Want better.

[monkey12]

Hi.

I have finished building my six core xeon build, but I detect an annoying whiny noise. I believe it could be the business graphics card as all my other fans are large and slow moving. The fan is small and runs at 2000 rpm +. Even at idle i can hear that high pitched sound. The card is the Nvidia NVS510. http://www.amazon.com/PNY-DisplayPort-P ... B009S2F268.
I bought it because I require multiple monitors (this one has 4 dp ports) for stock trading. However, I don't think I can live with this whining noise when the room is very quiet, even though it is not very noticeable in most situations. How can I be sure it's the graphics card? Do i boot the system with the thing removed?

I'm hesitant to put a large passive heat-sink on this card, as it's so small and I'm not sure if the NVS line is supported.
I'm not sure if I should get a gaming card like the MSI that shuts the fans off when doing less graphically demanding work (they have 3 dp), or whether to get an aftermarket heat-sink. Thoughts? The card has to be able to handle a couple of 4k monitors preferably or 3 27 inch screens at QHD. I bought the card used/like-new off ebay for half price, and I could probably sell it off again for minimal loss if there is a better noise solution.

[CA_Steve]

How about the Arctic Cooling Accelero L2 Plus? The fan will run at low rpm with your gfx card's measly 35W TDP and it's only ~$20. Check their support area to see if your gpu footprint is compatible with this cooler.

[edh]

You could test the noise by stopping the fan with your finger. Take care how you do this but with most fans it's possible on the centre of the fan without doing damage.

If you only need the graphics card to give you four monitor outputs and the output is entirely in 2D you could underclock the graphics card to reduce heat output. It's unlikely it'll be running particularly hot anyway.

35W isn't much and even an old P4/Athlon XP CPU heatsink or similar chunk of metal set up without a fan would run just fine. I once put a modified Socket A heatsink on a Geforce FX5600 (37W TDP) without a fan and it runs cool enough.

[monkey12]

I don't know how to underclock that card. I think the fan would be running the same speed anyway because it is on the min setting and i can still hear that annoying high frequency sound at idle. I've tried TweakGPU but that doesn't work as the card changes fan speeds despite what you set there. That heatsink looks overkill for that baby card too, I'm not sure about that since it doesn't mention the NVS line anywhere being supported.

Now after reading the review here, I'm considering a GTX900 series twin frozr or Strix and hoping it can run passive under most 2d situations and I may do some games sometimes. I believe they handle 3 monitors (3 dp). If the fans remain off most of the time I could deal with some noise with games. Does anybody know if the fans will stay off with most 2D tasks like editing photos, web browsing, watching movies, business tasks?

thanks

[Quinnbeast]

I think the Strix will turn off at lower temperatures, so should effectively be semi-passive. I've used the MSI 780 and it throttles down to about 35% on moderate loads, and is essentially inaudible. The newer Frozr on the 970 should be similar if not quieter.

Both cards will certainly ramp up under load, but either should work very quietly for most/all 2D tasks. However, they run a mixture of HDMI, DP and DVI ports, and won't run 3 DP monitors out of the box.

[NeilBlanchard]

Is it coil whine, maybe, and not the fan?

[monkey12]

I don't know, I have a seasonic PSU. I hope I don't have to replace that.

Anyway, since I think it's probably the graphic card and I wouldn't mind to do some gaming from time to time, i'm going to get a gaming card that shuts off the fans. I don't want to waste 2 slots with that arctic heat-sink as I've other things to put in there. This is better than the current card which doesn't so there shouldn't be any fan noise for most of what I'll be doing. All the workstation cards have small high pitched fans which don't seem to shut off ever.

I'm looking at the 980 and the 980ti, from MSI or Palit. IS the TI version much louder? If not, I'll get that as the performance is apparently 20% better in games than the vanilla 980.

These cards have 3 display ports and one hdmi 2.0. It should be sufficient to run multiple monitors.

Right now my computer is pretty quiet with the noctua d15, seasonic, r5 and the 2 case fans with the standard profile on asus control panel (adjusted a little for quietness) and no overclocking. I have tried to overclok the xeon up to 4.5. It can be done, but it is louder on load and higer temps on idle so I'll keep that option only if I need the power temporarily. However, at night you can hear that graphics card, it runs at 2000 rpm and the tone is higher pitched.

[edh]

Don't spend money until you have isolated the graphics card fan as being the culprit. You are at huge risk of wasting money by doing this. Just stop the fan gently with your finger and see how the noise changes.

[monkey12]

Don't spend money until you have isolated the graphics card fan as being the culprit. You are at huge risk of wasting money by doing this. Just stop the fan gently with your finger and see how the noise changes.

Ok, I'll try that tonight when it's quiet and I can hear the thing properly. I'm reluctant to put my hand in there when it's on, I hope there is no issue there.

[CA_Steve]

Well, don't lick your finger and then touch the power circuitry

Other than that, it's fairly safe. These are plastic fan blades. Don't jam your finger in there. Slowly move it toward the fan until the pressure of your finger slows/stops the blades.

[xan_user]

you can always use a pencil eraser if you prefer...

[xen]

Old thread. Was the GPU fan the culprit? It doesn't seem like a fan would usually make a high-pitched noise. I do have a Seasonic S12II 330 that does a bit of coil whine now and then.