Video Card Coil Whine . Noise Source

EA4GLI

So we often look at the raw power of the video cards and then the price, and for the most part we do not care much about the brand as long as it has the chipset/mem combo that we like.
We want them to run as many panadapters at the highest resolution with the minimum impact to our wallets. But... are we creating unwanted "noise" on top of already RFI crowded bands?

There is something to consider when making a purchase decision, some of these new video cards produce what is known as "Coil Whine"

This article explains the issue.

tl;dr Certain cards tend to produce noise that can easily disturb the receiver performance. After the video card, poor quality power supplies, tend to be the noise culprits... but as hams we are very aware of power supply quality and not so much with video cards. 

For your consideration I am attaching the Table with some of the findings.
If you are not familiar with computer and video card testing, Hitman (a game) and FurMark (video testing program) are used in this table to stress the video cards. They can stress the video cards beyond what a 6700 with 8 opened panadapters will. 



You basically want to choose a video card that has NONE for either test. ASUS seems a reliable brand with only 2 chipsets affected with a MILD case of Coil Whine.

Walt - KZ1F

Did NVidia produce that chart Sal?   ;-)

EA4GLI

Ha ha ha
Looks like it.

It is interesting to note that the R9 290 makes it to the top of a lot of best **** for buck lists, but it might be a horrible choice for Ham Radio.

EA4GLI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP5lAAWkipo

rfoust

I have the asus gtx 980 strix, and I haven't had any problems out of it at all so far.

EA4GLI

That is one of the GREEN ones. Good purchase, that is a heck of a video card.

Ross - K9COX

It's my understanding that the charts ratings are based on audible noise which is the basis of "coil whine".

EA4GLI

I believe so Ross, but you can see from the video i posted that it will produce visible interference. That is a Flex 1500 with an ati 5770. The idea of the post is to have as much data as possible so we can make informed purchase decisions. I will avoid any card brand/model combo that produces even a little bit of coil noise.