high pitched noise coming from cpu area

[steimlem]

there is a high pitched noise depending on how much activity the computer is doing (very annoying)

it's coming from the cpu area on the motherboard

any ideas what it is or how to fix it?

 

[k1114]

The high pitched noise is most likely coming from your psu, it's bad. Which could cause gpu issues. RMA.

 

[steimlem]

the high pitched noise sounds like its coming from higher up , somewhere in the motherboard or disc drives. it's not loud at all , just very high pitched and scratchy, it's also not constant.. seems to be more present when i'm doing a lot of activities at once

 

[steimlem]

i found in another thread that apparently the beeps at start up on msi boards are associated with how many usb devices are being used.. so that is taken care of


but, i have definitely isolated the high pitched noise to somewhere on the motherboard right near the processor it sounds like.. it's definitely not coming from the power supply or drives. any ideas?

 

[steimlem]

the noise seems to be directly associated with keyboard usage too, when i hold the "h" key down for example in a text document, the high pitched squealing seems to correspond with many repetitive h's being pressed..or go away completely. when i let go it returns to more of a constant noise

also when i move my mouse constantly the noise will go away until i stop moving the mouse

 

[steimlem]

noise also goes away in bios, doesn't start til windows starts

 

[k1114]

What are your temps?

 

[steimlem]

temps seem fine, bios said cpu temps were like 40 or 50 c , cant remember exactly. gpu temps are 50 .

tried taking the gpu and drives out and noise is still there.. after googling i want to say it's a capacitor on the motherboard making the high pitched "whine" .. it's just weird that the noise doesn't happen when i'm in the bios and only when windows is loaded. almost makes me think it's a driver issue but all drivers are up to date

 

[k1114]

Whining is usually from capacitors. Try unplugging each component and see if anything changes. Or try the components on another computer if you can. Want to test everything before you have to disassemble it all if it is in fact the mobo.

 

[steimlem]

i've tried unplugging anything i can while still having the pc running.

it definitely seems power related in some way,.. i have opened the witcher 2 in full screen mode at high settings and the whining stopped... when i minimize the game the whining starts up again

will i have to replace the motherboard, or the psu? or both?

 

[k1114]

Well if the sound is from the mobo than that is the problem.

 

[steimlem]

ok thanks, didn't know if maybe a bad power supply could cause the said capacitors to make the noise . thanks for the help

 

[steimlem]

i turned off a feature called "overspeed protection" as well as disabled the default power setting in the bios, this seems to have reduced the whining noise on the motherboard by 90% .. if i really listen when all the fans are low i can still hear it but barely.. perhaps i won't return the mobo afterall

only question is could this damage anything at all? or should i be good

 

[k1114]

Nonetheless the capacitors are not what they should be. There's a higher chance they will blow and you don't want to deal with that. If this is new, replace it before the warranty is over. I just want you to be sure it's the mobo. Sounds can echo in the case so roll up a piece of paper and put it against your ear to pinpoint the cause, maybe use a paper towel inner roll; read this in another thread.

 

[steimlem]

yeh it was definitely the motherboard or cpu (if that's even possible) it was coming from within a inch or so area around the top of the cpu (it wasn't the fan because i unplugged it and it still happened)

but ever since i turned the "overspeed protection" off in the bios the sound is actually completely gone , i must have just been imagining that 10% still there after hearing it for so long, cuz i haven't heard it in the past hour at all. so i'm guessing it's just a problem with that feature on the board, but it could be the motherboard itself too, i can't really pinpoint

 

[legendkiller]

Is it a Beep that sound like when you got no ram on your mobo or is it just some problem with it?... If you get the beep awhile in windows pressing some keys than it's just your windows but if not than check if there's any speaker around the cpu as the speaker on the mobo makes those noise

 

[compulsivebuilder]

Whining noise could be voltage regulator circuitry. There's a lot of voltage regulator circuitry around a modern CPU. The amount of current drawn (and the voltage) can vary with the load on the CPU (especially the latest CPUs that wind down the cores when unloaded).

If it is the voltage regulator circuitry, there wouldn't be much you can do about it, except maybe some acoustic insulation on the sides of the case.

Or maybe stop putting your head so close to the motherboard?

 

[steimlem]

Or maybe stop putting your head so close to the motherboard?

haha, well although it wasn't particularly loud, it was so high pitched that i could here it from across the room easily. it was almost like a dog whistle.. in fact i bet some humans probably couldn't register the high pitch.. it actually felt like it was melting my eyes/brain .. but like i said ever since i turned off that feature in the bios it's been completely quiet.. i can't even find what that feature really did or why it caused the noise but as long as it stopped i'm happy

 

[k1114]

Something is faulty and you should not ignore the problem, fix it while it's free. Just my suggestion. I'm not gonna try to figure out what exactly is whining, any electrical component can but normally does not create a pulse powerful enough for an audible sound. Saying it's voltage regulatory circuitry is like saying my car engine is making noise, only one piece of the puzzle and there's much more to it than that. Then you offer the solution of duct tape, problem solved. No offense.


Cpus have been able to downclock themselves for a long time, like pentium 3. I don't refute that modern cpus have much more complex power management but that's beside the point. No matter how complex it is, it shouldn't make an audible sound.

 

[steimlem]

how come the noise only happens when this feature is on though and in windows? perhaps the chipset drivers are just faulty? like i said, when "overspeed protection" is turned off , the noise is completely gone, and the pc runs fine.

are you saying it's a cpu issue now? or motherboard? i'm just personally not in the mood to be "trial and error" returning equipment for weeks if i could be using a perfectly fine system with overspeed protection turned off.

greatly appreciate the information and advice you've given

 

[nukemaster]

First off. COILS buzz(and they are in all power regulation systems psu, video card motherboard).

This does not always mean a defect.

Second, turning off power management helps since the frequency and voltage are going all over the place(the cpu voltage is adjusting constantly) with it off.

It is very hit and miss, some boards do it, others do not. It can even be a combination of a board and psu, that separately work fine

If you list your system specs, it may help.

As for a cap blowing because of this? Well I have an A64 board(K8V SE) from when they first came out. Been on nearly 24/7 for years and it never died. Yet it did this buzzing too(only at load).

My X1900XT was so loud and is still used to this day(when gaming, and the frequency was all over).

My 8800GTX? yup did it too.

I have an X58A UD5 board that is well known for this. I think just switching C1E off fixes it.

For desktop cpus, Pentium 3's did NOT have any of this power management. Pentium 4's did not get it until near the end of there line when heat was out of control. AMD started this(advanced power management) on desktop chips with the Athlon64's

You can RMA the board(most companies will do it over this), but sometimes you just get the same or worse thing back.

 

[steimlem]

is there any point /benefit to keeping the overspeed option turned on? i don't even exactly understand what it does.. it supposedly keeps the cpu from going over a certain speed... but why would it go over that speed?

specs-
msi h61 board
antec 550 psu
his hd6870
i3 2100 3.1 ghz

the board is just a cheap 60$ board that i got for 25$. i'd have to pay shipping to rma so it's almost not even worth it if it's not doing any harm having overspeed protection turned off

 

[nukemaster]

Try with speed step off and see if it helps. failing that, try with C1E off.

overspeed protection

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Intel-Core-i7-Nehalem,2057-7.html

 

[steimlem]

the sound has been gone ever since i turned overspeed off , i was just wondering if this could cause any problems. c1e was turned off by default and there isn't a speed step that i can see

 

[compulsivebuilder]

Something is faulty and you should not ignore the problem, fix it while it's free. Just my suggestion. I'm not gonna try to figure out what exactly is whining, any electrical component can but normally does not create a pulse powerful enough for an audible sound. Saying it's voltage regulatory circuitry is like saying my car engine is making noise, only one piece of the puzzle and there's much more to it than that. Then you offer the solution of duct tape, problem solved. No offense.


Cpus have been able to downclock themselves for a long time, like pentium 3. I don't refute that modern cpus have much more complex power management but that's beside the point. No matter how complex it is, it shouldn't make an audible sound.

Saying that's it's voltage regulator circuitry explains why it varies with CPU load (something you hadn't explained).

As nukemaster points out, some electronics do make an audible noise, yet work fine.

I was, lightheartedly, suggesting ameliorating the noise issue, rather than obsessing over it. To use your analogy, some car engine noises are normal.