Why is my PC screaming at me??

dodgem · 4 Nov 2007 at 01:27

I've just upgraded a few things in my rig... Abit AW9D-MAX, 2x1GB Geil ULL, Corsair 520.

The main reason i upgraded the PSU was that when i was running 3D mark or Crysis there was a high pitched beep from a buzzer in the pc. I assumed that the mobo was telling me that the power rails were dropping because the psu couldn't keep up the with power drawn by my X1950XT. (PSU was an Antec Truepower 430).

Now with the new kit in the same thing is happening in 3D mark - not tried Crysis yet...

Specs are:

Abit AW9D-MAX
Corsair HX520
2x Geil 1Gb 6400
80Gb Maxtor SATA
160Gb Maxtor SATA
400Gb Samsung SATA
X1950XT 256Mb @ stock
E6400 @ 2.5GHz (315x8, 4:5 divider)

Is this my mobo making the noise or my gfx card? And is it down to a lack of power? PITA if it is as it means i'll need to buy another PSU! :confused:

yantorsen · 4 Nov 2007 at 01:37

usually means lack of power, although that psu should be fine. have you got the power connectors in the gpu?

Sean_UK · 4 Nov 2007 at 01:38

Wont be lack of power with that new PSU, when you say screaming are we talking just constant beep or is there some pattern to the beeps? Is the PC still working other than the beep, are the mobo's BIOS fan speed monitors all in use, because if not the BIOS will scream at you a warning for 0 rpm.

dodgem · 4 Nov 2007 at 02:05

It's a constant beep that may be as short as half a second, or as long as 15 seconds, or even more if the situation causing it continues (appears to be graphics related).

The system doesn't crash or hang or seem adversely affected in any way when it happens - it just carries on regardless as far as i can tell. It occurs in the more intense parts of 3d mark, but not in the CPU tests, and in Crysis it starts when, presumably, there is a lot if work for the graphics card - looking at the sky or moving in some way stops the noise.

The only fan that is enabled to beep in the bios is the cpu fan at 300rpm (generally runs at 800rpm+). System temperature can cause a beep at 55C, but the cooling in my case is pretty good - 2x80mm in and 120x38mm exhaust in the top of the case. The CPU temp can cause a beep, but i haven't managed to get the CPU temp above 62C with stress testing, and it only beeps during gfx stress situations anyway.

Undervoltage can cause beeps, but the margins seem pretty big! ie. if the 12v rail drops to 9v it will beep...

The gfx card power cable that came with my PSU has a 2x3 block and a 1x2 block at the end of it, but my gfx card only has a connector for the 2x3 block that i can see, so only that one is connected. There is a 4pin molex connector on the mobo which the manual states is for supplying extra PCIe power - i have no power connected to that atm, is it worth doing so do you think?

ANDARIAL · 4 Nov 2007 at 09:09

Got any temp/power monitoring apps running?

Inoshishi · 4 Nov 2007 at 12:23

Sounds to me like your GFX Card isn't getting enough juice.

dodgem · 4 Nov 2007 at 13:01

Right, i've been playing Crysis with CoreTemp running, and the maximum temperature was on core1 at 65C, but mostly 62-64C, and core2 was 2 or 3 degrees cooler the whole time. However, the pc didn't beep at me at all (it used to with my old psu) so it's only 3Dmark which is causing it now.

Since the mobo has been changed and the beep sounds exactly the same, i'm inclined to think it is the gfx card making the noise, and hence must be not getting the power it needs as has been suggested.

Going to connect the 4 pin molex on my mobo and see if that gives the gfx card more current.

ANDARIAL · 4 Nov 2007 at 13:08

dodgem said:
Right, i've been playing Crysis with CoreTemp running, and the maximum temperature was on core1 at 65C, but mostly 62-64C, and core2 was 2 or 3 degrees cooler the whole time. However, the pc didn't beep at me at all (it used to with my old psu) so it's only 3Dmark which is causing it now.

Since the mobo has been changed and the beep sounds exactly the same, i'm inclined to think it is the gfx card making the noise, and hence must be not getting the power it needs as has been suggested.

Going to connect the 4 pin molex on my mobo and see if that gives the gfx card more current.

i see that mobo has a 6 pin connector as well as a 4 pin molex as you just said.
y question is what is the 4 pin molex for?and why did you not connect it up to start with?

just asking and not having a go at you edit nvm i just seen a review on ***** it says it is to provide more power if you need it . i think i would have plugged it in to start with

dodgem · 4 Nov 2007 at 13:35

Damnit!

Turns out i did connect the 4-pin molex already... So that's as much as i can do to get power to my gfx card unless anyone else has an alternative?

I suppose i could sit my old psu on top of the case and use that solely to power the gfx card, but i'm not convinced that's a very good idea :rolleyes:

At least it's not happening in Crysis anymore though, but i think OCing the gfx card is out of the question for now!

yantorsen · 4 Nov 2007 at 13:45

dodgem said:
Damnit!

Turns out i did connect the 4-pin molex already... So that's as much as i can do to get power to my gfx card unless anyone else has an alternative?

I suppose i could sit my old psu on top of the case and use that solely to power the gfx card, but i'm not convinced that's a very good idea At least it's not happening in Crysis anymore though, but i think OCing the gfx card is out of the question for now!

no reason why you can't do that, except it will be more noisy, won't look very good, and if only one of them fails and one didnt whilst you were using it, then i dunno what would happen, probly be alrite.

oh and of course you will need two mains plugs for it.

Aod · 4 Nov 2007 at 14:48

how loud is this "beeping"?

i ask because many graphics cards will emit a very high-pitched noise when under load, which is actually the noise the core makes, but its about as loud as a fan.

dodgem · 4 Nov 2007 at 14:56

it's defineately an electronic buzzer making the noise, not the whine of a processor working hard

I can start 3dmark running on my pc in the dining room, then go through to my living room and watch tv and clearly hear it when it starts. Very loud, and makes sitting by the pc almost painful...

I'm not keen on having another PSU sat on top of my case tbh, aside from the possible physical danger (which i'm not concerned about - i have enough experience of electrics to make it safe), i'd be a bit worried about what would happen if one psu failed, and not sure how they'd interact with 2 seperate ground planes. And it'd look ugly and be noisy!!

As long as it doesn't start happening again in Crysis or other games and is restricted to benchmarks i'll live with it until i have a good reason to buy another PSU