Pc is making a ticking noise intermittently

[Cuthbut]

i figured its a drive or a fan starting to die on me. Just wonder if there is any easy ish ways to determine what the problem component is?
besides getting my ear to everything and such.

Thank you

[NinJake]

Do you have a hard drive instead of solid state drive? It's probably that. Doesn't mean it's dying either, but how old is it?

[Cuthbut]

I have an ssd for booting off and 2 mechanical drives they're about 4 and a half years old

[NinJake]

When you hear the ticking noise check your task manager to see if the mechanical drives are being utilized. You can also run some hard drive diagnostics to check the S.M.A.R.T. values of the drives to see if they are beginning to fail or not.

 

It is indeed a possibility that a fan could be making this noise if it's collected a bunch of dust or hasn't been cleaned in a while, however that would likely be more consistent and less sporadic than a hard drive platter being read/written.

[jjbeebe]

speecy is good to look at the S.M.A.R.T data and get a idea of temps etc... and you can use CrystalDiskMark to test the disk. 4 years for a HDD is old, even if it has not been used a ton, and i would expect issues. 

 

Links:

 

https://www.ccleaner.com/speccy

 

https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskmark/

[Cuthbut]

Well the S.M.A.R.T values came back all green but i'll try running a more in depth diagnostic. Assuming it finds nothing what can i do next? 

[NinJake]

Switch to all flash memory or deal with the clicking every now and then, it's fine and normal for mechanical drives. Maybe move your pc further away or try to dampen the sound inside your case.

[Cuthbut]

So after getting my head inside my case and listening, i believe it to be my power supply thats making the noise. On a scale of 1 to replace immediately how bad is that? 

[BlackManINC]

8 minutes ago, Cuthbut said:

So after getting my head inside my case and listening, i believe it to be my power supply thats making the noise. On a scale of 1 to replace immediately how bad is that? 

Are you actually have any issues? Is the computer rebooting by itself? 

[Cuthbut]

Nothing like that its just a new noise and i don't really like it. 

[BlackManINC]

1 hour ago, Cuthbut said:

Nothing like that its just a new noise and i don't really like it. 

Well, I can't really say why its clicking. You can try testing the power supply to make sure its firing on all cylinders. You can do that yourself or take it to the service department at Best Buy or something, if its really bothering you that much.