BUZZING sound from my pc when I switch workspace ???

[ironhak]

Hello everyone.

As title says, when I switch workspace (i3) my computer emits a subtle buzzing sound. Like: I press the key to switch desktop and I hear "bzz", I switch again and I hear another "bzz".

If I set vsync = true on picom configs the sound gets more subtle, but still there.

But if I completely terminate picom then no "bzz" sound at all!

My pc:

CPU: 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 7700 (-MT MCP-) speed/min/max: 4341/545/5392 MHz
GPU Radeon  7800xt

What could be the cause of this? For now I just completely disabled picom.

[CyberKite]

This could be related to coil whine—a harmless but annoying side effect of certain hardware components like GPUs when they're under load. Setting vsync = true can reduce screen redraws, which might help because it limits how often the GPU is actively switching frames. If it really bothers you, one workaround could be using something like RDP. Either way, your machine is probably fine.

[CyberKite]

https://www.reddit.com/r/radeon/comments/184yem6/bad_coil_whine_sapphire_7800_xt_please_help/
appears to sometimes happen to at least one more person with a 7800xt

[ironhak]

This could be related to coil whine—a harmless but annoying side effect of certain hardware components like GPUs when they're under load. Setting vsync = true can reduce screen redraws, which might help because it limits how often the GPU is actively switching frames. If it really bothers you, one workaround could be using something like RDP. Either way, your machine is probably fine.

Thanks, I know what coil whine is, I didn't thought it could happen also on GPUs, also because I didn't ever noticed this while using Windows or Wayland KDE or i3 without picom...

RDP?

[CyberKite]

This could be related to coil whine—a harmless but annoying side effect of certain hardware components like GPUs when they're under load. Setting vsync = true can reduce screen redraws, which might help because it limits how often the GPU is actively switching frames. If it really bothers you, one workaround could be using something like RDP. Either way, your machine is probably fine.

Thanks, I know what coil whine is, I didn't thought it could happen also on GPUs, also because I didn't ever noticed this while using Windows or Wayland KDE or i3 without picom...

RDP?

I meant VNC, but really any remote desktop protocol should let you go further away from your machine, making the noise quieter :)

[ironhak]

This could be related to coil whine—a harmless but annoying side effect of certain hardware components like GPUs when they're under load. Setting vsync = true can reduce screen redraws, which might help because it limits how often the GPU is actively switching frames. If it really bothers you, one workaround could be using something like RDP. Either way, your machine is probably fine.

Thanks, I know what coil whine is, I didn't thought it could happen also on GPUs, also because I didn't ever noticed this while using Windows or Wayland KDE or i3 without picom...
RDP?

I meant VNC, but really any remote desktop protocol should let you go further away from your machine, making the noise quieter :)

LOL.... That's a creative solution for sure. I would just like to undestand why the coil whine happens only under Picom...

[CyberKite]

try toning down the gfx in picom - maybe your gpu just does basically nothing while idle

[ironhak]

try toning down the gfx in picom - maybe your gpu just does basically nothing while idle

What do you mean with toning doing the gfx? Like removing transparency and so on?

[CyberKite]

try toning down the gfx in picom - maybe your gpu just does basically nothing while idle

What do you mean with toning doing the gfx? Like removing transparency and so on?

Not necessarily transparency, but maybe blur

[ironhak]

try toning down the gfx in picom - maybe your gpu just does basically nothing while idle

What do you mean with toning doing the gfx? Like removing transparency and so on?

Not necessarily transparency, but maybe blur

I don't have blur enabled

[CyberKite]

try toning down the gfx in picom - maybe your gpu just does basically nothing while idle

What do you mean with toning doing the gfx? Like removing transparency and so on?

Not necessarily transparency, but maybe blur

I don't have blur enabled

try disabling use-damage?

[CyberKite]

Could you see what happens to your GPU load when you're switching workspaces? Maybe w/ nvtop or similar?

[DarioDarko]

my 6700xt does the same. its not picoms fault though, coil whine is a common issue in GPUs

try toning down the gfx in picom - maybe your gpu just does basically nothing while idle

afaik thats exactly it, a sudden spike in gpu usage causes this annoying sound. vsync and use-damage both reduce this, with both enabled its barely noticeable for me

[ironhak]

my 6700xt does the same. its not picoms fault though, coil whine is a common issue in GPUs

try toning down the gfx in picom - maybe your gpu just does basically nothing while idle

afaik thats exactly it, a sudden spike in gpu usage causes this annoying sound. vsync and use-damage both reduce this, with both enabled its barely noticeable for me

Thank's everyone for dropping clues. So, I did a reboot and strangely no more coil whines! If the issue presents itself gain I'll post here... Maybe under certain conditions picom "leaks" gpu usage? (sorry, noob here).
Anyway, here is my config, for what is worth. Please note that use-damage=true was set only after creating this issue, so maybe that was the fix.

Config

#################################
#             Shadows           #
#################################

# Enabled client-side shadows on windows. Note desktop windows
# (windows with '_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DESKTOP') never get shadow,
# unless explicitly requested using the wintypes option.
#
# Can be set per-window using rules.
#
# Default: false
shadow = true;

# The blur radius for shadows, in pixels.
#
# Default: 12
shadow-radius = 7;

# The opacity of shadows.
#
# Range: 0.0 - 1.0
# Default: 0.75
# shadow-opacity = .75

# The left offset for shadows, in pixels.
#
# Default: -15
shadow-offset-x = -7;

# The top offset for shadows, in pixels.
#
# Default: -15
shadow-offset-y = -7;

# Hex string color value of shadow. Formatted like "#RRGGBB", e.g. "#C0FFEE".
#
# Default: #000000
# shadow-color = "#000000"

# Crop shadow of a window fully on a particular monitor to that monitor. This is
# currently implemented using the X RandR extension.
#
# Default: false
# crop-shadow-to-monitor = false


#################################
#           Fading              #
#################################

# Fade windows in/out when opening/closing and when opacity changes,
# unless no-fading-openclose is used. Can be set per-window using rules.
#
# Default: false
fading = true;

# Opacity change between steps while fading in. (0.01 - 1.0, defaults to 0.028)
fade-in-step = 0.03;

# Opacity change between steps while fading out. (0.01 - 1.0, defaults to 0.03)
fade-out-step = 0.03;

# The time between steps in fade step, in milliseconds. (> 0, defaults to 10)
fade-delta = 5

# Do not fade on window open/close.
# no-fading-openclose = false

# Do not fade destroyed ARGB windows with WM frame. Workaround of bugs in Openbox, Fluxbox, etc.
# no-fading-destroyed-argb = false


#################################
#   Transparency / Opacity      #
#################################

# Opacity of window titlebars and borders.
#
# Range: 0.1 - 1.0
# Default: 1.0 (disabled)
frame-opacity = 0.7;

# Use fixed inactive dim value, instead of adjusting according to window opacity.
#
# Default: false
# inactive-dim-fixed = true

#################################
#           Corners             #
#################################

# Sets the radius of rounded window corners. When > 0, the compositor will
# round the corners of windows. Does not interact well with
# `transparent-clipping`.
#
# Default: 0 (disabled)
corner-radius = 0

#################################
#            Blur               #
#################################

# Parameters for background blurring, see BLUR section in the man page for more information.
# blur-method =
# blur-size = 12
#
# blur-deviation = false
#
# blur-strength = 5

# Blur background of semi-transparent / ARGB windows.
# Can be set per-window using rules.
#
# Default: false
# blur-background = false

# Blur background of windows when the window frame is not opaque.
# Implies:
#    blur-background
#
# Default: false
# blur-background-frame = false

# Use fixed blur strength rather than adjusting according to window opacity.
#
# Default: false
# blur-background-fixed = false


# Specify the blur convolution kernel, with the following format:
# example:
#   blur-kern = "5,5,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1";
# Can also be a pre-defined kernel, see the man page.
#
# Default: ""
blur-kern = "3x3box";

#################################
#       General Settings        #
#################################

# Enable remote control via D-Bus. See the man page for more details.
#
# Default: false
# dbus = true

# Daemonize process. Fork to background after initialization. Causes issues with certain (badly-written) drivers.
# daemon = false

# Specify the backend to use: `xrender`, `glx`, or `egl`.
#
# Default: "xrender"
backend = "glx"

# Use higher precision during rendering, and apply dither when presenting the
# rendered screen. Reduces banding artifacts, but may cause performance
# degradation. Only works with OpenGL.
dithered-present = false;

# Enable/disable VSync.
#
# Default: false
vsync = true;

# Try to detect windows with rounded corners and don't consider them
# shaped windows. The accuracy is not very high, unfortunately.
#
# Has nothing to do with `corner-radius`.
#
# Default: false
detect-rounded-corners = true;

# Detect '_NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY' on client windows, useful for window managers
# not passing '_NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY' of client windows to frame windows.
#
# Default: false
detect-client-opacity = true;

# Use EWMH '_NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW' to determine currently focused window,
# rather than listening to 'FocusIn'/'FocusOut' event. May be more accurate,
# provided that the WM supports it.
#
# Default: false
# use-ewmh-active-win = false

# Unredirect all windows if a full-screen opaque window is detected,
# to maximize performance for full-screen windows. Known to cause flickering
# when redirecting/unredirecting windows.
#
# Default: false
# unredir-if-possible = false

# Delay before unredirecting the window, in milliseconds.
#
# Default: 0.
# unredir-if-possible-delay = 0

# Use 'WM_TRANSIENT_FOR' to group windows, and consider windows
# in the same group focused at the same time.
#
# Default: false
detect-transient = true;

# Use 'WM_CLIENT_LEADER' to group windows, and consider windows in the same
# group focused at the same time. This usually means windows from the same application
# will be considered focused or unfocused at the same time.
# 'WM_TRANSIENT_FOR' has higher priority if detect-transient is enabled, too.
#
# Default: false
# detect-client-leader = false

# Use of damage information for rendering. This cause the only the part of the
# screen that has actually changed to be redrawn, instead of the whole screen
# every time. Should improve performance.
#
# Default: false
use-damage = true;

# Use X Sync fence to wait for the completion of rendering of other windows,
# before using their content to render the current screen.
#
# Required for explicit sync drivers, such as nvidia.
#
# Default: false
# xrender-sync-fence = false

# GLX backend: Use specified GLSL fragment shader for rendering window
# contents. Read the man page for a detailed explanation of the interface.
#
# Can be set per-window using rules.
#
# window-shader-fg = "default"

# Force all windows to be painted with blending. Useful if you
# have a `window-shader-fg` that could turn opaque pixels transparent.
#
# Default: false
# force-win-blend = false

# Do not use EWMH to detect fullscreen windows.
# Reverts to checking if a window is fullscreen based only on its size and coordinates.
#
# Default: false
# no-ewmh-fullscreen = false

# Dimming bright windows so their brightness doesn't exceed this set value.
# Brightness of a window is estimated by averaging all pixels in the window,
# so this could comes with a performance hit.
# Setting this to 1.0 disables this behaviour. Requires --use-damage to be disabled.
#
# Default: 1.0 (disabled)
# max-brightness = 1.0

# Make transparent windows clip other windows like non-transparent windows do,
# instead of blending on top of them. e.g. placing a transparent window on top
# of another window will cut a "hole" in that window, and show the desktop background
# underneath.
#
# Default: false
# transparent-clipping = false

# Set the log level. Possible values are:
#  "trace", "debug", "info", "warn", "error"
# in increasing level of importance. Case insensitive.
# If using the "TRACE" log level, it's better to log into a file
# using *--log-file*, since it can generate a huge stream of logs.
#
# Default: "warn"
# log-level = "warn";

# Set the log file.
# If *--log-file* is never specified, logs will be written to stderr.
# Otherwise, logs will to written to the given file, though some of the early
# logs might still be written to the stderr.
# When setting this option from the config file, it is recommended to use an absolute path.
#
# log-file = "/path/to/your/log/file"

# Write process ID to a file.
# write-pid-path = "/path/to/your/log/file"

# Rule-based per-window options.
#
# See WINDOW RULES section in the man page for how these work.
rules: ({
  match = "window_type = 'tooltip'";
  fade = false;
  shadow = true;
  opacity = 0.75;
  full-shadow = false;
}, {
  match = "window_type = 'dock'    || "
          "window_type = 'desktop' || "
          "_GTK_FRAME_EXTENTS@";
  blur-background = false;
}, {
  match = "window_type != 'dock'";
  # shader = "my_shader.frag";
}, {
  match = "window_type = 'dock' || "
          "window_type = 'desktop'";
  corner-radius = 0;
}, {
  match = "name = 'Notification'   || "
          "class_g = 'Conky'       || "
          "class_g ?= 'Notify-osd' || "
          "class_g = 'Cairo-clock' || "
          "_GTK_FRAME_EXTENTS@";
  shadow = false;
})

# `@include` directive can be used to include additional configuration files.
# Relative paths are search either in the parent of this configuration file
# (when the configuration is loaded through a symlink, the symlink will be
# resolved first). Or in `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/picom/include`.
#
# @include "extra.conf"