[SOLVED] Please help identity this strange clicking sound coming from my pc.

[ameva12]

Hello everyone.

Up until about 2 days ago, I started to notice this weird 'rapid tapping/clicking' sound coming from my pc case. I decided to check my fans (except for my psu and gpu) and there's no wires that is in the way. I even cleaned my fans today and it's still making this noise. The noise is intermittent, but right now it is constant. It seems to happen after I play a mmorpg game.

When I first start up my pc after its been off for a while, there is no noise. But as it's being under load, that noise starts to happen.

I have a aoi cooler too, and I paused two of the fans to see if they are the issue. The noise still runs even when they are stopped.

My pc is:

i7 9700k RTX 2060 super. I've had it about 2 years now. I've uploaded a recording of the 'clicking' noise here. You can hear it very clearly from 1 to 10 secs.

It's very distracting and it's hard to pinpoint where it's coming from. If anyone can please, please help I would really appreciate it..

Update: I've turned my pc off for the night, but as a I was inspecting the inside of the case, I noticed this wire making contact with the gpu card. I've circled it in yellow. I also took a closer photo and indicated the place where the contact spot is.

But one of my question is: could the wire sitting on the gpu be the reason for the noise? I'm not sure if this has been brought up before but do gpus vibrate in any way? I know the obvious answer is I won't know until I turn my pc back on but I've been stressing over this noise and I have to get up for work tomorrow so I don't want to turn my pc on after it's been on for a whole. I'm trying to avoid putting any kind of strain on it. But I will update with the results tomorrow when I'm back home.

Until then, if anyone has any suggestions or guesses what the noise could be caused by (aside from my speculation that I will test later), please let me know.

 

[CountMike]

Hello everyone.

Up until about 2 days ago, I started to notice this weird 'rapid tapping/clicking' sound coming from my pc case. I decided to check my fans (except for my psu and gpu) and there's no wires that is in the way. I even cleaned my fans today and it's still making this noise. The noise is intermittent, but right now it is constant. It seems to happen after I play a mmorpg game.

When I first start up my pc after its been off for a while, there is no noise. But as it's being under load, that noise starts to happen.

I have a aoi cooler too, and I paused two of the fans to see if they are the issue. The noise still runs even when they are stopped.

My pc is:

i7 9700k RTX 2060 super. I've had it about 2 years now. I've uploaded a recording of the 'clicking' noise here. You can hear it very clearly from 1 to 10 secs.

It's very distracting and it's hard to pinpoint where it's coming from. If anyone can please, please help I would really appreciate it..

Update: I've turned my pc off for the night, but as a I was inspecting the inside of the case, I noticed this wire making contact with the gpu card. I've circled it in yellow (postimg.cc/gallery/TKc265y). I also took a closer photo and indicated the place where the contact spot is.

But one of my question is: could the wire sitting on the gpu be the reason for the noise? I'm not sure if this has been brought up before but do gpus vibrate in any way? I know the obvious answer is I won't know until I turn my pc back on but I've been stressing over this noise and I have to get up for work tomorrow so I don't want to turn my pc on after it's been on for a whole. I'm trying to avoid putting any kind of strain on it. But I will update with the results tomorrow when I'm back home.

Until then, if anyone has any suggestions or guesses what the noise could be caused by (aside from my speculation that I will test later), please let me know.

Can't see the picture but if wire as not making contact with fan(s) that can't be reason.
Its' more likely that some fan has bad bearing.

 

[ameva12]

Update: I've narrowed it down to the exact cause and my suspicion.

I opened my pc case and put my head right next to different parts of the pc and I found the 'ticking' noise to be much more clear in the front of the case. I suspect that related to the fans attached to the heat sink of my AIO water cooler. I was able to manually turn off the inner facing fans of the heat sink, and the noise continued.

Next, I tried to think of a way to turn off the fans for the outward facing side without having to dig through the BIOS, then I remembered a much simpler solution. I opened the back (or I guess side) of the pc case where all the cables and wires were. This is while everything was shut down, of course. I unplugged the power cable to the two fans facing the outside of the front of my case and turned on my pc.

No tapping noise. I felt a massive sense of relief now that I know exactly what is causing the noise.

Next, I tried to narrow down which (the top or bottom) fan is causing the tapping noise by plugging the first fan's cable in and turning on the pc. I did not hear any tapping noise even under load. Then, just to confirm my suspicion once and for all, I unplugged the 'good' fan cable and plugged in the 'suspicious' fan cable, turned on my pc, and immediately the tapping sound happened.

So in conclusion, the top fan is the cause of the noise.

This is a relief to me because I don't have to open the psu or mess with my gpu, which is what I feared.

One of the things I am confused about is why this noise is happening, as these two front fans are Noctua fans and I know they are a high quality brand. But searching for 'noctua fan bearing/tapping noise' led me to this reddit thread in which the OP shared a video of the exact same sound my fan is making, so I'm 97% convinced I have the same issue.

The noise can be described as nails gently but very rapidly tapping on a wooden desk.

I think the only way to fix this is to open the front of my case and take out the top front fan or remove the heat sink block. Either way, I suspect that one of the wires is getting hit by the fan blades. My theory is built on the fact that the fan wires are in the same side as the fan's logo/sticker. My front fans, which I put in to replace the noisy stock fans the pc came with, have stickers facing the inside of the pc, thus I can't see what the wires are doing.

I'm going to try to update this with results later.

 

[CountMike]

Update: I've narrowed it down to the exact cause and my suspicion.

I opened my pc case and put my head right next to different parts of the pc and I found the 'ticking' noise to be much more clear in the front of the case. I suspect that related to the fans attached to the heat sink of my AIO water cooler. I was able to manually turn off the inner facing fans of the heat sink, and the noise continued.

Next, I tried to think of a way to turn off the fans for the outward facing side without having to dig through the BIOS, then I remembered a much simpler solution. I opened the back (or I guess side) of the pc case where all the cables and wires were. This is while everything was shut down, of course. I unplugged the power cable to the two fans facing the outside of the front of my case and turned on my pc.

No tapping noise. I felt a massive sense of relief now that I know exactly what is causing the noise.

Next, I tried to narrow down which (the top or bottom) fan is causing the tapping noise by plugging the first fan's cable in and turning on the pc. I did not hear any tapping noise even under load. Then, just to confirm my suspicion once and for all, I unplugged the 'good' fan cable and plugged in the 'suspicious' fan cable, turned on my pc, and immediately the tapping sound happened.

So in conclusion, the top fan is the cause of the noise.

This is a relief to me because I don't have to open the psu or mess with my gpu, which is what I feared.

One of the things I am confused about is why this noise is happening, as these two front fans are Noctua fans and I know they are a high quality brand. But searching for 'noctua fan bearing/tapping noise' led me to this reddit thread in which the OP shared a video of the exact same sound my fan is making, so I'm 97% convinced I have the same issue.

The noise can be described as nails gently but very rapidly tapping on a wooden desk.

I think the only way to fix this is to open the front of my case and take out the top front fan or remove the heat sink block. Either way, I suspect that one of the wires is getting hit by the fan blades. My theory is built on the fact that the fan wires are in the same side as the fan's logo/sticker. My front fans, which I put in to replace the noisy stock fans the pc came with, have stickers facing the inside of the pc, thus I can't see what the wires are doing.

I'm going to try to update this with results later.

Upside down (with turbine/propeller is hanging) are more prone to bearing failure.
PS.
Front fans where " stickers facing the inside of the pc" means it's used as exhaust, you should turn them around so they are intake, Back and top as exhaust.