cpu makes high pitch noise when being used

[gotskill10]

Hey guys, I have a 2.8 prescott and whever I use the cpu to move windows around or open and close programs, I hear a faint high pitch noise coming from my computer. Do you guys know what this could be and how I could stop it?

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Do you have onboard sound? And is your internal system speaker connected?

It might be noise you are hearing from interference of some sort. Dunno on that, depends what it sounds like.

Does it happen when you run a program that loads the processor without you doing anything? Do your fans change speed or sound? It might be your PSU making noise under different loads - that would sound pretty close to your processor too.

 

[gotskill10]

Do you have onboard sound? And is your internal system speaker connected?

It might be noise you are hearing from interference of some sort. Dunno on that, depends what it sounds like.

Does it happen when you run a program that loads the processor without you doing anything? Do your fans change speed or sound? It might be your PSU making noise under different loads - that would sound pretty close to your processor too.

Well, its kinda high pitch. I do have an internal system speaker . It happens whenever the processor has load on it, so yeah even when I load a program. I dont think its my fan changing speed or sound. They arent connected to the motherboard. I do have onboard sound but i use a soundblaster card, i dont have the drivers installed for the onboard sound.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

I think I was way off base with the interference thing... What brand is your power supply.

The thing that changes when you load the processor is the amount of power your system draws. If you notice a sound under load, that might be an indication that your PSU is whining under the higher load. I don't think this is a good indication for your power supply necessarily, but it might not be real bad either. Do you have a program like motherboard monitor 5 or a similar utility to observe voltage readings on your PSU lines?

BTW, WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!

 

[Airness23]

Its your fan/cpu-fan, since during load they spin faster (more voltage provided) hence the noise

 

[I.M.O.G.]

The voltage to his fans shouldn't change under load though... But there is an easy test for this - when you hear the sound, poke the hub of the fan with your finger and slow the fan down noticeably. Does the sound change and seem like it is coming from the fan?

 

[FIZZ3]

The voltage to his fans shouldn't change under load though... But there is an easy test for this - when you hear the sound, poke the hub of the fan with your finger and slow the fan down noticeably. Does the sound change and seem like it is coming from the fan?

The fan on the CPU is most likely a thermally monitoring one. Like the stock unit on my 3.06 was. This means that it will spin up as heat rises under load, possibly producing the sound. In this case, it's normal and the remedy would be a different fan and/or heatsink.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

GD... Shows how much I know about Intel. Didn't know they were shipping with thermally controlled fans.

I still wonder who quickly the fan responds to load changes though, and how quickly he notices the sound under load. Does the sound start immediately as power consumption would start immediatly? Or is there a slight delay, as it would take the fan a few seconds atleast to notice the higher temperature and for its thermal control to increase the rpms?

 

[gotskill10]

the change is almost instant as soon as their is load on the cpu. I have a raidmax 868 case and a 420W raidmax power supply, the one that comes with the case for those that know about the raidmax scorpio cases. Could it be that?

 

[I.M.O.G.]

I think so, but I dunno really. I think that is the best candidate... It might help to take voltage readings at idle and under load.

 

[cd2k]

I also hear this high pitched sound. I hear it even when just using my scroll button and slowing moving up and down, or slowly dragging any window. It's so soft that I only hear it when I take of the side panel and 2 feet alway with all my fans set at the slowest speed, which are silent. Can't tell where its coming from.

 

[GST-97]

Most 'noise' that you hear has been found to be caused by the inductors (coils) right around the CPU resonating when the power needs change.
Certain motherboards seem to make more noise than others also.

-Chris

 

[gotskill10]

oh so its just my motherboard and I cant stop that?

 

[Flu!d]

I had this problem....

It was my PSU, it was struggeling to keep up and made the same high pitched sound whenever the PC had to 'do something'.

Swaped the PSU with a 450w Antec and the problem is all gone.

Your PSU looks like a fairly cheap brand, I suggest swapping it.

 

[gotskill10]

what do u mean the actual output is 320W on my raidmax. Its really that little??? Which power supply do you guys recommend for like 20 bucks?

 

[GST-97]

If you are even thinking of buying another power supply, and only spending 20 dollars, don't even bother

You won't find anything worth while til at least the 60 dollar mark or so IMO.

If you listen carefully, you should be able to tell if it is coming from your power supply itself. It's possible, but quite a few people, especially with the amount of power the prescott draws have heard this noise.
I hear it once in a great while... not while moving mouse though, and I have a Forton 530W, and it did it with my Antec 350W as well.

But on the AI7 that I have, it has been noticed by a lot of people to make these little wierd noises. But other people with different motherboards have been noticing it recently as well. Most people who do have the noise, don't even notice it over the fan noise, or if their PC isn't close to their ears.

But from everything I have seen, it is not a sign of hardware failure, it is just the inductor getting the right amount of current and it resonates (makes noise)...
So for whatever my $.02 is worth .....

-Chris

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Right, $20 don't bother, You'll just be wasting $20 on getting something else that sucks... The worst place to skimp in your system is on the power supply. It's quality so often determines the stability of your system.

If you want to get a good power supply that delivers enough juice, you should look atleast at getting a 400watt supply IMO, and make it a sparkle brand supply to keep the cost down. I know newegg had sparkle supplies at 530watts for less than $70 and that was a real steal... Other than that I don't know about any deals.

I'm not sure if your power supply will make any difference though because you haven't given any VOLTAGE READINGS! I wouldn't consider changing my power supply without knowing what kind of voltages it was delivering.

 

[Gasoline]

Most 'noise' that you hear has been found to be caused by the inductors (coils) right around the CPU resonating when the power needs change.
Certain motherboards seem to make more noise than others also.

-Chris

A long time ago, in the early Linux and FreeBSD enthusiast communities, there was a lot of discussion about memory chips making an audible "scratching" sound when a tremendous amount of activity was going on in the system... like during kernel re-compile jobs. Some folks joked that it was the "daemons" whispering to each other, some said that it was inductors and/or switching PSU noises, others said that everyone who heard this was just imagining the phenominon.

I've heard it myself on several machines. On at least one, I could definitely attribute it to inductors on the mobo. On another I could not... since there were no inductors on the mobo. On another machine that I currently have serving as our local public library's webserver (it's an old Pentium Pro 200 Compaq "Pro Workstation 5000" running Linux, the scratching sound is coming from a chip on board the network card. A stethoscope was used to determine this.
I also have sitting in front of me right now, an el-cheapo 10/100 ethernet switch that hisses and scratches like crazy whenever it's in use at 100Mbps but not at 10Mbps. This sounds crazy but it's true. Too wierd, eh?

 

[larva]

It's the power supply. Because Raidmax is junk is makes little real power. The noise you hear is vibrations in the transformer legs on the power supply's PCB caused by the high-freuquency oscillations of the magnetic field emitted by the transformer. Some power supplies make these kinds of noises all the time, some only under heavy load, and some never at all.

I'd get an Antec TP480 or 550 for your system's elevated power consumption.

 

[gotskill10]

what if i disconnected a few fans? I have 5 fans running right now. And I also have a v7+ on top of that. What do you guys think? Could I see if it is my power supply by hooking up the motherboards main power to another power supply so that it draws less and see if it still makes the sound? Are you guys absolutely sure its the psu? Everybody says to get an antec, but I hear antec has the same problem.