Playing Tomb Raider (Reboot) Sets Off Annoying Screeching Alarm in PC.

[Davidh373]

My Gaming rig seems to be whining about something, especially while playing Tomb Raider. It is a long high pitched whine coming from somewhere inside the tower after about a minute of gameplay. I thought it was the fire ALARM! (except it was one long beep.) I relaunched the game, and it started again. I alt-tab, and the problem instantly goes away. I tab in, start playing, and it starts again.

I've just bought the game on sale from Amazon, and registered the key with Steam. The game is running smoothly the whole time. First I monitored Temps. CPU temp was around 68c during gameplay, and GPU temp was around 50c. Performance Monitor was at about 78% for CPU, and ~5.5GB RAM. I've checked in the BIOS for my board, and no alarms are set to sound in the event of... well... anything... No certain temperature. Quite recently I changed out my Antec BP430 PSU for a Corsair CX500M, and an SSD in the place where my 1TB Samsung HDD used to be. I have to admit, I haven't played much since, but I played a bit of BF3 before tonight, and after the problem presented itself I played Max Payne 3, Metro 2033, and Skyrim. I played each for about a half hour, and nothing. If I had to guess, it's the PSU based on what I've read, but it seems odd since I've tested my system under load in other games, and nothing.

It's weird that motherboard beeps or hardware problems would disappear the moment I alt-tab. I would think if it was a problem with the psu or mobo it wouldn't just stop, and it would start squealing in other games after a period of load.

I'm off work early in the afternoon tomorrow, so I'll probably be checking back around 4pm eastern. I appreciate any and all help. It's a very weird problem...

 

[Davidh373]

Just to add to the things that would possibly cause this issue... My DVD drive is going ballistic with some weird whining and stuff. I don't know how that could be connected to the issue aside from some weird glitch, but hey. It varies in pitch, but it's the closest sound to the sound that's WAAAAY louder when playing Tomb Raider. So tomorrow that's the first thing I'll try. If you guys have other things it may be, please let me know. Really, since this is an isolated issue, I'm more interested in figuring out what the heck it is than worrying about it.

I'm prepared for it to be a cap going bad, or a defective PSU, but darn... Wouldn't it be funny if it ends up being the DVD Drive?

 

[Zorander]

Sounds like coil whine coming either from your PSU or GPU. I find TR uses up quite a lot of GPU power (and consequently higher demand on the PSU). Skyrim (don't know about BF3 or MP3) does not draw as much power. Your system possibly is 'screaming' at the high power load demanded by TR.

You can check if the noise is caused by either your optical drive or HDD by disconnecting them from the system while you play. I don't think they are the culprit but it's worth checking.

 

[mfenn]

Agree with Zorander, sounds like coil whine to me. Stick your head inside your case and see if you can figure out what part it's coming from.

 

[Davidh373]

I literally can't do that. It's so loud I'd go deaf if I got any closer. Since the PSU I just bought has been changed so recently, I returned it. I was at day 28 for my return to Amazon, and I didn't want to risk a lengthy RMA process with Corsair. So I didn't have much time to troubleshoot. I'm getting a refund and getting a Corsair 650TX I've already ordered. My GPU has been at full load in other games just fine. Could be the Motherboard I suppose, but I'll have to check that when the new PSU arrives Monday Night.

 

[mfenn]

I see. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Davidh373]

I see. Let us know how it goes.

I feel so awful... I think I just returned a perfectly good PSU. I have a battery backup (UPS) and PCPer just had the same problem on their ASUS 4k monitor review... The exact same sound and everything... Link to the time in the video below...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa-D...obEQL6EyiAq0w&feature=player_embedded#t=3866s

 

[mfenn]

Aha! See you should have stuck your head inside the case after all! That would have let you know that the sound wasn't coming from in there. Oh well, at least you figured it out.

Amazon will take a small hit on the return. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it if I were you because acted in good faith.

 

[Davidh373]

And I'm getting a better PSU. Prolly going to run more efficiently. Meh... Too bad I can't use the UPS on the tower though. The point was to have the battery be an additional buffer between the wall and my computer in the event of a surge...

 

[Davidh373]

I think I'm being punished by the electronic Gods... The Corsair 650TX kicked out on me after a full 3 minutes of use at 4:00am... Unplugged everything, plugged it back in. Made sure I/O from the case was all seated correctly to insure the power switch worked, and plugged it into a different outlet. Nothing was successful. I left testing it plugged into the workstation until earlier today, and got the same results. Plugged the original PSU back in, powered up just fine. I'm hoping the next 650TX I get lasts... and I'm hoping Amazon is going to do a same for same exchange without me having to wait for a refund.

 

[sm625]

wow... yes never spite a perfectly good psu, or the next one you get will be a DOA.

 

[Davidh373]

I have my new TX650 installed. Everything ran fine overnight downloading my Steam games I've purchased during the sale. I'm starting to think I need a new case and some decent SATA III cables. Half of the SATA cables in this build are broken, and this case has nowhere to run anything. So that will be next month's journey. Thank you all!