Question Strangest crackling/buzzing noise issue... Please help TH community

[dinkycar]

Hey all. I'm encountering possibly the strangest crackling/buzzing issue with my PC.

My specs:
Gigabyte X570 UD motherboard
EVGA RTX 2060 Super SC Ultra
Ryzen 3600x + Noctua NH-U12S
16GB 3600mHz DDR4 RAM
1TB NVMe SSD
EVGA BQ 650W PSU

I built my computer maybe 3 months ago and have been using it since, without any problems at all. I was using my computer without any issues all weekend, when after turning it on yesterday afternoon and firing up Metro Exodus, I encountered an alarming "buzzing" or "crackling" noise as soon as the main menu loaded, which wasn't ever there before. I didn't manipulate the computer or do anything out of the ordinary between those two uses (Between when the noise was there and when it wasn't).

Here is a short video I took, to demonstrate:

View: https://youtu.be/how6YeYr_r4


I cleaned out all of my fans, and found that the noise still occurred. Also, during initial start up of my computer when all of the computer's fans run for a brief period, there was no noise present.

At first, I thought that the sound was coming out of the PSU. I replaced the PSU with a new model and no dice - Still noise present.

I ran a purely CPU benchmark, and the noise did not occur. However, upon running a GPU benchmark like TimeSpy, the noise DID occur. So, I took out my GPU and replaced it as defective. I brought the new model home and slotted it into my computer - STILL noise present.

I then found that as soon as I close whatever program I'm running that's being displayed on the computer, the noise immediately stops - Without a wind down as if it were a defective fan; it stops very abruptly. That led me to believe that it was something electrical. Putting my ear right up against the back of the computer, I found that the noise seemed to be coming from the I/O panel.

Next, I found that when I yank my computer's HDMI cable out of the GPU output slot, the noise ceases. I therefore quickly replaced my HDMI cable and still - noise present. I even tried rebooting my computer using the DisplayPort output, and STILL - noise present.

What in the heck could be going on??? I should stress that my GPU performance and CPU performance remain good, as demonstrated by this Userbenchmark score: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/30184961. Furthermore, I'll add that there are no visual artifacts on my monitor or noise artifacts from my speaker. I have no idea what could have precipitated this literally in an instant a few days ago, not to mention that replacement of both the GPU and the PSU did not fix the issue. Is this something I can just ignore?

Please help TH community. Thanks!

 

[puw2]

That sounds like coil whine to me. It happens when your gpu pushes high framerates and its very common in higher end cards. Nothing to worry about but it is quite annoying.

I have a Vega 56 which had absurd coilwhine when it first arrived but now the coil whine isnt present if the card isnt drawing like +500fps.

Theres no real fix to coil whine but you can try to RMA it if the coil whine is very bad, most companies will give a replacement in a bad case of coil whine but some might say that its not an issue.

It wont harm your gpu or other components in that matter and they will work as they should. Theres nothing wrong with your pc.

 

[dinkycar]

That sounds like coil whine to me. It happens when your gpu pushes high framerates and its very common in higher end cards. Nothing to worry about but it is quite annoying.

I have a Vega 56 which had absurd coilwhine when it first arrived but now the coil whine isnt present if the card isnt drawing like +500fps.

Theres no real fix to coil whine but you can try to RMA it if the coil whine is very bad, most companies will give a replacement in a bad case of coil whine but some might say that its not an issue.

It wont harm your gpu or other components in that matter and they will work as they should. Theres nothing wrong with your pc.

Thanks for the response! I thought it might have been coil whine too, but as I said in my first post I actually did swap out the GPU and the noise still persisted identically to how it was before.

Any other thoughts? I do think that ultimately this noise isn't a sign of anything to worry about since the output, frame rate, temps etc all have stayed normal ever since it began, it's just strange to me that it started completely out of nowhere.