New computer build - noise at startup

[steelwolf73]

Greetings folks, I've read the forums for a few weeks now gathering a lot of the great info posted to build a new system. Here's what I'm working with:

Core 2 Quad 6600
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Motherboard
Evga 640 mb GeForce 8800 GTS Video Card
Corsair XMS2 2GB (2 x 1 GB) 240-pin DDR2 SDRAM 1066 Memory Kit
Sound Blaster X-Fi Sound Card
Antec 900 Case
Corsair 620W Power Supply
Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler
150 GB Raptor X Hard Drive
Samsung Optical Drive

The problem I'm experiencing is a loud constant sound on startup. The CPU cooling fan also would not spin, and I double checked with the stock Intel fan to ensure that wasn't the issue.

I checked to make sure the motherboard was getting power properly through the 12V ATX connector, then tried starting the system up with the 8800 GTS video card removed and the sound went away. It starts up quietly with all fans functioning, including the fan on the CPU cooler, as long as the video card is out. As soon as I reseat it and power up the sound returns. The best way I can describe it is like a bowson's whistle (on power up it goes up to a steady pitch and drops off again when I turn the power off). Is this a sign of a bad GPU? I don't have another computer with a PCI-E slot to compare the card with, nor do I have another PCI-E.

Any suggestions on how to remedy the issue or on better troubleshooting or a course of action would be appreciated. I've worked on computer upgrades before but this is my first time assembling one from scratch.

 

[montag451]

Sounds more like a dodgy fan -
and just check that no cables are brushing against any fans.

 

[steelwolf73]

I answered my own question this morning, but in case anyone else runs into the same question:

The continuous long beep means the graphics card isn't seated properly.

I had another appropriate motherboard so I wired that one up with the basics, and the 8800 GTS card produces the same failure on the other motherboard. On closer inspection I can see that one of the fingers is damaged on the video card, which potentially is contributing to the issue.

Since both motherboards have no issue with the video card off, and both have a continuous long beep when it's installed, I'm going to RMA the video card.