Thermal paste prob?

davaitele

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Apr 14, 2010
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Hi there, just changed a mobo on the computer (ta790gxe 128m with phenom 955) and when I turned it on, I hear this high pitch noise, like the kind CRT's emit.

I used some dynex silver thermal compound i had left from a few years ago... I know it's electrically conductive, so is it possible it's snorting something out? I didn't really put too much... about two grain sizes on the heat sink and one 1.5 on the cpu, and spread them out pretty evenly. Is it possible the noise is from anything of that sort?

I'm thinking it might be from the new mobo as well, but it sure sounds like it's from around the processor. (I'm sure it's not from a fan, I've tried changing them)

Oh, and is it a sure deal something will burn up?




Thanx for your time.
 

Collie147

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Not sure what that is. I would've suggested a fan because it's high pitch, as anything I've known that has a loose connection either crackles or if there is a lot of power it tends to hum. I dont have that mobo, so I couldn't tell you if there is a general high pitch whine.
 

moody89

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It's not really heard of that thermal paste or its application can cause any noise really. How are your temps looking?

HWMonitor:

HWMonitor from CPUID is a good utility for monitoring all of your hardware and will also show you the temperatures of most of your components:

http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

It could just be that something is loose, that's usually the reason for any noise like that. Check your temps when at idle and at load and we'll go from there. Hope this helps!
 

davaitele

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The temps look alright. In the bios it says 42 C avg @ about 28C ambient temp. I haven't checked while it's running yet, it's a friend's comp and I set him Core Temp, he should post me with some readings soon.

The voltage and frequency are alright... So I doubt it's from the processor. And it didn't make that noise on the previous mobo.
 

davaitele

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Could be, the guy's bringing it over tom. so I'll take a look at it. Are capacitors the typical source of that type of sound? I know they make a very similar sound on older cameras when they are charging for the flash...
 

Look

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Mar 15, 2010
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If you only changed the motherboard and processor, and ruled out everything but those two parts, I would assume it would be a capacitor. You said it sounds like it was coming from the processor, I would assume it was from one of the capacitors in the top-left by the CPU then.
 

davaitele

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Thank you very much for the info and your time :). I will make sure to take a close look at any capacitors near the cpu. Would I be able to notice any physical damage to it? Like would it be bloated or something?
 

Look

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Bulging can occur on a failing capacitor, as well as leaking. Think of it kind of like a battery, it can look the same. There might be a bit of residue on the board as well if the capacitor has totally failed. I am not sure exactly how damaged it may be, since it is still making the sound, I am not sure if it would be fully failed or not.
 

davaitele

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K, so I took a look at it, and I have isolated the sound from a spot of around 1 square inch near the cpu. It has a bunch of capacitors and some components in black casing, not sure what those are, but I'm almost positive the sound is coming from there. Tried making a probe with a microphone and a straw but that didn't work out too well... lol.

So I guess the mobo will get replaced...
 

Look

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Ahh, sounds to me like it would be the capacitors directly to the left of the CPU, directly behind the heatsink. Is the motherboard under warranty still?
 

davaitele

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Indeed it is, it's only a few days old (luckily the noise came at the first start up), so we'll just RMA it.

You konw, when I first installed it, I noticed the bottom half of the board was bent at about 10-15 degrees up, didn't think much of it at the time, but I'm wondering if the stress on the circuitry has something to do with the caps not working right.
 

Look

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The stress could have something to do with it, I am no engineering professional, so it would just be an assumption. Let us know what happens when you get the new board. Hopefully things are good to go, I don't know what the chances of having two faulty boards in a row would be. I had good luck with my last Biostar board, so hopefully you just got a bad board in the bunch.
 

davaitele

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So I got the board in, put it together, noise still there! Decided to do some serious testing... Changed the PSU with mine (abs. same), noise still there, changed the ram... still there. So after a lot of playing around I decided to put my X2 6000+ instead of the phenom just to see what would happen.

I put it in and the noise was gonnnneee! So now it was down to the heat sink or the processor and after about a 1/4 stick of thermal paste and a lot of nerves, it turns out it's from the processor! Holy balls was I relieved to figure out where it came from, but sadly it comes from a bad place :(. So since the comp works fine, and the phenom has 3yers warranty AND the guy can't hear it since he's older and can't hear that spectrum of frequencies we decided to leave it alone, if it fries, we'll change it.

Odd outcome though... It makes the noise, but now it's only when it's thinking, not constantly like with the other mobo.
 

Look

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Hmm, that is really odd. I have never heard of a CPU actually making physical noise, I figured it must have been one of the capacitors.

Did you use the same heatsink with the X2 6000+ as with your current 955?
 

davaitele

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I did tests with both heat sinks, and as long as the Phenom is in there it makes noise. I suppose it could still have something to do with the mobo since the phenom uses dual power plane tech and the x2 doesn't. But I have not other processor of that sort to test with, so that's all the info I can get for now :p

Thanks for all your time, it's much appreciated.