Weird Computer Scratching Noise

[James_433]

Hello!

For about a week, my computer has made a scratching sound on and off. An example of what I've been hearing can be found at this link: https://youtu.be/a0yT4jGiN8w

I thought it may had been my fans, so I used some silicone lubricant in all of the bearings, but that hasn't fixed it.

The hardware in my PC is:
Intel i5 6400 2.7ghz - 2 years old
Corsair h80i Water Cooling - 2 years old
msi dual fan Gtx 1050ti - 3 months old
wd black 500gb - 2 years old
samsung evo 120gb ssd - 1 year old
16gb corsair vengeance ddr4 ram - 1 year old
msi b150a motherboard - 2 years old
corsair cx500m power supply - 2 years old
rosewill networking card - 1 year old

Any insight into this issue would be much appreciated. My current theory is that there could be an issue with the HDD, which is easily replaceable, and that's the only other moving part besides the fans that I could think of, but I haven't been able to find any other people having scratching noises in their HDD enclosure though.

 

[Lutfij]

You may want to keep an ear out and isolate the source of that sound. Seems to me like it could be the bearing inside the pump/block brushing up against the inner housing. I'm kind of worried seeing that PSU in that case, IMHO. Are all your fans free from dust/debris/dust bunnies?

 

[James_433]

What do you mean by the bearing inside the pump or block? Do you think it's the PSU that needs to be replaced? All of my fans are 100% clear of dust and debris as I just completely took apart my computer and put it back together yesterday trying to find the sound.

EDIT: Do you mean the CPU cooler? I was thinking about putting the stock cooler on and running that to see how it works. Something I neglected to include in the first post was that this noise only comes on once I've opened up a game like the Sims or Minecraft, as well as having Spotify, Discord, and Chrome open. It doesn't happen when the computer isn't being stressed at all (such as sitting at idle)