Annoying whine emanating from brand new desktop

fd9

Member
Nov 26, 2007
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There is a very annoying whine emanating from the computer, like at a high-pitched frequency. Once the fans slow down, you can really hear it. I first thought it was the CPU's power-saving mode, because it sounded a lot like the whine that my laptop used to make. But even after disabling the power-saving features in the BIOS, it hasn't gone away. (I disabled both C1E and EIST). It's definitely NOT coming from the hard drive, because I put my ear as close as I could with the case open to see where it was coming from.

Now here's the interesting part. I don't hear it all the time, for example when I'm in the BIOS it's silent. But here's what's REALLY interesting: Whenever I start up a new an application, it stops whining for a split second. Like say I load Firefox, then it stops whining for about a second (the time it takes for Firefox to load). This leaves me to believe that it IS the CPU and is the same problem that I used to have in my laptop. Has anyone else had this problem before in their desktops? I've only heard about this issue on laptops...Please help, it's VERY annoying!

My specs are:

E4500
Gigabyte P35-DS3L motherboard
Corsair 450VX PSU
8800GT
 

cprince

Senior member
May 8, 2007
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I'm thinking it's the power supply, especially when yours is only 450W and you have a 8800GT.
 

cprince

Senior member
May 8, 2007
963
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Originally posted by: fd9
I don't think so. I did my research, and a 450VX is plenty.

That does not mean that it can't go bad. The thing that makes me think that it's the PSU is that the switching frequency of most switching power supplies is around 20KHz, which is at the high threshold of human hearing. If you have other accessories like cold cathode lamb, then the noise could come from its power supply.
 

fd9

Member
Nov 26, 2007
29
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The thing is brand new, so I really doubt it's the PSU, unless it was defective. And if it was the PSU like you say, that still wouldn't explain why the noise goes away for an instant when loading applications...it just seems really weird.
 

cprince

Senior member
May 8, 2007
963
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Originally posted by: fd9
The thing is brand new, so I really doubt it's the PSU, unless it was defective. And if it was the PSU like you say, that still wouldn't explain why the noise goes away for an instant when loading applications...it just seems really weird.

It could be different power load level. Try running orthos to put a load on the CPU to see if the sound goes away.
 

fd9

Member
Nov 26, 2007
29
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I tried prime95 instead, and as expected, the whine stopped while it was stress-testing. So what exactly does this mean? PSU or CPU? I think I need to look more carefully at my BIOS to see if there are any other CPU power-saving options. I might try and see if I can give the CPU constant voltage, regardless of whether or not it's idle. That might do the trick. Any other ideas?
 

oynaz

Platinum Member
May 14, 2003
2,449
2
81
Sounds like a bad capacitor, either in the PSU or on the mobo.
BTW, 450 watt is plenty for your system, but the PSU can still be faulty.
 

fd9

Member
Nov 26, 2007
29
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0
Alright, here's something quite bizarre that I noticed: When I right click on a file or a folder, the whine stops as long as the right-click menu is active. Out of curiosity, I loaded up CPU-Z and saw that when I right click on something, my CPU multiplier changes from 6x to 11x and my CPU voltage jumps up .1 volts. That's strange...windows must be doing something CPU-intensive to show that darn right click menu! Ok, whatever. So I go into the BIOS, set my multiplier to 11x manually (and bumped up the voltage a little), but guess what - it doesn't work. When I restarted after saving the BIOS settings, I saw the CPU-Z correctly showed the 11x multiplier, but the wine is STILL there!

I fooled around in the BIOS a bit, but nothing helped the whine. I even tried to do a little overclock by bumping the FSB clock from 200 Mhz to 210 Mhz, which should have bumped me up from 2.2 to 2.3 @ 11x. But when I restarted, the computer failed to POST 3 times in a row (which freaked me out a little bit) but fortunately it finally passed the POST. I checked the BIOS just to make sure the settings got saved and they did. However, CPU-Z still shows 2.2 @ 11x. So I'm unsure why I can't change CPU frequency (I doubled checked to make sure all power-saving features were turned off as well).

What the heck is going on guys?! The only times the whine is gone is when:

- I right click on a file or folder, except on the desktop (don't ask...I don't understand it either).
- When I'm in the BIOS
- When I'm doing something CPU-intensive
 

Old Hippie

Diamond Member
Oct 8, 2005
6,361
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FD, I've read about the exact same PS noises before. Sometimes a funky (not broken, still workable, just a bad component) PS, sometimes just a quirk between PS and the MB.

You have two choices, RMA the PS and hope for a better unit, or go with a different PS Manfg.

Good Luck!
 

bruceb

Diamond Member
Aug 20, 2004
8,874
111
106
I agree ... If the power supply is still under warranty then by all means send it back.
It could be an electrical defect in the switching oscillator, which can cause it to fail.
Or if could be nothing more than a capacitor not up to snuff or an inductor where the
windings were not properly secured .. Also the torrid that the inductors are wound on
usually are secured to the board so they do not make noise.