Power Supply Squealing (Video card suddenly under heavy load?)

[dDave]

I have a Corsair GS 800 (2011 model) power supply.

This is connected to an ASUS Matrix 7970 GHz graphics card. I'm suspecting a major problem between these two components.

This morning the power supply started to squeal. It starts up about once every 30 seconds and goes for about 5 seconds each time it does. I also got the BSOD saying "Quota_Underflow". Now this has only happened once so it may just be an odd coincidence. What I noticed is that the LED indicator on the graphics card changes color from green straight to purple (http://www.bjorn3d.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/matrix-load-indicator.jpg). The purple means heavy load, only issue is that I'm hearing this happen right now and I don't have any games or graphically intensive programs opened.

I've watched this cycle through quite a few times this morning and I'm positive that the issue is between either the video card (which is from November) or the power supply. The first thing you hear is a squealing from the power supply (not way too loud, but it's definitely noticeable) and then the LED on the video card changes to purple. When the squealing is over the load indicator returns to it's normal green.

Using CPUID Hardware monitor I can see that the CPU VCORE is ranging from 0.828V (with no squeal) to 0.960 (when the squealing occurs). The video card power (VIN0) reads a very consistent 0.950 when there is no squeal, and 1.256V when there is a squeal.

i7 3930k powers are reading the following. (current value does appear to jump up to 40w at a time during a squeal)
Package min 14.49W, Max 71.41W
IA Cores min 5.39W, Max 61.36W

I stuck a pencil into the PSU (while running) to stop the fan. The squealing issue persisted even with the fan stopped (so I know it isn't an issue with the fan). I also stopped the fans in the video card (very temporarily) and the squealing continued.

I'm thinking it's a bad capacitor in the power supply, but I'm not sure. There is absolutely no overclock whatsoever on this machine and 800W certainly should be enough to handle all of this hardware.

My build.
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit
Gigabyte X79 UP4 LGA 2011 Motherboard
Intel i7 3930k (3.2GHz six-core) LGA 2011 Processor
32GB G. Skill Ares series @1866mhz (in quad-channel)
180GB Intel 520 SSD
500GB Extra HDD
800w Corsair Gaming PSU
Cooler Master HAF 932 Blue Edition Case
Triple ASUS 24" HD Displays
ASUS MATRIX 7970GHz 3GB 384-bit Graphics Card
Logitech 5.1 Surround

Any help would be great. Thanks.




EDIT
Looking at task manager there is also a clear correlation between CPU usage and the squeal. I'm letting my computer sit at idle, when there isn't a squeal CPU usage sits at 1-2%, but once the squeal starts there's a clear jump to 7 or 8% usage for no apparent reason.

 

[lovesX79]

Corsair power supply is junk, buy one of the 80% Gold rated 750W or higher not Corsair. Also you didn't say what processor cooler you have, the Bigger the you have the less heat and one that has heat pipes too

 

[dDave]

Corsair power supply is junk, buy one of the 80% Gold rated 750W or higher not Corsair. Also you didn't say what processor cooler you have, the Bigger the you have the less heat and one that has heat pipes too

Ah right.

I'm running a Gemin II s524 by cooler master. It's a quality CPU cooler and keeps temps below 50C even at heavy loads. Idles at about 30-34C.

Would you recommend a Cooler Master power supply? I've had theirs in the past and haven't been disappointed, not sure how their recent products stack up though.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

The Corsairs made by Seasonic are great power supplies.

 

[dDave]

I just purchased an 800w 80 Plus Certified Gold PSU (from Cooler Master, the other one that interested me was the XFX 850w silver). Should be here by the weekend hopefully. For now I guess I'll be using the laptop, I'm too scared of frying something to turn the tower on.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

XFX 850w < Good choice.

 

[dDave]

I installed the replacement power supply this morning and fired up the machine. Everything ran fine for about 30 minutes before I started to hear the squealing again.

I got into the AMD catalyst control center and monitored the video card activity from there. Activity is still spiking up to 50% or so even when idle.

I'm gonna turn off extra graphical features on Chrome (some people have problems with these for whatever reason) and I'm going to do a very thorough system scan to make sure there's not a virus or anything else causing this.

Otherwise I do have a warranty on the video card that I can try and claim. I'd prefer not to send it in though as this is a limited edition card.

Also. It only does this when running Windows (during startup this does not happen, nor does it happen when running the bios). Makes me think it may be software based. Either way that old power supply had to go, so no losses there.

EDIT
I underclocked the graphics card by about 30% or so and the problem with hearing the squeal has stopped. Monitoring the hardware I can still see the GPU activity randomly spiking to 47% when it should be idling. I assume that this is because the 47% isn't drawing as much power as before. Still an issue.

Anyone got any ideas?


EDIT
Thought I'd post this as well. Somebody posted to youtube about this problem with their card. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb8DBczIGCA My card is making this exact sound, same pitch and everything.