Question What causes my PC to make a constant noise that alternates its pitch, correlating to my mouse location in game?

[TimLoewe]

Today I noticed that when I start a game that is GPU heavy enough for my fans to kick in a little audibly, there is a constant high pitched noise that changes its pitch relative to my current mouse position in game. If I move left and right it goes lower then higher in pitch, if I hold still it stays the same. So it definitely isn't a standard coil whine or SSD noise, since it correlates directly to my mouse position in game. I don't hear this noise outside of games and prior to today I have not noticed it. Again, it is pretty loud, so I think I would have noticed. I'll give you a bit of information on my PC system now.

My PC consists of an i5-10400F, an RX580 and two SSDs. I recently bought a new SSD (WD Black SN770) and migrated my OS to it. Before then I didn't notice this issue. Only after installing the new SSD. This obviously leads me to believe that the SSD could be the causing factor here, but I have never heard of anything, nor found anything online, that resembles my problem, being caused by an SSD. Also, other SSD intensive tasks without involving the GPU don't create the noise.

My question is, if anybody knows what could cause this issue and which component of my PC is responsible for it. Should be either the SSD or the GPU, but I'm not sure.

Thanks for anybody, who'll decide to help me with this. I tried to solve it by switching the SSD Ports and removing, then reinstalling the GPU already, but so far nothing has worked.

 

[Metal Messiah.]

Have you also checked your current Power Supply unit for any issues ? What's the make/brand and exact model number of your PSU ? I doubt this might be related to the SSD though.

What is the GPU usage and temp value while gaming ? And also of the CPU.

 

[Eximo]

Mouse related coil whine is a thing. I have it on my laptop and custom desktop. Just in windows or using a browser if I concentrate I can hear it every time I move the mouse around.

It heavily relates to the polling rate and DPI of your mouse, at least from what I have noticed. Pretty sure it is GPU related on my PC and possibly CPU VRM related on my laptop. (Though the laptop does have a tiny Nvidia GPU as well)

Try a cheap plug-in mouse if you have one, if it goes away then you have your answer.

 

[TimLoewe]

Have you also checked your current Power Supply unit for any issues ? What's the make/brand and exact model number of your PSU ? I doubt this might be related to the SSD though.

What is the GPU usage and temp value while gaming ? And also of the CPU.

Checked the GPU usage while playing and it was above 95%. Then fiddled a bit with the video settings and noticed that in this particular game (Valorant) capping the fps at 60fps relieved my GPU by a huge amount. The GPU usage stayed at around 40% and the noise disappeared. I realized that I didn't notice the noise before, because any other game doesn't create it on my PC. Even The Witcher at max settings didn't. Don't quite understand why that is, but my issue is solved for now, so I couldn't be happier about it Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

 

[TimLoewe]

Mouse related coil whine is a thing. I have it on my laptop and custom desktop. Just in windows or using a browser if I concentrate I can hear it every time I move the mouse around.

It heavily relates to the polling rate and DPI of your mouse, at least from what I have noticed. Pretty sure it is GPU related on my PC and possibly CPU VRM related on my laptop. (Though the laptop does have a tiny Nvidia GPU as well)

Try a cheap plug-in mouse if you have one, if it goes away then you have your answer.

You were right, it was the GPU and also about the mouse related coil whine. Never heard of this and I didn't notice it on other machines before, but I managed to fix it by simply capping the FPS at 60 and giving the GPU more headroom. Thanks for your help