GTX 460 beeping while Folding @ Home

flowingbass

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Why is my GTX 460 beeping when running Folding @ Home for fermi? Version 6.30r2.

The beep is more of a silent non intrusive beep unlike the normal boot beep when you mobo boots up succesfully. The beep loudness is like 1/4 of a normal boot beep. And the beep is constant, one beep every second with beeps as long as 1 second.

I know it is my GTX 460 beeping because whenever i quit running F@H, the beep stops almost instantly. When i run it again, the beeps re appear. And F@H for fermi V 6.30r2 only uses the GPU.

I did try to search for the beep by opening my case and searching for it by ear to where the beep is loudest and yes it is coming from my GTX 460.

I did find another person with the same problem but he has a GTX 480. So it is apparent that GTX 400 series are beeping when folding. http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=492094&mpage=1

"Coil whine" or any sort of solid state hardware sounds were popular before manufacturers were still using electrolytic capacitors and coil chokes for video cards in the past. But GTX 400 series and any other 2010 cards are all built with solid capacitors and solid state chokes.

I dont see any monophonic speaker on my GTX 460 to reproduce a beep unlike what you can find on a motherboard. (that little thick black round thing with a silver hole in the middle, no not the cmos battery).

And my video card's temp while folding is just 61c while folding. But whenever i play games, the card reaches up to 79c without beeping. So its has not something to do with heat or overheating.

Anybody experiencing the same?
Why is it beeping despite all the solid caps and chokes on it?

Please someone help me be enlightened about this. Any advice will be greatly appreicated, thanks.
 

flowingbass

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Forgot to add my system specs:

AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8ghz (Manual OC to 3.0ghz on stock cooling)
MSI 890gmx-g65
Kingston DDR3 1333mhz 2gb dual channel x 4 = 8gb
Palit Sonic OC GTX 460 1GB (Manual OC to 750 core clock/1500 shader clock/3600 memory)
WD Caviar Blue 500gb 7200rpm 16mb cache Sata2
WD Caviar Green 2TB 7200rpm 64mb cache Sata2
Seagate 20gb 5400rpm 8mb cache Pata IDE
Thermaltake Toughpower XT 675w Modular single +12v rail @ 56amps
one (1) 80mm Auxilliary CPU cooler fan
Seven (7) 120mm Case fans (Exhaust/Intake/Case)
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
 
Palit cards are terrible when it comes to quality lately, Solid Chokes and Coils can and do make noise when charging and discharging however it only affects some. You can try to cool then or max out the fan to help improve cooling for the power VRM which will go very far when it comes to the life of the card. I got the Gigabyte version instead and it is better.
 

flowingbass

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Well, for my temps they are all normal. My video card's temp while folding is just 61c while folding.

And whenever i play games, the card reaches up to 79c without beeping. So its not something to do with heat or overheating.

And gaming sure do tax the video card as well as along with its capacitors, chokes and all of its components, even more than folding, but the card does not beep when gaming. Its really puzzling. Even EVGA GTX 480 seem to beep ONLY when folding...
 

flowingbass

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Thanks for the link. It seems that i have nothing to worry about. Its all normal. Its the first time though i heard a video card emit a noise as with my old 9800GT didnt ever made a sound from its components. Only the fan was audible.
 

flowingbass

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I opened the card removed the shroud and couldnt find a "piezo" speaker to produce sounds or beeps. Like the ones you can see on a motherboard. Or old GSM cellphones.

So i am really scratching my head where the beep is really coming from. It does sound like its coming from a piezo speaker like the ones seen on a motherboard, it really sound like its coming from that. But there is none on the card.

And i find it weird that a capacitor can sound like a piezo speaker.

Yes they are regular 1 second (apart and duration) beep. like, beep, 1sec, beep, 1sec, beep, 1sec, beep, 1 sec, beep.

It does sound like a digital wristwatch by the way...
 
Take the side panel off and load up the app and if your hearing is still good you could try to listen in on the source and pat down the card but be careful to avoid the controller for the power vrm beyond that no harm will come to the card. Why to fell for the hot spots and home in on which component that is emitting the noise. If nothing it might be from some ware else.