GA-X58-UD3R: Constant high pitched noise

[nordiga]

Hello,

My recently bought UD3R is making a very high frequency sustained tone, fluctuating in pitch, that seems to be related to CPU activity (so you can hear the pitch changing when for example the computer starts and the CPU fan speed changes). It seems to get higher in pitch when the CPU is more active.

I read the threads about the 'electrical' noise, and other similar posts on the web, and I am not sure that this is the same problem - I am not getting chirping or crunching sounds, just this high, quiet but piercing sound. Still, I tried disabling C1E and C3/C6/C7 like suggested in the electrical noise thread, and it did make a difference - the pitch got quieter and less fluctuating. Before the BIOS change it was changing pitch quite drastically, and now it is rather constant. But it is still there.

I am worried that it might mean that there is something wrong with a capacitor on the motherboard? Is that possible? Should I consider RMA?

My system:
Intel i7 930
Nexus NX-5000 530W PSU
4GB OCZ Platinum 1066 CS7 Ram
HP Nvidia Quadro NVS290

I hope some one can shed light on this matter!

Thanks,
Assaf

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte UK Forum.

This is a known problem and has been officially recognised and dealt with. If you contact your local Gigabyte centre they will arrange for the modification to be carried out. There is a BIOS update that you might want to try first. I am assuming that you have the revision 2.0 motherboard.

http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/upload/files/BIOS_X58A-UD3R_2_FVA.zip

[nordiga]

Hi and thanks for the quick reply!

I have revision 2.0 indeed, and I have updated to BIOS FD already. Is FVA more recent?

[Dark Mantis]

FVA is specifically aimed at curing this particular problem and yes it is fairly new... a few weeks old.

Make sure that you use QFlash to run the update not @BIOS. QFlash is much safer and allows you to disable the Keep DMI Data before doing the update.

[nordiga]

Ok, updated to FVA with no improvement. Opened a ticket with Gigabyte tech support, lets see what they say.

Can Gigabyte tech support definitely resolve this problem? Since I am considering RMA and getting an Asus just to be on the safe side. However, who know what problems that board will bring...

By the way after the BIOS flash C1E was set back to enabled, and the noise is much more audible and piercing now.

[Dark Mantis]

Yes as far as I know the success rate has been 100%. With some just the BIOS update will fix the problem but with others there is a small hardware fix that needs to be implemented.

[nordiga]

Good. I just hope Gigabyte Netherlands can also deal with this problem. I am posting in the UK forum because I recently moved here from the UK and still speak English

Thank you for your help Dark Mantis, it is very much appreciated!

[Dark Mantis]

You are very welcome and please let us know how you get on. You can continue to use this forum even if you are in a different part of the world now, we don't mind at all. 

[nordiga]

So far no reply from Gigabyte.

But, just something new I noticed - when the vcore voltage was down to about 1.00V the "whistle" was loudest. So I manually set it to around 1.25, and the noise became mostly inaudible, and only returns for a while occasionally, still not sure on what occasions.

But still, I did not get this board to have all its features disabled and giving the CPU more voltage than it needs... btw does anyone know if this kind of voltage can damage the CPU? It's an I7 930.

[Dark Mantis]

One way of more or less kiling the noise  used before the fix was found was to disable the power saving modes in the BIOS...EIST, C1E, C3 etc this worked by stopping the CPU frequencies fluctuating anmd causing the coils to whine.

The core voltage should be fine at that level as mine is going beyond that on auto.

[nordiga]

Right. I got a new replacement MB, same model, and it makes exactly the same noise as before. I understand it's called coil whine.

As I said in my first post, I already tried disabling EIST, C1E, C3 etc. on the first board and it didn't help. I tried it on this one too with the same results. The only thing that seems to help is setting the Vcore voltage to 1.2v, but even that just stops it for a while, and then the noise just comes back.
 
This makes me think that maybe the combination of this particular PSU and this MB makes the noise. Is that possible? Especially since the guys at the RMA lab say that they could hardly hear it over there with the previous board, but here it is loud and clear. My PSU is 520w.

Any ideas?

[Dark Mantis]

Absolutely correct it is caused by a combination of motherboard and PSU and possibly memory but only when certain manufacturing tolerances come together. The PSU is most probably the cause of the erroneous vibrations and so by changing it they will most likely go.
As I said before the other option is to have the motherboard modified  and the FVA BIOS installed.

[nordiga]

I see. So I shouldn't have listened to the RMA guys who said that it will be better to replace it rather than send it to get fixed.

Maybe it makes more sense to replace the PSU now. Do you have a suggestion which PSU to use? Is there a significance to the power output of the PSU in this case? And if so, should I go with more power or less (right now its 530, not 520 as I said before).

Thanks...

[Dark Mantis]

Obviously it depends on your power requirements and possible future plans to upgrade to determine what size of PSU would be best. If you would like to post your existing hardware and any upgrade ideas you have and I will try and give you some advice.

[nordiga]

The noise is getting louder, and setting the voltage manually has stopped working. Strange. You can listen to it here:

http://agid.jehuti.com/coilwhine/coilwhine2.mp3
http://agid.jehuti.com/coilwhine/coilwhine.mp3

I've contacted Gigabyte support again, asking what should I RMA, the PSU or the MB.

My system is:

Intel core i7 930
the UD3R
4GB DDR3 1333 CS7 RAM (OCZ Platinum)
Two Samsung HD's: 1X1TB, 1X500GB
Nvidia Quadro NVS290 (heat sink)
Adaptec firewire expansion card
Some USB powered peripherals: Wacom, midi keyboard, webcam etc.
Winows XP Pro SP3

The system is for audio production. Not gaming.
Possible future upgrades might be Win7, another hard drive (SSD?), 2GB more ram.

Thanks!!!!!!!