I'm running an RTX 5070 on CachyOS with a 240 Hz ultrawide OLED monitor and a secondary 60 Hz IPS display. After making my fan curves quieter, I noticed a high-pitched coil whine from the GPU whenever I scroll in Firefox or Brave with hardware acceleration enabled while the browser is on the 240 Hz monitor. Scrolling is quiet when the browser is on the 60 Hz display, and scrolling in Dolphin file manager doesn't seem to trigger it.
Changing the mouse polling rate, disconnecting my external DAC, and lowering the OLED monitor to a 167 Hz preset didn't help. Disabling hardware acceleration mostly eliminates the noise, but I'd prefer to keep it enabled for smooth playback and HDR content. Reducing smooth scrolling and increasing the scroll speed helps somewhat.
Could undervolting realistically reduce this kind of coil whine, or is it something I'll simply have to tolerate? Are there any other settings worth trying?
3 Answers
Coil whine is fairly common and usually isn’t a sign that the GPU is failing. Browser scrolling on a 240 Hz display can create rapid rendering and frame-rate changes even when the card looks mostly idle, which may make the inductors vibrate audibly. Undervolting or slightly limiting GPU clocks and frame rates can sometimes change the pitch or reduce the volume, but it isn’t guaranteed. If it doesn’t help, raising the fan curve a little to mask the sound—or replacing the card if it’s severe—may be the practical solution.
It may be worth confirming that the noise is physically coming from the GPU rather than being electrical interference through the audio setup. Analog speakers or headphones can pick up motherboard and GPU noise, while HDMI, USB, and other digital audio paths generally shouldn’t reproduce it the same way. Try muting or disconnecting the speakers and listening close to the graphics card to isolate the source.
The GPU doesn’t have to be under heavy gaming load for this to happen. Scrolling on a 240 Hz display can cause accelerated browser content to be rendered at a very high rate, with constantly changing power states and frame timing. That activity can trigger coil whine even if overall utilization and power draw look low. Since disabling hardware acceleration stops it and the problem follows the high-refresh monitor, the GPU’s rendering activity is a strong suspect.
That makes sense. I’m going to try undervolting, though I’m treating it as an experiment rather than expecting a guaranteed fix.