i7 CPU/CPU region making noise? (VIDEO)

Hey guys,

I've recently bought some new components for my rig, so i'm now on:

Intel i7 920 Do @ Stock speeds...NOT overclocked at all.
Titan Fenrair AM Cooler
Gigabyte X58A- UD3R motherboard.
BFG Geforce 9600gt (kills it, i know)
Corsair HX520W.

Only been using a number of days, and there's a strange ticking noise coming ffrom what seems to be the CPU region of my PC.

I've googled around and seen instances of people reporting whining noises, and high pitched squealing noises, but this doesn't really fit my problem.

the noise seems to be some sort of VERY fast ticking noise (almost as if it's individual clicks, so fast that make an almost solid crackle noise).

Here's a couple videos of what i mean. you can hear the sound very quietly. ill try and add some annotations to show which sound i mean. you may have to turn it up a bit, or a lot, don't worry theres no sudden loud parts... the audio's also a little out of sync but you can see what i mean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94-sHgIV7EA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OSZ5BiLWGI





It's very audible when sat by the pc, and definitely seems related to CPU activity. Hence, when i rotate viewport in maya, or open/play Media files, but this also points to GFX activity, or HDD activity? i really not sure.

Here's a SS of my temps at idle. looks fine to me!



I fairly clued up on the building side of things and as far as i know everything is fully tightened, and in place properly on the motherboard . It's not a rattlign noise, as you can see, more of a fast ticking.

I guess it COULD be the PSU making the noise... which may explain the somewhat randomness of the noise, but surely 520w is enough for this? especially with my pants GFX card?

Ive also read that Gigabyte Motherboard transistors have problems sometimes. i REALLY hope i don't need to RMA anything. gaaayyy

any help would be awesome!

I remember a similar sound coming from my hard drive, before it broke..

nah its definitely not the hard-drive. sound is coming from the the cpu area, if not the CPU. Has anyone got any ideas?

I had this a few weeks ago, when scrolling down webpages. I'm pretty sure it was the second graphics card getting bored in 2D mode though, so this may not help. The noise sounded very similar though.

Try unplugging your speakers, if you have any.

I got that with my old PSU and it came down to the speakers, since the voltage was dropping by a tiny amount every time the CPU drew load, and my PSU didn't have active peak regulation. It was very audible through headphones as well (expensive ones).

It also seemed to be highly related to CPU/GPU usage, even when just moving the mouse.

Possible fixes might be: 1. New PSU, 2. Dedicated soundcard.

Edit: If you're interested, the sounds I got were nearly identical to that, I also got the "high pitched squealing" when using headphones which isn't really a squealing though, it's way too faint for that. More like what you're to be getting. Also, the sound at the end of the first video is *EXACTLY* the sound I get when somebody receives / sends a call using a cellphone near my speakers, and it's definitely coming through them (simply switching them off completely disables it).

I'm 100% certain this is a speaker-related noise. (Might also be an internal speaker in the PC)

Thanks for the feedback Strawberry, i'm guessing it was you on youtube comment The sound is ONLY coming from what seems to be inside the PSU. the internal speaker, nor my actual speaker system is making any noise. Unless the Ud3R internal speaker is located by the CPU socket? i couldn't see on the manual. hmm.

it seems more like an electrical zapping sparky kind of noise (haha, sorry, nly way to describe i can think of).

I do have a dedicated sound card (Asus xonar D1)

Im contacting Corsair about it, seeing what they think, Hopefully an RMA is due!

Sounds abit like metal scratching together, can't say i've ever heard anything like this before.

I had a screachy noise when I scrolled down the server list on BF2 on my amd x2 64.

Brother had the same noise coming from his 280 geforce card.

The sound is a really high pitched noise that sounds like someone is squashing a mouse.

I get that exact same sound coming from my PC too. Its definitely coming from the CPU socket area. The sound is most audible just after logging into Windows. Sometimes the sound is linked directly to mouse movement, if I move the mouse it will make that sound constantly while the cursor is moving.
I've not always suffered from this, only since setting the CPU vcore to 'normal' in the BIOS so that the vcore changes the voltage depending on CPU load.
Its a very annoying problem but I've just learned to live with it :\

Try disabling EIST & CIE in the BIOS so the cpu runs full speed, I think I know the noise as my UD5 does the same.

I can't view your youtube links, comes up with a error.

RJC said:

Try disabling EIST & CIE in the BIOS so the cpu runs full speed, I think I know the noise as my UD5 does the same.

I can't view your youtube links, comes up with a error.

Click to expand...

Sorted it! nice one! but the thing is....don't i WANT to be able to do this? it saves power and heat right, so due to the noise it's causing, is my PSU actually faulty then?

I'd see if you can borrow a different high quality PSU to test it with.

not a bad idea that, not that anyone here at uni will have one haha. ill ask around

Tonk3h said:

Sorted it! nice one! but the thing is....don't i WANT to be able to do this? it saves power and heat right, so due to the noise it's causing, is my PSU actually faulty then?

Click to expand...

I beleive it's the MOSFETS or what ever they are called around the cpu socket making the noise.

It's not your PSU, I have changed my psu from a Corsiar 620w to PC Power & cooling 750w due to another problem I was having and when speaking to Ocuk thses boards make this noise, I have notice on my board the latest BIOS rev has helped.

RJC said:

Try disabling EIST & CIE in the BIOS so the cpu runs full speed, I think I know the noise as my UD5 does the same.

I can't view your youtube links, comes up with a error.

Click to expand...

Ahh man, my old Q9300 PC used to do this as with mglover and toxic above, but I just lived with it, my friend has the PC now so I'll see if this fixes it!

this is strange, i'm so sure the noise is coming from the psu. ill have to take it out and have a proper listen to try and sort it. Thanks very much for the feedback guys, ill postpone the RMA for now.

My main concern was that the motherboard was faulty, which would've been a MASSIVE ballache

Hi guys, it's not a fault - the i7 920 simply makes a whining noise when being used for anything other than max: powersaving in idle.

It's just the way the CPU works. These CPUs use a change in voltage to achieve higher speeds. As they change voltage, so does the sound/whine. To see this for yourself, load up your EPU-engine. Click 'max: power saving'. You'll hear the noise goes away. Click 'Turbo Mode' and you'll hear the whining come back.

If you set the CPU to Auto mode, it will shift modes automatically between powersaving, medium, high, and turbo, , and you'll often hear a whining sound.

I wouldn't worry that the motherboard is faulty; it's the same for everyone. As for a solution, until intel sort this out, which is unlikely as it's just the nature of the CPU, the only solution is likely going to have to be a sound-proof (or as near sound-proof as you can get) case I'm afraid.

i7 920
ASUS PT6