Some noise coming from PC, cant figure out from where

[EvolvedApe]

Hello, 

when my system is under certain loads, there is a noise that comes every few seconds. 

The noise sounds like a whistle or something like that, its hard to explain

ive included a video of the noise, its hard to hear but it should give you an idea.

The noise is there for most of the video, but for a few seconds it goes away, at 7-9s, and 12-14s in the video. 

running kombustor and prime95 does not produce the noise, but playing some games like fortnite does. 

I am thinking that it has to do with the PSU as testing both cpu and gpu individually, the noise does not come. 

Also there is a switch on the back of the psu that is called "hybrid or normal" switching between the two does not seem to do anything. 

 

Anyone got any idea? 

 

System specs:

EVGA 1080 TI 

I5 4670k

Gigabyte UD4H

Corsair Dominator 8GB 1866

H100I

Multiple SSD, HDD

Corsair AX 860

 

 

[Willowwizard]

Can you confirm that it isn't coming from your speakers? It may be electromagnetic interference going through your sound card.
Other than that, it sounds like it may be a system fan

[EvolvedApe]

1 minute ago, TakataruMC said:

Can you confirm that it isn't coming from your speakers? It may be electromagnetic interference going through your sound card.
Other than that, it sounds like it may be a system fan

the noise is not from the speakers or anything like that. ive even tried running prime95 and a gpu stress test at the same time, almost all the fans running faster than the usually do compared to when im gaming, but still the noise is not there. the only reliabale way i have been able to produce the noise is by playing fortnite 

[EvolvedApe]

1 minute ago, EvolvedApe said:

the noise is not from the speakers or anything like that. ive even tried running prime95 and a gpu stress test at the same time, almost all the fans running faster than the usually do compared to when im gaming, but still the noise is not there. the only reliabale way i have been able to produce the noise is by playing fortnite 

and the noise does get louder when i take off the side panel, so its from something inside the computer. the game is installed on the SSD so its not from the HDD either

[Willowwizard]

Perhaps one of the fans only make that noise when it's running at a specific RPM (i.e. not at maximum or minimum speed, but somewhere in the middle).

It's also possible that it's coil whine but that's unlikely; I've never heard coil whine like that before, generally they sound really high pitched.

 

Edit: If possible, use SpeedFan & MSI Afterburner to see if you can manually control the fan's RPM, you might be able to narrow down/eliminate which fan is causing that noise; if it is indeed a fan with faulty bearings.

[Skyver]

is it when in a game or also at the main menu?

[EvolvedApe]

4 minutes ago, Skyver said:

is it when in a game or also at the main menu?

in game, i can try to record a longer video from when the noise is not there, to when it is if that will help. the current one does not do a good job of showing the difference.

[EvolvedApe]

5 minutes ago, TakataruMC said:

Perhaps one of the fans only make that noise when it's running at a specific RPM (i.e. not at maximum or minimum speed, but somewhere in the middle).

It's also possible that it's coil whine but that's unlikely; I've never heard coil whine like that before, generally they sound really high pitched.

maybe, i can try to stop somel of the fans one by one and see if its from that while i have the side panel off? 

[Skyver]

no thats oke i don,t recommend this but you could try to manualy stop every fan for a seconde one by one while the noise is there to see if its a fan ithink its a fan i have heard that noise before i think its one of the fans but it also maby something else like static electrics but i would first try to see if its a fan or not

[Willowwizard]

5 minutes ago, EvolvedApe said:

maybe, i can try to stop somel of the fans one by one and see if its from that while i have the side panel off? 

You can, please don't stop them by shoving your finger in them or something though, you might damage them. Use SpeedFan (for the CPU/case fans) and MSI Afterburner (for the GPU fans) to stop/slow them down one by one.

[EvolvedApe]

7 minutes ago, TakataruMC said:

You can, please don't stop them by shoving your finger in them or something though, you might damage them. Use SpeedFan (for the CPU/case fans) and MSI Afterburner (for the GPU fans) to stop/slow them down one by one.

 

9 minutes ago, Skyver said:

no thats oke i don,t recommend this but you could try to manualy stop every fan for a seconde one by one while the noise is there to see if its a fan ithink its a fan i have heard that noise before i think its one of the fans but it also maby something else like static electrics but i would first try to see if its a fan or not

i tried stopping fans 1 by 1, nothing changed. just less fan noise. i did end up recording this video just in case someone else needed a better example. at around 10s the noise starts. before that its how the pc sounds normally when under load. hopefully this is a better example. 

[Willowwizard]

Hmm, interesting. I guess we can rule out fan noise then. I'm just not sure what else could cause that noise though, I've never heard of a transformer or other electronic component failing and producing a noise with that low of a frequency.

I guess it's certainly possible that it's the PSU though. Do you have another PSU to test with?

[Skyver]

do you have a sound system or speakers on your on board sound card or perhaps is your pc in a thing? see photo

[Skyver]

also do you have windows on a ssd ? so yes try to unhook all hdd the vribrations of a hdd could cause this

 

especaly if you have fortnight on a hdd then while its reading it vabrates in your case that would explain why you only hear it with that game

[EvolvedApe]

9 minutes ago, Skyver said:

do you have a sound system or speakers on your on board sound card or perhaps is your pc in a thing? see photo

yes my pc is plugged into something like that, but a higher quality version. 

[EvolvedApe]

6 minutes ago, Skyver said:

also do you have windows on a ssd ? so yes try to unhook all hdd the vribrations of a hdd could cause this

 

especaly if you have fortnight on a hdd then while its reading it vabrates in your case that would explain why you only hear it with that game

the HDD is plugged in but it has nothing on it. i tried copying files to it and it wasnt from that 

[EvolvedApe]

11 minutes ago, TakataruMC said:

Hmm, interesting. I guess we can rule out fan noise then. I'm just not sure what else could cause that noise though, I've never heard of a transformer or other electronic component failing and producing a noise with that low of a frequency.

I guess it's certainly possible that it's the PSU though. Do you have another PSU to test with?

i dont have another psu unfortunately, but im pretty sure we have ruled out everything else 

 

[EvolvedApe]

Just now, EvolvedApe said:

i dont have another psu unfortunately, but im pretty sure we have ruled out everything else 

 

i might try flipping the psu so its fan side up tomorrow and see how that goes. ill update the post if anything happens or i cant figure it out. 

[Skyver]

those things generate static when the wall plug is not grounded so try to put it directly 

 

as for the psu try to play with the grapical settings of your game lower setting means less power consumption on your psu so it should lower or stop the noise when you lower the settings

 

 

good luck