• Happy holidays, folks! Thanks to each and every one of you for being part of the Tom's Hardware community!

Question Is this noise coming from my computer normal?

0Artur0

Distinguished
Aug 7, 2009
75
0
18,530
One week ago I bought a new custom build computer. Yesterday I started hearing this constant noise that appears the moment the computer is powered on and goes away the moment it shuts down. The noise is not loud, it's constant pitch and never changes. Since I heard it I can not un-hear. It's definitely not the fans, I'm 100% of that and I don't have any HDDs (only SSDs) but I actually can't locate it, probably because of the echo in the case, it's just everywhere in the case. Here's my dilemma. Maybe this was there from the beginning and I just didn't hear it before. Maybe it's normal. On the other hand, maybe it actually appeared yesterday and it's not normal. I don't want to look like a fool when I take the machine to the repair shop and they just have a laugh. I made a short video and uploaded it to Google Photos showing where I turn on the machine and shut it down. You'll hear the noise that's always there. In the video, it's actually a bit louder than in reality.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/iwRAw9P7Jo28Aq7N8

My computer:
Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-G GAMING (WI-FI)
CPU: Intel Core i9-10900K, Comet Lake-S, LGA1200 (BX8070110900K)
RAM: ADATA XPG SPECTRIX D50 RGB 32GB,DDR4-3600 CL18 (AX4U3600716G18A-DT50)
Cooler: SILVERSTONE Permafrost 240mm ARGB AIO WHITE water cooling (SST-PF240W-ARGB)
PSU: SilverStone 850W 80+Gold Full Modular (SST-ST85F-GS v 2.0)

So, is this normal (Cooler, PSU, ...?) or not? Any ideas what could be making it?
 
You might want to roll up an A4 sheet of paper into a cylinder and use that as a cone of sorts to narrow down where the noise is coming from. I think you're experiencing coil whine. You should also look into the BIOS for your motherboard, see what version it's on at the moment.
 
You might want to roll up an A4 sheet of paper into a cylinder and use that as a cone of sorts to narrow down where the noise is coming from. I think you're experiencing coil whine. You should also look into the BIOS for your motherboard, see what version it's on at the moment.
I did it but it's really strange, I still can't pinpoint it exactly but I think it's a bit louder around the CPU, if I had to guess, I'd say left of the CPU.
The motherboard is on the latest version, I updated it the day I got the machine last week.
Coil whine is normal, right?
 
I don't know about coil whine. I did a bit of research, listened to a few coil whines and it doesn't sound like that. Mine is constant, always there and always exactly the same.
 
I found a couple of exact same descriptions of this issue on the internet. In all cases, it's just the normal operation of the AIO water cooler pump. This is my first build with AIO water cooler and I just don't have any experience with it. I thought it should be completely quiet. I guess not. So, I'm pretty sure now it is the pump. I'm just surprised nobody mentioned that.