Question Buzzing in PC at specific points in time/use

Feb 23, 2022
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Hello everyone,

I built a PC in November, so no part can be labeled old/used, of course they can always be faulty, and last week I noticed a loud whine/buzz at certain times while using my PC, primarily playing a game. I have tested it on Crusader Kings 3 (CK3) , God of War (GOW) and Mass Effect Legendary Edition (ME). Whenever I open up a character panel in CK3, the buzzing starts. If I close the panel, it stops. In God of War and ME, there is no buzzing at all. Curious, as I would expect at least GOW to be much more hardware intensive and produce the whine. I have tried multiple gfx settings in CK3 including turning v-sync on and off and the whining is produced every time. I performed these tests on two different monitors.

I have also tried maxing out the hardware usage by simultaneously training models on the CPU and GPU at the same time (also separately for testing), maxing out both usage and speeds. This also does not produce a whine. Curiously, if I open up a character panel in CK3 while this occurs, the noise doesn't start.

Since this seems to (so far, maybe this happens with other applications I haven't tried yet) only occur while playing a single game, perhaps there is a problem on the game's side and not necessarily the hardware or both. As I work from home mainly on my local machine as well as it being my primary hobby, any out-of-the-ordinary noises are alarming.

Further information:
I have scoured the forums for similar posts, but I couldn't find one comparing different usages, normally whining only occurring during gaming or other high use tasks and then immediately stopping. My problem seems to be unique in that only one game appears to be causing the noise.
I have disabled unnecessary audio drivers in device management, as recommended in a similar post and I believe I can pin point the noise to coming from my GPU, but perhaps also the AIO, as they are quite near to each other. However, listening to the exhaust port would indicate it coming from the GPU.
I have reseated the GPU and various power cables, dusted and cleaned the inside and tightened any other screws that may have come loose over time.
Using MSI afterburner, it seems that high GPU and CPU usage does not mean that the whine will the start. So far only when I open character panels in CK3.

I have a been a long time lurker of this site and the community solutions have solved many issues I've had over the years and I'm hoping someone may be able to point me in the right direction.

Thank you in advance!

Build:
CPU: Intel i9 10900K
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce 3090 RTX
RAM: 32gigs (other 32 gig stick currently away for RMA for like 5 weeks now :rolleyes: )
PSU: Corsair RM850x
AIO: Corsair iCUE H150i
 
Feb 23, 2022
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Thank you for the suggestion!

I can't say for exactly how long this has been actually happening, as I've only just noticed it recently after moving where I sit.
I tried reverting back one driver but unfortunately the buzzing still occurs. I will try reverting back a few more tomorrow and see what the result is.
 
Feb 23, 2022
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I reverted back several whql drivers and unfortunately the buzzing still occurs. I also uninstalled and reinstalled CK3 for good measure which also changed nothing.