motherboard starts whining after clearing CMOS and installing SSD

[Murloc]

the 2 things in the title are the only changes.

Here's how it goes:
1. it whines when the browser is open or if I run an HDD benchmark
2. the whine stops if I run SuperPi while the browser is running
3. reading PDF and using word doesn't cause whistling
4. skype causes whistle when in a conversation
5. sometimes it stops even while using firefox, the sound is a continous whine, except when I start the computer where it's a bit more creative for a few seconds.

I'm thinking it's the motherboard because it's not the SSD for sure and I don't see why the other components would start being noisy now since they're unvariated.

I can't see any coils on this thing, but there are several heatsinks on the mobo.

Specs:
Corsair TX650
Asus P7P55D
Gainward GTX 275
2x2gb kingston hyperx DDR3-1600 8-8-8-24@1.65V
Samsung SSD 840 EVO
Samsung HD502HJ
Intel i5 750 2.67GHz

Warranty has expired and I don't want to change the computer but maybe you'll find the relation between software and noise interesting, or maybe there's some voltage setting that I can change to make it stop.

 

[Ketchup]

Is the whine through the speakers or coming from inside the case?

What makes you think it is the motherboard itself?

If you remove the SSD, does the whining stop?

 

[Murloc]

inside the case, I'm sure it's not the SSD because I tried two of them, and the graphic card has no reason to start whining right now, but the motherboard had various changes applied to it (addition of a SATA device and cmos clear, so voltage changes).
I don't think it's the PSU because the sound comes from the area covered by the big square heatsink:

The sound is clearly coming from the case, the speakers can be turned on, off, the noise is there, and it's localized inside the case to a specific area. And through the in-ear headphones I hear no noise even if I blast the volume.

I haven't tried removing the SSD because I have no OS on the other disk and the sound doesn't start until I load windows.

 

[Alan G]

Could be sporadic coil whine from the PSU.

 

[pctestcardscom]

Both PSU and CPU Fans need to be checked.

May try reseat all parts and change the FAN if possible.

Hope this helps.
Bill
Tech Manager, WPTinc.