4-pin and 8-pin power barely reaches - noise

[Avenant]

Hi!

I just put together a new system, and the 4pin and 8pin connectors to the graphics card barely reach - actually, more like they don't reach. I'm a bit silly, so I plugged the thing in anyway - I had to tug the card towards the PSU a little to get it to reach.

The plugs are in firmly but they are tugging at the card. The system actually runs great, and temperature wise the GPU is fine. However - there is a high whining noise, especially then the card is under heavy load. The whine does not come from any of the fans, and it changes in pitch pretty much instantly as GPU usage rises or falls.

Now I know I've been impatient, and I have ordered some extensions to these connectors which I will be able to pick up very soon. But will this fix my problem? Could it be that the cables are pulling the slack out of the card and causing it to whine like this? Maybe voltage-related? Or, is this possibly a fault on the card itself?

I'm really hoping it's the former, but I really need to rule out all other possibilities before I get it replaced.

The GPU is a gigabyte ATI Radeon HD6970, and the PSU in question in a gigabyte Odin 720W.

Thank you for help in advance!!

 

[tokencode]

If the pressure from the cable is torquing the card at all it could be throwing off the balance of the fan and its bearings just a little bit and causing the noise. Some video card fans change speed dynamically with the load on the card. My guess is that the noise really is coming from the fan or the circuitry powering the fan.

 

[palladin9479]

Switch out PSU's for a modular one that has cables of the appropriate length. Do ~not~ force connections like you did, it will damage your card over time and create micro fractures in the PCB. The sound you are hearing is from the HSF on the card being twisted slightly off center due to the PCB being tugged.

 

[Avenant]

To get back to this, I got the card checked out at the supplier and they confirmed that the noise is electrical - i.e not due to tugging of the cables, and got the card itself replaced.

As for the cables, turns out they don't really make extensions - just adapters, which could've done the trick to loosen the cables. Still, I was able to adjust the cables slightly which gave them some more slack - no longer tugging at the card at all.

 

[tokencode]

Sounds like maybe bad caps or something. Glad it worked out for you, I would still highly recommend not "forcing" anything putting a computer together.