Constant alarm during gaming

Oliy · 27 Jan 2008 at 21:05

SOLVED! Turned out to be my UPS which I think is dying.

Hi all,

When I play a game such as COD4 or Crysis, I get an almost constant alarm which is extremely irritating and a bit worrying too.

The alarm is high pitched and sounds nearly all the time that 3d content is on the screen, although it sometimes stops for a bit of its own accord and then starts up again. If I press Ctrl Tab to go into Windows it immediately stops, and starts about 2 seconds after I go back into the game.

I've been watching temperature charts on one of my other monitors while I play and CPU is about 55C, GPU is about 65C - well within normal ranges right?

My hardware:

Abit IP35-Pro
E2180 @ 3ghz default voltage
BFG 8800GT OC2
4x1gb Corsair
Corsair 550W PSU
Antec 900 case

I've tried turning off temperature monitoring the BIOS as well as the Abit uGuru (which I don't run anyway), and nothing seems to make a difference. What could it be?!

Will gratefully appreciate any advice.

Thanks

Hyper · 27 Jan 2008 at 21:06

Sounds like a capacitor squeaking to me, this is very common with graphics card when put under a lot of load. Although if it is as bad as you say then I would send it off for an RMA.

Oliy · 27 Jan 2008 at 21:09

It's really loud which is why I assumed it was coming through the speaker on the motherboard. Also it is constant pitch. Do you really think it's a cap on the graphics card? Is there any way of looking at it for swelling or leaking that would tell?

Thanks for your quick reply by the way!

Hyper · 27 Jan 2008 at 21:11

It might not be but it sounds very much like it is to me.

Best thing to do would be to take the side off your case and try and work out where the noise is coming from.

Oliy · 27 Jan 2008 at 21:14

Actually the sound seems to be coming from my power supply - is it overloaded? I'm just going to check on the Corsair website if it's meant to do this. It is a 520W not 550W as I stated earlier.

Oliy · 27 Jan 2008 at 21:28

SOLVED! Turned out to be my UPS which I think is dying. The overload light comes on while the alarm is sounding. Feel like a bit of an idiot for missing it, but in my defence it is right next to my PC!

No wonder the poor thing is overloaded actually, from 6 sockets it is running:

My PC
24" monitor
2x 19" monitors
Wireless router
Laser printer

It's only 500VA!

Thanks for your help Hyper, I'm really glad it wasn't anything inside my PC!

Hyper · 27 Jan 2008 at 21:43

Haha, glad you got it sorted