I am experiencing an interesting behaviour with one my two RTX4060ti in one of my hosts:

while during ATMML crunching the GPUs stayed totally silent, now during ACEMD3 crunching one of them produces loud coil whining.

Searching in the internet, among others I got the advice to turn on V-sync in the NVIDIA control panel.

I remember I did this some time ago, and it had helped to some extent. This time though nothing changed.

Does anyone have more hints for me?

I always experienced this with the ACEMD3 app.

get some ear plugs.

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I always experienced this with the ACEMD3 app.

well, besides the two RTX4060ti, the following GPUs are crunching ACEMD3:

2 RTX3070
1 GTX980ti
1 Quadro P5000

none of those produce coil whining.

According to all I have read about coil whining so far, it should NOT be harmful to the GPU. Is this correct ?

According to all I have read about coil whining so far, it should NOT be harmful to the GPU. Is this correct ?

Yes. It is harmful only to human ears and nerves :)
Every GPU can produce coil whining, if the adequate load (workunit) is present.
The same load (workunit) is not necessarily cause coil whining on different systems.
You can try to lower the power limits, that may help a little.

You can try to lower the power limits, that may help a little.

I had done this already: lowering the power limit to the minimum possible of 60%, plus lowering the GPU clock by 500 MHz (now running at 2235 MHz).
Both measures helpled A LITTLE :-(
Lowering also the memory clock did NOT yield any effect.

Searching in the internet, among others I got the advice to turn on V-sync in the NVIDIA control panel.

I remember I did this some time ago, and it had helped to some extent. This time though nothing changed.

Vsync itself doesn't have anything to do with coil whine.

What enabling Vsync does in that regard is to serve as a natural frame rate cap for whatever is using the GPU to render, which generally results in the GPU doing less work (because its operating in conjunction with the monitor's refresh rate, rather than as fast as it possibly can).

CUDA applications don't render anything, so Vsync isn't actually doing anything. Rather, you need to slow the application down some other way.

It sounds like you've already attempted to power-limit the GPU, as well as reduce its clock speeds. If that's not enough, you can also limit the maximum temperature the GPU can reach (at which point the clock speeds will throttle), and you can "help" the GPU reach that point by reducing the maximum fan speeds.

Alternatively, if the main issue you're having with the coil whine is an objectionable noise, you can try moving to a case that can dampen high-pitched noises coming from the computer. The Fractal Design "Define" line of cases (specifically, those with a non-window side panel) has sound deadening material that can help absorb and dampen this noise.

It sounds like you've already attempted to power-limit the GPU, as well as reduce its clock speeds. If that's not enough, you can also limit the maximum temperature the GPU can reach (at which point the clock speeds will throttle), and you can "help" the GPU reach that point by reducing the maximum fan speeds.

unfortunately, I can't do anything with help of the temperature: I am running the GPU with 60-62°C, and the lowest temperature limit the Afterburner lets me set is 65°C :-(

coil whine is always more a function of the GPU and the manufacturing and/or quality of the inductor coils on the GPU itself.

there's really nothing you can do besides just getting a different GPU. even GPUs of the same exact model can have varying degrees of coil whine. some people have gone so far as to cover/coat the coils on the GPU with something like hot glue, which can help. but most people dont want to resort to that and I get it, I wouldnt either.

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I think I've only ever heard any coil whine over the fans in a PC when I had 1070's in use. Those sang like a choir.

That is an interesting problem. I've never heard of coil whining. My 4060Ti is also an MSI (8gb ventus3x) and quiet as can be. ATMML run at 98% and 119W and ACE run the same 98% but at 133W. Power? First thing I'd do is unplug the quiet one and see if Mr Whiny still whines. Swapping GPU power cords would be another quick test. The whole thing here runs at 220W +/-5W currently with an ACE task. I'm on a 600W Corsair. Are you running CPU tasks? If so, I'd halt them and see if anything changes.

I was looking PSUs and looking at reviews for a new build and came across a review that said that the new PSU solved his coil whine problem. Hadn't thought of that as a solution.

I was looking PSUs and looking at reviews for a new build and came across a review that said that the new PSU solved his coil whine problem. Hadn't thought of that as a solution.

that just means that the coil whining was coming from the PSU and not the GPU. which is a common mistake people make when trying to determine where the coil whine is actually coming from.

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I was looking PSUs and looking at reviews for a new build and came across a review that said that the new PSU solved his coil whine problem. Hadn't thought of that as a solution.

that just means that the coil whining was coming from the PSU and not the GPU. which is a common mistake people make when trying to determine where the coil whine is actually coming from.

Exactly.
Even your motherboard can be one source of coil whining. If you do a RAM test, or something similar, you can hear "what your computer is doing".
Modern chips run on very low voltages (0.7V-1.5V) compared to the standardized DC voltages (12V, 5V, 3.3V) of a PSU. Therefore every chip must have their own DC-DC converter, which contains coils (and capacitors, and very fast power switching semiconductors). Chips with large power draw feeded from the 12V rail to minimize the input amps needed. Coil whining of a DC-DC converter is proportional with the power draw of the chip it is supplying. Audible coil whining happens when the output amps of the given DC-DC converter changes back and forth from very high (in the 300A range) to very low (in the 30A range) at the rate of the sound frequency our ears most sensitive to (~500Hz~1500Hz). But because the individual elements of this sound comes from a metal hitting metal, their upper hamonics make them very annoying.
The PSU itself has at least 3 DC-DC converters: 400V (or 200V) to 12V, 12V to 5V and 12V to 3.3V.
The GPU has at least two DC-DC converters for the GPU and the RAM.
The motherboard has at least three: for the CPU, for the RAM and for the south bridge.
Now DDR5 RAM modules can have their own mini PSU.
The high power DC-DC converters have more then one (up to ~20) "phase", every phase have its own coil (and capacitor and semiconductor).

BTW coil whining can be changed by running two workunits together. But it could make it even worse.

Very interesting.
Thank you for your DC-DC masterclass