Squeaky sound from computer

WitheredRose · January 1, 2021

Since December 29 I hear an unpleasant electronic vibrant squeaky noise from the computer, it is audible up to about a meter from it (from the back of the computer), the computer is behind the second monitor and its back is facing me.

The sound is not the same whole time, sometimes it is louder, sometimes quieter. This morning(live in Poland) I went into the bios to see if it is there as well, and so it is, and it was the loudest so far. But after about 40-60 minutes it quieted a little, the same in the evening - it was turned off at 3 p.m. and turned on at 7 p.m., it squealed a lot and later slighty quieted.

I tried to locate the place of the sound (the fans make it difficult) and it is audible near the graphics and the power supply. I'm pretty sure it's not a whining coil from gpu (I used to play Portal 2 and when loading between locations the fps was above a thousand and the coil started squeaking) - the current sound is not that bad, I would say it is more electronic and kind of slightly vibrant. The load on the computer does not affect the squeaking in any way, the fans even drown it out. The fan-off mode in the graphics also does not affect the squeak in any way. Therefore, in the end, I would guess that it is something in the power supply.

Below I am sending a sound sample from the power supply.
https://voca.ro/1erafvN9wlDl

I do not have any spare power supply or graphics card to replace, so I have 2 options:
1) take the computer to a computer repair shop to confirm where these sounds come from,
2) send the power supply for warranty.

Anyone ever had a problem like this? Or knows what it might be?

The PSU is SilentiumPC Supremo L2 650W 80 Plus Gold
Rest of the components:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Cooler: SilentiumPC Fera 3
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX
Ram: Patriot 16GB (2x8GB) 3200MHz CL16 Viper 4
SSD: Crucial 500GB 2,5" SATA SSD MX500
GPU: Sapphire Radeon RX 5600 XT PULSE 6GB GDDR6
Case: SilentiumPC Regnum RG6V TG Pure Black

I had this PC for 5 and half a month

Bombastinator · January 1, 2021

Highest probability is coil whine. Coil whine can be of almost any pitch. Also might be a fan that lost lubrication. Looking for the exact origin of a computer noise is often down with some sort of field serviceable ear horn or stethoscope. If it’s coil whine there is good news and bad news.
the good: it will not affect or shorten the life of your machine in any way

The bad: there’s basically no way to fix it without replacement.

WitheredRose · January 3, 2021

So I turned off all 4 case fans and CPU fan for few seconds, and I'm 99% sure it is coming from PSU, specifically from the fan. I also found, using long cardboard tube, different sound - quiet chirping sound inside PSU.

I'm also wondering why the sound was sometimes loud, sometimes quiet, sometime almost unhearable.

Bombastinator · January 3, 2021

12 hours ago, WitheredRose said:

So I turned off all 4 case fans and CPU fan for few seconds, and I'm 99% sure it is coming from PSU, specifically from the fan. I also found, using long cardboard tube, different sound - quiet chirping sound inside PSU.

I'm also wondering why the sound was sometimes loud, sometimes quiet, sometime almost unhearable.

Sound variation is consistent for both coil whine, because it varies according to what a computer is doing as well as noises from a failing but not yet failed fan bearing. The PSU fan is part of the PSU. You would want to send in the whole part.