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High pitch sound coming from memory chips

O

oko

Member
Hi,

By utilizing the tactics I read from this forum, I now have a very silent PC.
(I changed the fan in the Enermax power supply with a papst 12dB,
changed CPU heatsink to AX-7 and installed another papst 12dB on it).
But now an annoying high-picth sound is coming from the memory chips.
The sound changes when scrolling up-down especially in Internet Explorer.

To find this out, I opened the case, disconnected all hard drivers and CPU
fan. When I take out the memory chips (I have 2 256MB DDRs), the sound just
goes away.

My MB is a k7s5a.

Any ideas?
 
Not exactly. Before every move, I powered it off.
i.e. Powered off, disconnected hard disk 1, powered
on, still the sound. Powered off, disconnected CPU fan,
powered on, sound is still there. Finally removed one
memory stick, the sound was less, removed both,
and the sound just went away!
 
Hmmm that seems strange. However if you're 100% sure that it's the memory then it's likely that they were seated correctly on the MB and the noise you were hearing was some kind of arcing across the contacts. Try reseating them. Or try temporarily switching to SDRAM instad of DDR (or vice versa) just as an experiment (since your K7S5A will take both).

Thorin
 

Memory introducing noise elswhere in the system?

Try leaving your memory in and disconnecting your onboard speaker instead. If you have one of those really little speakers actually mounted to your mobo this may not be an option.
 
so you removed both of your memory sticks and the sound went away? You don't say. Could that be because your system then had no memory and wouldn't post? Just a thought.
 
strange ... very strange. Maybe some demon got gated into one of the chips and is crying out for sweet baby jesus to save him?

🙂
 
I too have this high pitch sound. My motherboard is GigaByte Ga-8ihxp that uses RDRAM.
I'm not sure if it is the ram though but it does sound like it when on the net and something is accessing ram but it sound like its right in the center of thr board sometimes I think its the processer or the chipset.
I don't like it. I would have to say this motherboard is the worst I ever had. The ATA 100 is slow also. Benching the file transfer test using Snadra I get 19.198kb/s,should be 30kb/s. MY HD is a WD 7200 80gig special. I think I have to talk to Kingston and or Gigabyte abut the high pitch and the HD drive issue.
 
i think its the processor. change it and see what happens. I changed mine and i hear nothing but fans.
 
Thanks for all suggestions. I'll try disconnecting the case speaker, but
I'm 99.9% sure that the noise is coming from the area where memory and
CPU sits (spent half an hour listening the open case). thorin: I think they
are very well seated. I would love to test it with SDRAM but I don't have available
right now. Pink0: You may be right about the non-post when removing the
memories. If you are right, then the problem can be what Byte mentions:
the processor. Since they are very close, I may have thought that the sound
is coming from memory sticks instead of CPU.

I think my best option is waiting for nforce2 + Athlon throughbred revision B,
and hoping that the noise will just go away with these new MB+CPU.
 
Maybe the CPU fan? Those are typically pretty high RPM to make up for the smaller size than case fans.

Memory has no moving parts to be making sound....

The change in sound when scrolling suggests it could be the monitor.

Try increasing the horizontal sync width slightly in powerstrip & see if that changes it.
 
I have a system that did the same thing. I figured it was the CPU fan speeding up a bit when it hits full load. I saw no reason why it would do that, but it's the only thing I could think of that made sense. If you have smooth scrolling enabled it does something funky with the CPU, either throttles it or puts it under load, and scrolling in IE is when the sound was most noticable to me. I have since changed heatsinks and don't use that computer that much anymore, but I haven't noticed the sound since the fan swap.
 
Memory simply isn't capable of emitting noises, but, what I suspect is happening (especially since you say the noise was less with only one stick) is that those memory modules are putting stress on the motherboards power regulation circuitry.

The reason I say this is because, electrolytic capacitors (the small "tin cans" you see on boards) certainly can whine, especially when they are being stressed.

the main function these capacitors play is in smoothing out the power, so you may need to check your power supply is functioning properly.

Greg
 
Could you try to hold the memory still while the computer is running? Could be that the memory or the actual sockets for them are vibrating because of the fan...
 
Hmmm. My first guess would have been the bearing in the CPU fan was bad (unless your fan doesn't have bearings, of course).
 
Memory simply isn't capable of emitting noises, but, what I suspect is happening (especially since you say the noise was less with only one stick) is that those memory modules are putting stress on the motherboards power regulation circuitry.

The reason I say this is because, electrolytic capacitors (the small "tin cans" you see on boards) certainly can whine, especially when they are being stressed.

the main function these capacitors play is in smoothing out the power, so you may need to check your power supply is functioning properly.

Greg
Click to expand...


Based on some reading I just did because of this post Greg's advice sounds very solid. It could be that the power supply you are using is providing poorly regulated power and the board has to compensate or that ECS's use of cheap components is directly affecting you.
 
I agree on this also I have a different motherboard and rdram but have the same high pitch noise. It sounds like a switiching PS when loaded down to much. I may try a new supply because I know my was cheap Compusa had a good sale. But I don't rule out the motherboard also or the CPU. I will try all of these steps until I get the answer. I am RMA the motherboard now just in case it that, in the mean time I think I'll replace the PS tonight. Sure whish I had another processor to try.
 
I've got this SAME exact thing. But the scrolling in Internet Explorer is causing your CPU utilization to go up, and I'm almost positive that's the culprit.

Run Seti or something and you can constantly hear it.

I've just had to live with it since the only way to get rid of it is to take the memory out. :|

BTW - I think it actually comes from the voltage regulators around the socket/ram slots, not the actual stick of ram.

edit - forgot to say I'm running a 1.6A Northwood on an EPoX 4BDA board.
 
For those who says it may be monitor or CPU fan: No, it's
definitely not. It's not a mechanical sound, and monitor and
CPU fan was off when I was working on it. And I have a high
quality (enermax) power supply and according to MBM5, the
voltages are quite healthy. As Def says, it may
be coming from the voltage regulators around the socket/ram slots,
not the actual stick of ram. So now there are two candidates
(if we exclude alkemyst's demon theorem 🙂, either CPU is doing this
as Byte says, or the voltage regulators around the socket/ram.

 
Def: I have the same mobo and proc and I get the same thing. I didn't hear it when it was in the case, but now that I took my computer out of it's case and mounted it into my desk, I totally hear it. Damn... Maybe it's time to get a new mobo..

My desk/computer as it probably would help to have a pic to explain.. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: lung
Def: I have the same mobo and proc and I get the same thing. I didn't hear it when it was in the case, but now that I took my computer out of it's case and mounted it into my desk, I totally hear it. Damn... Maybe it's time to get a new mobo..

My desk/computer as it probably would help to have a pic to explain.. 🙂
Click to expand...

Oh man, big points for cleverness....computer desk hehehe COMPUTER DESK. Well done.
 
OKO and DEF I found the problem that fixed my high pitch noise. Funny because now I can hear the CPU fan running quiet but its the only noise I hear. The problem is the case power supply and maybe the extra connector that has 4 pins to go to the mb. Here is whai I have the Gigabyte 8ihxp ver 2 , processor 2.4 and 512rdram 80g WD HD. My case is about 3 yrs old with a 250w Enhance PS, but it didn't have the extra 4 pin connector. I bought some Compusa PS some back in Feb. They had a sale on their 300w PS for $20 I bought 2 at that time for spares and now of used them up. I just replaced it and plugged it the extra connector to the mb and its as quiet as a mouse....NO MORE HIGH PITCH NOISE! So try another PS.
 
Good thread people.

What we're hearing now is high frequency harmonics. Between the high frequency switching of the Power Supply and the higher speeds of the busses on the Motherboard, the electronics are actually generating enough harmonics in the audible range for us to hear. It is the same as some people that are able to hear the 19K harmonics given off by a TV set that those people that do hear it can tell whether a TV has been turned on or off nearby.
 
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