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Silly John Fatty

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 6, 2012
1,806
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Hi peeps,

so I got this Radeon RX 580 8 GB for my 2010 Mac Pro and I noticed that from time to time, it would make some squeaking noises. I think it might be the fans.

My instinct wants to oil it … because it really sounds like something that needs to be oiled.

Does anyone know what it could be? Is oiling anything a realistic approach?

The previous owner told me oiling it isn't a good idea, it won't reach the bearing.

He told me it might be heat expansion in case it comes up after a while. Otherwise maybe the RPM, and that I could maybe set them differently.

That seems strange to me … what do you think? He sold me the card and did a software test before that said that everything was fine, I have a screenshot of it.
 
I have had mine from new, and never heard any noise.
Maybe the seller had used it for mining..?
 
I have had mine from new, and never heard any noise.
Maybe the seller had used it for mining..?

I have no idea. Would that matter? Would using it for mining wear it faster?

And do you know if there's any software for Mac which I could use to test the condition of the card?
 
Have you watched the fans when you hear the squeaking?
My MSI RX 570 made a noise every 45 seconds or so because of the fans starting to spin and stopping immediately after.
Their BIOS / zero fan feature has a threshold of 1 or 2 Kelvin which is total bs.
If it is the same in you case, I solved it by injecting a custom fan curve with a temperature range of 10 K between start/stop.
Or is it load dependent and coil whine?
 
Have you watched the fans when you hear the squeaking?
My MSI RX 570 made a noise every 45 seconds or so because of the fans starting to spin and stopping immediately after.
Their BIOS / zero fan feature has a threshold of 1 or 2 Kelvin which is total bs.
If it is the same in you case, I solved it by injecting a custom fan curve with a temperature range of 10 K between start/stop.

I haven't and I'm actually not 100% sure it's the fans, but I would think so. I mean, I did watch them, but I can't see anything special.

This is something that happens more like a few times a day maybe. And it will last 30 seconds with interruptions. Sometimes more.
 
The fans should only start spinning also only when under load.
Generally the fans are static.

Try playing back a hires video and see what happens.
 
The fans should only start spinning also only when under load.
Generally the fans are static.

Try playing back a hires video and see what happens.

Wow, I just realised this. Yeah, they're not actually spinning. I thought they were spinning all the time (but just not as fast). But yes, they're in fact standing still right now.

Does every GPU work like that? I can't remember how it was on other cards I had. Really surprised …

Well, I think the noise comes up when I play a high resolution video, so it's probably going to have to do with the fans. I will observe if that really is the moment when it happens, but I'm pretty sure it is.
 
The RX580 fans are designed to only spin when needed.
Did some Googling (gpu squeaking noise) and as @arw says it could be coil whine, or loose capacitor.
 
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The RX580 fans are designed to only spin when needed.
Did some Googling (gpu squeaking noise) and as @arw says it could be coil whine, or loose capacitor.

That would be really annoying. At least as far as coil whine goes, I've read that it shouldn't do any damage or so. So theoretically I could leave it as it is. I also don't want to cap FPS or voltage or RPM, because what's the whole point of having such a card otherwise?
 
That's just what I found on Reddit and Tom's Hardware, but not for this specific GPU.
Maybe worth a search, it possibly is not the problem.
I assume you have 2 mini 6 pin connectors.
 
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That's just what I found on Reddit and Tom's Hardware, but not for this specific GPU.
Maybe worth a search, it possibly is not the problem.
I assume you have 2 mini 6 pin connectors.

Exactly. I tried putting my ear the closest possible, but I can't locate the noise closer than that sadly.
 
Coil whine usually unavoidable, and no easy solution to surpress it. Especially if the power supply is 200-240V, the coil whine seems will be more noticeable.

But you may disconnect all unnecessary devices temporarily one by one, and see if that make any changes. The Coil whine affecting you may be just coming from a USB device, not necessary the graphic card. If that's from the graphic card, you may try to use another port.
 
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Hi guys, I was gone and didn't have access to the computer for a while. I'm using it again now and have done some observations.

Coil whine usually unavoidable, and no easy solution to surpress it. Especially if the power supply is 200-240V, the coil whine seems will be more noticeable.

But you may disconnect all unnecessary devices temporarily one by one, and see if that make any changes. The Coil whine affecting you may be just coming from a USB device, not necessary the graphic card. If that's from the graphic card, you may try to use another port.

I'm not sure if it's coil whine, but it sounds like it. It's definitely the GPU, and it started when I installed this one. I think it's coil whine.

The noise itself doesn't bother me that much, I'm just worried about the card being in a bad condition. The previous owner did a software test and sent me a screenshot when I bought it, which said that no problems were found with the card.

So my question is: Is the whine actually bad for the card (or a sign something is damaged or not running as it should), or does it pershaps not matter at all? I won't fix it if there's no danger for the card.

I had a really annoying PC with a squeaky Radeon RX 550 GPU fan. The fan was hanging down. It didn't do it when the case was turned upside down. YMMV.

How would you turn it upside down in a Mac Pro? I don't think that's possible, is it?

Could it be that a card in slot2 is touching the fans?

I'm running only one card so far.

But even something touching the fan, when the fan stop, there should be no noise.

If I understand correctly, OP still can hear the noise even after he confirmed the fan was stopped.

No, it seems like @MarkC426 was right. It only does it when the fans are spinning. So I suppose it's definitely a pulley or something.

You can try to find the source with a nylon stick and touch parts, other side of the stick in the ear.

Please no metal!

Pew, too complicated, I don't dare any of this! I'm not tech savvy enough. As long as the card isn't being damaged I'm thinking of leaving it like that. The card rarely even sets the fans on anyway, so I only very rarely hear it. I just don't want to get the card damaged.
 
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If that's fan noise, then as long as the fan can spin, usually no actual danger.

If that's the fan circuit's noise (coil whine), then something is occilitaing, but again, usually no harm, just annoying.

Okay, that's good to hear, thanks guys! I'll try spinning the fan with my fingers at some point, maybe I can reproduce the sound, then I may know for sure.
 
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