My GTX 1080 Ti makes a noticeable buzzing or humming sound while I'm playing games. My system has a 550W power supply and a Ryzen 5 5600. I used OCCT to confirm that the sound is coming from the graphics card. Interestingly, the OCCT 3D Adaptive test crashed or stopped after about three seconds the first time, although it ran normally afterward. What could be causing the noise, and should I be concerned?
2 Answers
That sounds like coil whine, which is vibration from components on the graphics card under load. It can be especially noticeable when the frame rate is very high or uncapped. Try limiting your FPS, enabling V-Sync, or experimenting with an undervolt; those can sometimes reduce the noise. It’s generally harmless, though it can be annoying.
It could also be a noisy or aging fan bearing, but if the sound matches typical coil-whine recordings and changes with GPU load or frame rate, coil whine is the more likely explanation. A one-time OCCT test stopping early doesn’t necessarily indicate a problem, especially if later tests completed normally.
If it isn’t damaging anything, I’m not too worried—thanks for clarifying.