[Solved, GTX 680 not the cause] weird noise?

[railven]

EDIT Update:

Definitely not the GPU, seems to be the H50 radiator/pump. Thread name updated. Thanks for the quick responses, now to make the noise go away!


Well, I've been trying to diagnose a problem, figured I'd post real quick see if anyone experienced it and save me the hassle of having to dismantle her rig:

Intel Core i7 930 @ 3.6ghz
EVGA GTX 680 2GB
ASRock X58 Extreme board
3x2GB Black Pi

Fans:
panel: CM 120 attached by zip tie (the slot is for a 90mm, I had a spare 120 stuck it there long time ago)
Front: 2x CM 120
Chimney: CM 120
Exhaust: 1xCM 120 + 1xCorsair 120 mounted on Corsair H50 (push/pull)

Okay, so the issue started relatively soon (possibly today) since I'm usually very anal about noise and once I heard it I started investigating it.

It's a low clicking sound, first thought was something touching a spinning fan blade. After inspecting all the fans I saw nothing, I double checked the screws for anything loose, an I disconnected the panel fan since it isn't properly secured. The noise persisted.

The noise seems to be more persistent when playing a game (Tera is what we've been playing lately.) It gets rather loud (clearly audible over all her fans) and when she exits the game the sound goes away.

I'm starting to think it is GPU related. I checked the fans saw no visible obstructing and nothing at the exhaust.

At this point outside of tearing the rig apart (which is too late to do now) I'm fresh out of ideas. Anyone know of any known EVGA Ref GTX 680's having fan issues?

Thanks in advance.

 

[kami]

Are you sure its not the H50 pump? Here's a youtube video with the noise... http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=nFC4peQfvlo#t=14s

Had this noise myself with an H80 before...only way to cure it was to run the pump at a slightly lower voltage (or RMA it).

Only way to be 100% sure is to pop in another card if you have one and see.

 

[Jaydip]

I have a ASUS ref Gtx 680 and have never encountered this issue.How is ur temps?

 

[blackened23]

I'd probably remove the shroud and check things out....they're pretty easy to move off nvidia cards, you need a torx 6 I believe. No harm in doing it as long as you have some spare TIM lying around, EVGA doesn't void warranties for messing with the shroud.

 

[guskline]

Does the clicking occur with the side panel off? The reason I say is this happened to me when I realized that one of the power cords was too near one of the fans when the panel was on and it kept hitting it. I would play the game with the sidepanel off and see if it is clicking.

 

[Rvenger]

Blower fans can get a little clicky as they age. I had a GTX 480 that clicked at idle.

 

[toyota]

my gtx260 reference blower cooler never made any weird noises in the nearly 3 years I had it.

 

[railven]

Are you sure its not the H50 pump? Here's a youtube video with the noise... http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=nFC4peQfvlo#t=14s

Had this noise myself with an H80 before...only way to cure it was to run the pump at a slightly lower voltage (or RMA it).

Only way to be 100% sure is to pop in another card if you have one and see.

Yes, that seems to be the noise. I had suspicions of the radiator/pump but of course I couldn't just disconnect it to test. Also, when I'd lean closer to try to hear the noise and pin point, it seemed to come from the GPU (with the two being so close, simple way to confuse the two.)

That setup is going on...2+ years old now. Not sure how long they are rated for, but if it persists guess I'll be swapping it out.

I have a ASUS ref Gtx 680 and have never encountered this issue.How is ur temps?

Temps were fine, which is why I was baffled and it happened more when she played a PC game (Tera is the current game.)

Does the clicking occur with the side panel off? The reason I say is this happened to me when I realized that one of the power cords was too near one of the fans when the panel was on and it kept hitting it. I would play the game with the sidepanel off and see if it is clicking.

The clicking persisted after I disabled all the fans I could, naturally I couldn't disable the radiator setup since the chip is OC'ed.




I tried to list as much info as I could because I was almost positive it wasn't the GPU (too new to give us issues) and it was kind of late so I just wanted to troubleshoot what I could. Thanks for that youtube video, that is most definitely the noise.

The board is auto-OC'ed, which tends to run the volts a little higher than needed, guess I'll just drop the OC a tad or manually lock it somewhere with less volts.

Thanks again guys

 

[Ferzerp]

Have you powered it off and back on again? I've had my pump start making noise on one, and it disappeared once it was stopped and restarted. It sounded a bit like cavitation.

 

[Jaydip]

Glad u got it sorted rail

 

[Don Karnage]

Had the same noise with the H70

 

[notty22]

Sometimes just turning it off and on will stop noises. Cavitation, air in water lines can make noises, lot's of them. Had the pipes to my upstairs go in to a water hammer effect- rattle from air in the lines. Thought I was going to have to call the fire department, until I figured out what it was.