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Hello, I am experiencing a high pitched noise coming from... - Oct 04, 2017 by Andy

First, I don't see any inductors on your board. Second, I... - Oct 05, 2017 by davef

Thank you for your reply. I will attach another photo to e... - Oct 05, 2017 by Andy

potting the board with epoxy will make it non repairable th... - Oct 06, 2017 by Tsvetan Usunov

Andy

#79117

It does say Electronics Forum | 4 October, 2017

Hello,

I am experiencing a high pitched noise coming from a computer component and I think it might be the 18 inductors they have placed on the PCB as part of the VRM. I am think of using a 2 part Thermal Conductive Adhesive and fix all the inductors firm on the PCB hoping the vibration will stop and will have a quieter PC. These inductors are encapsulated and really close together and I'm thinking of applying this thermal epoxy in between them as well. Will this alter their performance? I will attach a photo of the PCB. I might have landed in wrong place but I've been on computer forums and they are not real pros when it comes to actual electronics. Thank you!

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davef

#79122

It does say Electronics Forum | 5 October, 2017

First, I don't see any inductors on your board.

Second, I could find no other complaints about noisy GDDR5X boards on the web. Gamers love this board and would be complaining if there's a wide spread issue.

Third, why suggest using a thermal epoxy, when a neutral cure silicone rubber [some would argue 2-part epoxy resin] used for staking components might be more appropriate?

Forth, given the low mass of the components that we're talking about, I wonder if your board is defective in the fashion you propose. [Or something else is the problem with this board or interactios.]

Fifth, maybe the "high pitched noise" is caused by radio frequency interference [RFI} between different elements in your rig? Google => troubleshoot rfi ... for advice.

Bottom line: I don't think staking your "inductors" to the board will alter their performance. Continuing, I don't think it will fix your problem, either.

Bonus comment: I'd talk to a board supplier app engineer before using weapons on my very nice board.

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Andy

#79127

It does say Electronics Forum | 5 October, 2017

Thank you for your reply. I will attach another photo to explain. I don't really understand what they do other than they are part of the Voltage Regulator Module. What I also read on other forums was that they are potted or encapsulated and they shouldn't make any noise nor vibrate but there are still people complaing about a buzzing noise coming from them. Apparently those little inductors are not soldered like they used to be on the PCB and these cards nowadays draw upwards of 400W from 2 12v rails(PSU) into that VRM which has to send exactly 1volt to the main chip. So vibration will still exist from poor manufacturing.

You will hear more and more about issues like this, since performance is going up and build quality is going down in most electronics.

I got the idea of using epoxy from a different forum yet nobody has done it before. As long as the epoxy or thermal adhesive won't mess with the specs of the tiny inductors, I think I'm going to try it.

Thank you again for the reply, I know this was like asking a group of doctors about how to use a band-aid.

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Tsvetan Usunov

#79128

It does say Electronics Forum | 6 October, 2017

potting the board with epoxy will make it non repairable the same insulation effect you would achieve if you just put around the inductors some styrofoam or other sound insulator without messing with epoxy

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