Question Help tracking down coil whine

[robertino129]

Hello. I've started getting coil whine one year and a half after building my system and if I want to return anything I have half a year left. Coil whine's building up and it really annoys me, but is not directly connected to how fast my pc is running. While running cinebench, the coil whine didn't get worse. However while just watching videos or streaming, it'll pop up out of nowhere.

I took my pc apart and tried to pinpoint the sound, but it's very hard for my ears to pinpoint it. I thought it was the PSU but after taking it apart and waiting for the sound to pop up again, I think it's coming from the motherboard instead. On a gigabyte b650 aorus elite ax where would I push with a pencil with an eraser to try and see if the sound profile changes when it'll start making noise again?

This is the sound it makes when it drives me crazy.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/rf1a...9q16r47p7l582kwr2f15z1mg&e=2&st=zip0nhnb&dl=0

Maybe I'll go borrow a stethoscope from a mechanic friend of mine over the weekend, so until then I'd appreciate some pictures with where I should focus my hearing on. Since I bought from amazon, they're pretty understanding with returns and usually offer refunds rather than RMA's, so I could order a replacement and return the culprit. But I want to be 100% sure if it's the PSU or the motherboard that's at fault.

 

[Lutfij]

I took my pc apart and tried to pinpoint the sound, but it's very hard for my ears to pinpoint it
You should take a sheet of A4 paper, roll it up into a cylinder, then hold one end to your ear. Use the other end to probe for the source of the sound.

You've stated that the system was disassembled, while breadboarded, without additional fans(except for the CPU's cooling), you should be able to locate the coil whine. Focus on the power delivery areas of the motherboard and GPU. Then focus on your PSU.

I noticed you have specs listed in your sig space. Please include the specs t your build that's exhibiting the coil whine in your threads body since sig space specs can and will change over time. When the latter happens, this thread and it's suggestions will be rendered moot to the end user in the same boat as you are.

I listened to the audio, it does sound like a dirty fan bearing grinding away...

Lastly, you mentioned disassembling the system, you should clean up your parts off of the dust.

 

[robertino129]

The parts are clean enough, cleaning it any further won't help or do anything.

I tried using the paper before i posted as it's the first google suggestion, it doesn't help me at all with pinpointing the sound.

Focus on the power delivery areas of the motherboard and GPU.

I don't know where those areas are, that's why I posted and specifically asked for a picture on where to listen for the sound.

I listened to the audio, it does sound like a dirty fan bearing grinding away...

I don't hear such a thing. There are only two things audible in the video. One is the horrible coil whine. The second is the pump on the AIO. I asked and only care about the former which is a high pitch loud sound, I don't care about the latter.