Possible coil whine in my nMP

beefcoder said:

The noise was a slight metallic "ch...ch...ch...ch...ch.." which was best hearable when the fan rotated at 790 rpm. When the fan's speed went up it was obviously overlaid by the airflow.

In a complete silent room with the default rpm it was really annoying.

It had nothing to do with the cpu or gpu load but probably with the temps because the fan is placed in the hot exhaust air. In my opinion it was not coil whine.

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that happened to mine the first week..then disappeared, default fan is dead silent no matter what I do with the OS..playing crysis 3 though the fan is at full speed..it puts out heat like a tiny space heater LOL

Received my new Mac Pro last Thursday and put it through its paces over the weekend. This unit is experiencing some coil whine at virtually any GPU load, but it's faint, in most cases I can't hear it unless I put my ear inside the fan exhaust hole. However, every once in a while it was be quite loud (maybe tied to some specific amount of power draw). Overall it's about a 2 or 3 on a scale of 10 annoyance. Should I send it back? Are any of these truly silent? It's nowhere near as annoying as my old 1,1 Mac Pro, which whined like a banshee.

6core/1TB/32GB/D700

memory-minus said:

Received my new Mac Pro last Thursday and put it through its paces over the weekend. This unit is experiencing some coil whine at virtually any GPU load, but it's faint, in most cases I can't hear it unless I put my ear inside the fan exhaust hole. However, every once in a while it was be quite loud (maybe tied to some specific amount of power draw). Overall it's about a 2 or 3 on a scale of 10 annoyance. Should I send it back? Are any of these truly silent? It's nowhere near as annoying as my old 1,1 Mac Pro, which whined like a banshee.

6core/1TB/32GB/D700

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mine did have a faint noise like a high pitch hard drive noise when moving files from one drive to another..after 4 days, it disappeared and now it is dead silent..

beefcoder said:

Next week they replace the fan.

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Fan has been replaced. The noise is not completely gone but ist is more subtle.

Well..

beefcoder said:

Fan has been replaced. The noise is not completely gone but ist is more subtle.

Well..

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At least some improvement, good to hear! Will have to give a closer listen when I get home to see if the fan might the issue for mine as well.

Just a little bump to this thread - I hear the coil whine on my machine (January 6 core stock). I particularly notice it on heavy network use.

Are others still experiencing this or are new machines not exhibiting this?

Thanks for any thoughts

I have the exact same issue.

Hello, I have this issue and it seems like it happens in specific usages, one of the posts sad it was in the "Heaven" test. In Autodesk Maya (Professional 3D application) I can't render my scenes. When I set it to render, CPU activity goes all the way up as expected, but soon after it goes all the way down and the Mac Pro 2013 starts emiting this weird noise really loudly. This is driving me nuts.

I've experienced this. For me, it's independent of system load although it's more noticeable if the fan is running. I brought it in and their initial suspicion was the power supply but they later said they were unable to replicate it and that it was possibly due to electrical line noise. I plugged it in to an APC Power Filter to see if it made a difference but that didn't help at all. It's a mild annoyance when it happens but it if continues or gets worse, it's going back in. Please follow up on this thread if you find a solution or Apple fixes it for you.

BJonson said:

My thinkpad makes this exact same noise. The fix is to turn off CPU low power state in the bios. Intel CPUs sometimes make this sound when they are trying to lower the voltage in the multiple cores. The fix works on the thinkpad but not completely, it lowers the sound to a very quiet undetectable level but its still there. Only seen this in sandy bridge and ivy bridge though. I think the nMP uses ivy bridge right? I know its not haswell.

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Anyone have any thoughts as to how to do this on a mac pro?

(For random-uk)
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I certainly don't want to bother anyone suffering from an unpleasant noise with my experience.
Just to let everybody know that a nMP should be entirely silent and I never heard from my computer anything in almost a year time besides the very faint hiss of warm air coming up which is not what I call a noise.
Being old, my hearing threshold is about 13.000 Hz, therefore a higher sound would not be audible to me. Just to make it clear.
But if someone hears a sound (and that sound is not so extremely high pitched that it could be in my MP as well), then that particular computer has certainly a hardware problem. If it is still covered by warranty the owner should not give up and insist to have the annoying noise removed which means to have the part making it found out and replaced. It is not a thing one must accept as unavoidable in those machines and present in each one. Not at all!... People with such a problem should not give up!

random-uk said:

Just a little bump to this thread - I hear the coil whine on my machine (January 6 core stock). I particularly notice it on heavy network use.

Are others still experiencing this or are new machines not exhibiting this?

Thanks for any thoughts

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I just received my nMP today (6-core, D300, 1TB SSD) and am also experiencing this. I am trying to figure out what exactly causes it. First time I noticed it, was when installing programs from the App Store. The sound started when the installation started and stopped when the installation stopped. Like you, I first also suspected network traffic to be the culprit. However, my suspicion right now is that it's the SSD. Duplicating a large file also causes the sound.

I'm going to give it some more tries over the next few days before deciding if I am going to keep the machine or not. The sound is not super loud and I can possibly accept it if it doesn't happen too often. On the other hand, it's such an expensive machine that I really think it's reasonable to demand that's it's completely silent (apart from the fan).

SmallDane said:

I just received my nMP today (6-core, D300, 1TB SSD) and am also experiencing this. I am trying to figure out what exactly causes it. First time I noticed it, was when installing programs from the App Store. The sound started when the installation started and stopped when the installation stopped. Like you, I first also suspected network traffic to be the culprit. However, my suspicion right now is that it's the SSD. Duplicating a large file also causes the sound.

I'm going to give it some more tries over the next few days before deciding if I am going to keep the machine or not. The sound is not super loud and I can possibly accept it if it doesn't happen too often. On the other hand, it's such an expensive machine that I really think it's reasonable to demand that's it's completely silent (apart from the fan).

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Add me to the list as well. nMP, stock 6-core, coil whining noises with both the 256 GB flash module and the 1TB module I bought to put inside of it.

Happens when downloading files, copying files, and when moving the mouse across the screen. Going to give it a week or two to "break in", then I'll be setting up a Genius Bar appointment to see what they can do (I did not purchase direct from Apple, and I'd rather not deal with trying to get an exchange from the point of purchase).

BTW, this machine was built just this last week, so it's not part of old stock or anything like that.

MMcCraryNJ said:

Add me to the list as well. nMP, stock 6-core, coil whining noises with both the 256 GB flash module and the 1TB module I bought to put inside of it.

Happens when downloading files, copying files, and when moving the mouse across the screen. Going to give it a week or two to "break in", then I'll be setting up a Genius Bar appointment to see what they can do (I did not purchase direct from Apple, and I'd rather not deal with trying to get an exchange from the point of purchase).

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I have not myself noticed anything when moving the mouse. But others have reported that as well. What mouse are you using? I am using a Logitech Performance Mouse MX which is wireless using the Logitech Unifying Receiver.

SmallDane said:

I have not myself noticed anything when moving the mouse. But others have reported that as well. What mouse are you using? I am using a Logitech Performance Mouse MX which is wireless using the Logitech Unifying Receiver.

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Using a SteelSeries Sensei Gaming Mouse. Don't think it's related so much to the mouse as it is to the GPUs, though.

MMcCraryNJ said:

Using a SteelSeries Sensei Gaming Mouse. Don't think it's related so much to the mouse as it is to the GPUs, though.

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Probably true. Isn't the SDD positioned right up against one of the GPUs? Perhaps some interference there.

I tested with iperf between the nMP and another machine. This tool tries to use full network bandwidth without touching the disk. A "fizzling" sound starts immediately when the tool starts and ends immediately when the tool stops. The sound is somewhat different and lower than when the SSD is involved.

Although this specific sound is definitely not loud (some would have trouble hearing it at all, I think), it simply is not reasonable that network activity causes any sound whatsoever. If I didn't know better, I'd almost think Apple is pulling a joke on us and playing sound through the speakers just to let us know that the machine is doing something. Quite weird!

Thanks for the responses. So great to know that it's not just me.

I've sent mine in for repair. They initially thought it was a problem with the power supply which they then replaced. Unfortunately that didn't solve the problem. So I've now sent it back again. I'll keep you posted.

random-uk said:

Thanks for the responses. So great to know that it's not just me.

I've sent mine in for repair. They initially thought it was a problem with the power supply which they then replaced. Unfortunately that didn't solve the problem. So I've now sent it back again. I'll keep you posted.

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Are they able to reproduce it consistently? That would be nice to know in case I send it for repair rather than return it.

Yes they could hear it too. I was very specific about it being a high frequency relatively quiet noise so they would need to be in a room without a lot of ambient sounds.

I just had mine replaced yesterday because of this. Working from my MBP while the new one loads up from Time Machine backups. I would suggest recording the coil noise on an iPhone before bringing it in. Just holding the phone above the top of the nMP should record it nicely. While it's very noticeable in a quiet room, it won't be possible to hear it above the noise in the store while you're there and you can save a bunch of time just playing the audio for them so they know what you're talking about.

edanuff said:

I just had mine replaced yesterday because of this. Working from my MBP while the new one loads up from Time Machine backups. I would suggest recording the coil noise on an iPhone before bringing it in. Just holding the phone above the top of the nMP should record it nicely. While it's very noticeable in a quiet room, it won't be possible to hear it above the noise in the store while you're there and you can save a bunch of time just playing the audio for them so they know what you're talking about.

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Is the new one any better?

MMcCraryNJ said:

Is the new one any better?

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Hasn't made any noise yet, but I just brought it home yesterday, plugged it in about an hour ago, and it's still restoring from backup.

edanuff said:

Hasn't made any noise yet, but I just brought it home yesterday, plugged it in about an hour ago, and it's still restoring from backup.

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Awesome. Keep us updated. I had to call AppleCare last night to actually register my AppleCare agreement, and I mentioned the coil whine noise when I moved the mouse pointer and during heavy network activity, as well as being able to hear the fan churning at the lowest fan speed. He said both weren't normal. I said that some people have noticed the noises subsiding after a couple of weeks, so I'm going to wait to see what happens and then make an appointment. He agreed, said they would likely throw me a replacement if it doesn't resolve. So I'm not terribly worried about it either way.

MMcCraryNJ said:

Awesome. Keep us updated. I had to call AppleCare last night to actually register my AppleCare agreement, and I mentioned the coil whine noise when I moved the mouse pointer and during heavy network activity, as well as being able to hear the fan churning at the lowest fan speed. He said both weren't normal. I said that some people have noticed the noises subsiding after a couple of weeks, so I'm going to wait to see what happens and then make an appointment. He agreed, said they would likely throw me a replacement if it doesn't resolve. So I'm not terribly worried about it either way.

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Yeah, I'll post an update once it's been running for a week or so and I know if there's any noise under different workloads. The one I exchanged was running silent half the time and then making the noise the other half of the time and it didn't seem particularly workload related, except that I think that when the fan is running harder, it amplifies the noise. I'm still mostly positive about the nMP, but between the noise issue and graphics card problems I had before, I've come to the conclusion that you have to be prepared to nag Apple support until they fix problems and you also need to keep your AppleCare current.

I decided to return my nMP. I did so partly because of the annoying electrical sound (the coil whine or whatever it is), partly because of another annoying sound coming from the fan at specific speeds (a "howling" sound at around 960-1000 rpm), and lastly because it didn't quite live up to my expectations performance-wise.