Coil whine is the acoustic noise produced when alternating currents pass through inductors, transformers, or chokes, causing their physical windings or cores to vibrate at audible frequencies. It typically occurs in power supplies and high-performance graphics cards during heavy power draw. While annoying to users, it is a mechanical resonance issue and usually does not indicate an electrical failure.
The GPU works fine, but the coil whine gets unbearable when the frame rate spikes over a hundred.
Potting the inductor in epoxy or hot glue is the standard bench fix to dampen the vibrations causing the whine.
Related terms
Inductor
A passive two-terminal electrical component that stores energy in a magnetic field when electric current flows through it.
PSU
A power supply unit converts utility AC power into the regulated DC voltages required by a system.
SMPS
A switched-mode power supply uses high-frequency switching to efficiently convert electrical power.