(defective?) Corsair AX750 causing massive Coil Whine on GPU?

Hi there,

Since I had my PC, I had an AX750 PSU from Corsair, and I always noticed a type of "buzzing" noise which I one day identified as coil whine coming from my GPU. I never thought much of it, as I heard that many graphics cards emit it, and that it can go away some day.

I just upgraded my SLI 660 TIs (which created the buzzing noise) to a reference design 780 TI - and I already prepared myself for a silent gaming experience. Guess what - the "coil whine" is still there, albeit a little more quiet. I thought, this is a new 780 Ti, this shouldn't happen, and did some research. We put my old 660 TIs into my friends PC (he has an AX760i)... No coil whine. I didn't have a chance to test my new 780 Ti in his PC yet.

... and then I disabled vsync and my frame cap to 60 fps. I shouldn't have done that. My card emitted a MASSIVELY loud and high pitched whine, it sounded like a scream from hell, and I really thought that it bricked. Seriously, this was in no way right, it wasn't normal coil whine anymore that happens to every card and goes away after some time, it definitely sounded like a major problem. Happily, it still works, but still whines, albeit at a low pitch and much quieter when capped at 60 fps.

Now - all this led me to believe that my beloved Corsair PSU actually is the cause for the noise.

Can this be a faulty PSU? Can I RMA it? (I bought the PSU at Amazon, so I might as well just return it and buy a new one).

Will my card die if I continue to let it whine like that?

Is there a way to test if my GPU is actually causing the wine other than putting it into another PC? Could I RMA my 780 Ti with ASUS due to coil whine?

Thanks a lot for the help!

Jason

Can this be a faulty PSU? Can I RMA it? (I bought the PSU at Amazon, so I might as well just return it and buy a new one).

Yes, you can RMA it.

Will my card die if I continue to let it whine like that?

No, it will not hurt the card. Coil whine is just what the name suggests. It's just a coil of wire in the PSU that vibrates at a high frequency which causes the noise.

Is there a way to test if my GPU is actually causing the wine other than putting it into another PC?

Not really.

Could I RMA my 780 Ti with ASUS due to coil whine?

That you would need to take up with ASUS. I would have the PSU replaced first before you go through all of that.

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Okay, thank you! I just contacted Amazon and as always they were extremely nice and offered me a refund for the PSU when I send it back to them. I guess I'll just take the opportunity and upgrade to an AX860i while I'm at it, I'm considering to maybe put another 780 Ti in SLI sometime next year when the 800 series launches.