- Jul 7, 2008
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I've had multiple computers with video cards exhibiting this strange noise. It's not uncommon, and when I see threads about it, many people are quick to pin it on a bad power supply or insufficient power.
Then I learned that it's usually just the sound of voltage flowing through the capacitors or something, particularly in some games or applications where the framerate is uncapped and you're being shown simple menus or logo graphics. When the framerate spikes up to sometimes over 1000frames/second in these cases, the funny voltage noises become more prominent.
My current computer is not an exception. Games like F.E.A.R. and Just Cause 2 (just to name a couple off the top of my head), with vertical sync turned off, definitely create a noticeable video card noise in the main menus before actually playing the game. My computer is up on top of my desk and pretty close to my head so I can easily distinguish different noises coming from the tower.
My question is why am I actually beginning to notice the same noises when I'm not even in a game, but just doing simple stuff on my desktop?
While doing homework, I had 3 windows open that I was resizing so they could all fit on the screen at once. I noticed, for two seconds, that I would hear noises when I was resizing windows. I let go of the mouse, and the noise went away. Curious, I grabbed the corner of the window again and resized it. While dragging, the video card again made a noise (not really squealing, but more of a tiny "beeping"). It beeped in rhythm to me dragging the corner of the window off-and-on. I went into Catalyst to see if overclocking made a difference, or setting it back to normal clocks, and it doesn't seem to matter. In case anyone's wondering I use CCC to do relatively minor and simple overclocks.
So, are there any other people who have experienced this, are knowledgeable, and can shed some light on it? These are *very* minor electrical noises we're talking about here, but when you're OCD like me and you have your computer close to your ears, it kind of makes you worry. My computer's specs are in my signature, but I had a Nvidia card too that would exhibit electrical squealing.
However, this is the first time I've heard it while just sitting on the desktop and moving things around. Again, any input would be helpful. Also, correct me if I'm wrong anywhere... I'm not really electrically oriented. Thanks.
Then I learned that it's usually just the sound of voltage flowing through the capacitors or something, particularly in some games or applications where the framerate is uncapped and you're being shown simple menus or logo graphics. When the framerate spikes up to sometimes over 1000frames/second in these cases, the funny voltage noises become more prominent.
My current computer is not an exception. Games like F.E.A.R. and Just Cause 2 (just to name a couple off the top of my head), with vertical sync turned off, definitely create a noticeable video card noise in the main menus before actually playing the game. My computer is up on top of my desk and pretty close to my head so I can easily distinguish different noises coming from the tower.
My question is why am I actually beginning to notice the same noises when I'm not even in a game, but just doing simple stuff on my desktop?
While doing homework, I had 3 windows open that I was resizing so they could all fit on the screen at once. I noticed, for two seconds, that I would hear noises when I was resizing windows. I let go of the mouse, and the noise went away. Curious, I grabbed the corner of the window again and resized it. While dragging, the video card again made a noise (not really squealing, but more of a tiny "beeping"). It beeped in rhythm to me dragging the corner of the window off-and-on. I went into Catalyst to see if overclocking made a difference, or setting it back to normal clocks, and it doesn't seem to matter. In case anyone's wondering I use CCC to do relatively minor and simple overclocks.
So, are there any other people who have experienced this, are knowledgeable, and can shed some light on it? These are *very* minor electrical noises we're talking about here, but when you're OCD like me and you have your computer close to your ears, it kind of makes you worry. My computer's specs are in my signature, but I had a Nvidia card too that would exhibit electrical squealing.
However, this is the first time I've heard it while just sitting on the desktop and moving things around. Again, any input would be helpful. Also, correct me if I'm wrong anywhere... I'm not really electrically oriented. Thanks.