Question Strange buzzing from inside the case under specific circumstances

[Popculturereference]

Earlier this year, I built a gaming PC and even if I frustratingly mismatched CPU and RAM so I couldn't enable XMP as a result, I didn't encounter many other issues. Except for one greatly confusing and increasingly frustrating.

There is a pretty low buzzing sound of varying volume coming from inside (specifically, the back of) the case, and the sound "bleeds" through my earbuds too. I can hear the digital approximation of the sound coming in through audio output. This occurs primarily when I have a game running and tab out; it disappears when I tab back in. Sometimes, it occurs briefly on game boot up. Sometimes, if what I tab to is on a monitor different to the one displaying the game, the sound doesn't occur. It's been a minor annoyance as it's both fairly quiet and brief, but lately one specific game makes it the loudest and most constant it's ever been, which, I guess the silver lining here it's easy to replicate and test, now.

It doesn't seem entirely dependent on load either. I've played through demanding games using ray tracing and even then the sound was absent.

I've been going insane trying to place it. I checked if it was maybe the back fan, but disabling it didn't do anything. Some search results suggested it was a grounding issue, but I've not found any reliable ways to how I would go about testing that (outside of stuff like DAC being suggested, but the sound persists even if I remove audio input/output devices). It almost sounds like whirring, but I'm pretty sure it's not coil whine as I have heard that before (when I a boot up a game without a framerate limit) and that's a different sound. Part of me suspects some sort of grounding issue, because I can just barely make out a droning noise whenever I move my mouse, quiet enough to be almost drowned out by the sound of the mouse moving against the mousemat. Yes, that's pretty much the level of insanity I'm approaching.

Specs are:
CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K 3.7 GHz
Mem: Corsair Vengeance LPX - DDR4 - 32; 2 x 16 GB 288-PIN - 3600 MHz
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming OC 10G
Mobo: Gigabyte Z690M A ELITE AX DDR4
PSU: Cooler Master V750 Gold-V2
Case: Fractal Design Meshify 2
Storage: WD BLACK SN770 1TB & Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB

Any pointers or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: The sound at its most extreme in question, slightly lower pitch in reality - http://sndup.net/vskh

 

[Nighthawk117]

If you can hear it through the earbuds then that sounds like something more substantial. However I have a Meshify C and sometimes get a buzzing sound from the PC, in my case it was just the dust filter vibrating through the case. Just to rule it out, next time this happens, remove the bottom dust filter.

 

[Popculturereference]

I actually did try removing the bottom and the top filters, unfortunately the sound persisted.

 

[Nighthawk117]

I actually did try removing the bottom and the top filters, unfortunately the sound persisted.

Fair enough, was worth a try. What CPU cooler are you using?

 

[Popculturereference]

It's a Dark Rock Pro 4.

 

[Nighthawk117]

It's a Dark Rock Pro 4.

Oh ok, sometimes AIO pumps can make noises but doesn't apply here.

 

[geofelt]

Is there any chance that a fan cable or such can touch a moving fan?

Are the audio chipset drivers updated?

Is your wall plug grounded with the proper polarity?
A $10 tester can confirm.

Does the proximity of a monitor alter the sound?

 

[Popculturereference]

I'd checked for cables touching the back fan and even tried disabling it, and the sound persisted. Just to be sure, I'd checked the GPU's fans for any obstructions and couldn't find any either. There is a cable wrapping around the heat sink, I can only sorta see it from the side, but I assume that is normal and wouldn't produce the sound?

Double checked the audio chipset drivers and they should be updated, but could it really cause an actual buzzing sound from inside the case? Legitimately curious.

The proximity of the monitor doesn't seem to affect the sound in the slightest. I even moved to a different address since, and the sound persists.

I'll see about getting a tester and check the wall socket either today still or next week!

 

[Popculturereference]

I'll check for grounding issues tomorrow, but I just wanted to upload what the buzzing sounded like: http://sndup.net/vskh

It sounds slightly higher pitch in the recording than in reality, but it's almost spot-on what it sounds like in earbuds. Could it also possibly be a defective fan in the GPU or the like? I had the game in question running while recording that; setting the graphics preset to Very Low eliminates the sound, and raising it increases the sound's volume.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Something similar to this happened to me on my amd system this weekend. Nobody but me replied however I think I managed to resolve mine. Might be worth looking at. Too lazy to type everything out, but basically I’ve got a 5900x on an older board and I think I was pushing the board to hard and at times was getting buzzing and usb disconnects.

Question - PC freeze, buzzing

So very interesting. Here's my setup. AMD Ryzen 9 5900x AsRock ab350 pro 4 32gb ddr4 3200 gskill trident z MSI Mech RX 6700xt Corsair RMX 850 Vetroo v5 cooler with push pull So this has all been running good previously. However, I did upgrade my monitor to a Gigabyte M32qc 1440p monitor last...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[Popculturereference]

Something similar to this happened to me on my amd system this weekend. Nobody but me replied however I think I managed to resolve mine. Might be worth looking at. Too lazy to type everything out, but basically I’ve got a 5900x on an older board and I think I was pushing the board to hard and at times was getting buzzing and usb disconnects.

Question - PC freeze, buzzing

So very interesting. Here's my setup. AMD Ryzen 9 5900x AsRock ab350 pro 4 32gb ddr4 3200 gskill trident z MSI Mech RX 6700xt Corsair RMX 850 Vetroo v5 cooler with push pull So this has all been running good previously. However, I did upgrade my monitor to a Gigabyte M32qc 1440p monitor last...

forums.tomshardware.com

Far as I can tell, my board shouldn't be far behind other components (others can maybe correct me if I'm wrong). I don't seem to be getting any sort of other strange behaviour that I can tell. I also don't experience fps drops or stutters, etc. The only symptom I've spotted so far is this weird buzzing that happens under very specific circumstances, only really happens with fullscreen applications (games), but it's also not always dependent on load since I can boot up demanding raytracing-enabled games, have them run well and within seemingly acceptable temps (I can benchmark them again but GPU's always under 80C and CPU is under 50 iirc) all while the sound is mysteriously absent.

Even if I'm worried if it's something that might be damaging my system, at this point I am just curious what in the world is causing it.