Both new and old computers can experience what’s called “coil whine,” which is a high-pitched noise that comes from the computer. It’s easy to jump to the conclusion that the noise is a sign of major computer failure or that something is broken, loose, or about to explode.
High Pitched Noise From Computer Speakers Work
Fortunately, coil whine is normal behavior. When you hear a high-pitched sound from your computer, there's no reason to assume that your computer is toast, that your hard drive is about to die, or anything like that.
In fact, this high-pitched noise is really nothing more than an annoyance. If you can bear the noise, you don’t need to do anything to fix it. There are, however, some things you can do to reduce or eliminate coil whine if it’s too much for you to handle.
What Is Coil Whine?
Coil whine is a high-pitched sound some devices inside the computer case can create under certain situations. This hiss or squeal resembles a dull, boiling teapot sound, only usually much quieter.
These coils in your computer have an electrical current passing through them, one that normally fluctuates, which is what the coil is there for: to try to stabilize the current to provide a more regular stream of power. When the electrical current is increased to a certain point, the magnetic field around the coil can cause it to vibrate, which produces the whiny sound.
This high-pitched whining noise isn’t always heard by everyone in the same way since the frequency varies and not everyone can hear the same frequencies. In fact, most components in a computer produce a sound but it’s usually just too quiet for most to hear.
Static Noise From Computer Speakers
Not only is the loudness of the whine dependent on the person hearing it, it also matters how much electricity is moving through the wiring and, of course, the distance the computer is from your ears!
What Causes the High-Pitched Sound?
Nearly any device can experience coil whine but it’s common for video cards to make a high-pitched sound since they’re often used for high-intensity tasks — like video games, graphics editing, and video playback — and are usually being used for those tasks for hours at a time.
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One way to verify what’s producing the noise so that you can better determine how to fix it is to pay very close attention to when the noise happens. If the noise is much louder than usual when you’re playing video games, you might blame your video card (that's probably what's causing the high-pitched sound anyway).
Another way is to use a benchmark tool to test specific hardware and then, again, listen for when the noise is actually produced. If you're having troubles, you might need to hold a straw from your ear next to various components in your computer to help isolate the sound. Just please be careful when you do this!
However, be careful to not confuse other noises — like pops, rattles, or clicks — for high-pitched sounds and just assume it's coil whine and walk away without addressing it. For example, a squealing noise might at first seem like coil whine but it could actually be noise from the hard drive pointing to a failing HDD, and another sound might more accurately be a sign of a rapidly overheating power supply.
Even if the noise isn't coil whine, it doesn't mean that whatever it is is causing a problem. For example, if your computer makes a noise each time you're doing something like burning a movie to a disc or ripping music from a CD, that's just the optical disc drive — it's normal to hear the disc spin.
In other words, it's important to listen for the distinct hissing that most likely means the problem is with a vibrating coil, in which case it can be called coil whine and you can address it as such.
You might even experience a high-pitched noise when the computer is off! This is most likely an issue with the power supply. Something you can try in that situation is replacing the power cord with one that features a ferrite bead.
How to Fix Coil Whine
Some “coil whine fix” solutions online will tell you that you cannot do anything to fix a high-pitched noise coming from your computer, but that just isn’t true.
You’ll also read that coil whine is a symptom of a broken computer, and while it’s true that it could mean that the components making the noise are inexpensive or not designed to shield sound or vibrations, it’s not a tell-tale sign that something isn’t working.
There are multiple things you can try to reduce the effects of coil whine, from addressing the wiring directly to buying or building a computer made specifically to absorb noise, but those are the more drastic solutions.
Work your way down this list from top to bottom; it’s organized by how easy each task is to finish:
Posted by3 years ago
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Hey /r/techsupport, I could use your advice.
Recently I bought the Logitech Z623 because I needed some relatively cheap and easy speakers for my setup. I plugged each speaker into the subwoofer and plugged that directly into the wall.
I'm running a 3.5mm aux cable from the sub into the back of my PC. I've got Realtek HD Audio drivers installed, latest from their website.
Despite doing everything right, I still get a high pitched frequency coming from both speakers even when not plugged in and the volume turned all the way down. It's rather annoying and unfortunate that I can't fully enjoy my new speakers. I wanna try everything before I contact Logitech for an RMA, so any ideas /r/techsupport?
40 comments
Hi Eric,
Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community. I am sorry for the delay.
You can follow the steps mentioned below to check the details of the drivers.
The next step is to Go to your Laptop/Computer Manufacturer's website > Drivers and Downloads Section > Key in your Model number > Look for latest Windows 10 Drivers for it > Download/install them.
Your reply is very important for us to ensure a proper resolution. Please get back to us with the above information in order to assist you accordingly.
For further assistance, you can post your query in Microsoft Community.
Hope the information helps to fix the issue, if you have any further queries, feel free to post. We are here to assist you.
Regards,
Guru Kiran
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You turn on your PC, start up a particularly taxing program, and then—you hear it. A high-pitched sound emanating from somewhere as if your ears are ringing. You're not going crazy, it's coil whine, and it can come from a number of components in your computer.
Coil whine, as Linus from Techquickie's YouTube channel explains, is a phenomenon found in a lot of technology today, but especially in video cards. It usually occurs when a component is working really hard and begins to vibrate, emitting a high-pitched noise in the process. This is pretty common when playing games as they tax your video card the most for substantial lengths of time. Additionally, games or other graphic intensive software will tax your video card at different levels, causing a variety of high pitched sounds to occur. If you're playing or working with speakers or certain kinds of headphones, it could become pretty annoying.
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What can you do? Well, the unfortunate truth is that once you've got it, you can't really get rid of it. Your best bet is to prevent it in the first place by reading reviews and researching which products tend to have the most coil whine. So before you jump into buying that delicious new video card, be sure to check that it doesn't also come with some distracting coil whine on the side.
Coil Whine as Fast As Possible | YouTube
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Hi all
I recently had a custom PC built a few months back, and ever since I've got it my powered monitor speakers have been emitting an odd noise only when connected to the computer. If they're connected to any other device the noise isn't there. I can only best describe it as a high pitched 'static-y' sound. The noise is always there regardless of what I'm doing, and regardless of what level the computer or speaker volume is at. The speakers are connected using an RCA to 3.5mm cable to the rear audio output of the computer. I also have a set of headphones connected to the front audio output which I use when I don't feel like turning on the speakers, because I don't get the high pitched sound out of the headphones. I've tried connecting the speakers to the front output but the noise still persists. I've tried swapping the RCA cable for a higher quality cable thinking that the issue may be interference, but that didn't help either. This leads me to believe that it may be an issue with my computer or sound card but I don't know for sure, and if it is I don't know how to fix it. Any advice is much appreciated, thanks for reading. Comments are closed.
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