Help Identifying Noise!

superleeds27 · 20 Feb 2019 at 14:01

I've had a noise in my system that i've heard for a while and im assuming it's one of the fans.

With my recently updating my case fans, it leaves me with it narrowed down to either the CPU Fan or my GFX fan.

CPU Cooler - Alpenfohn Ben Nevis CPU Cooler - 120mm
Graphics card - ROG Strix GeForce® GTX 1070 OC edition 8GB

I've uploaded a sound clip, trying the best to capture the sound as i can. It can be heard around the 3,7,11 second mark.

https://instaud.io/3kk5

My initial thought is GPU.

UnworthyBean · 20 Feb 2019 at 14:13

Unplug the CPU fan and see if the noise persists. Easiest way to tell.

superleeds27 · 20 Feb 2019 at 14:17

UnworthyBean said:
Unplug the CPU fan and see if the noise persists. Easiest way to tell.

Think it's more than likely the GPU, it tends to appear when gaming.

Yadda · 20 Feb 2019 at 14:25

superleeds27 said:
Think it's more than likely the GPU, it tends to appear when gaming.

Can't you just stop/unplug each one until the noise stops? Noisy fans are really easy to diagnose, there's no need for guesswork.

(Edit: if you're going to stop them, do it by gently pressing the centre of the fan so you don't break the blades.)

superleeds27 · 20 Feb 2019 at 14:35

Yadda said:
Can't you just stop/unplug each one until the noise stops? Noisy fans are really easy to diagnose, there's no need for guesswork.

(Edit: if you're going to stop them, do it by gently pressing the centre of the fan so you don't break the blades.)

The problem i've got is getting it to recreate the noise. It's almost random?

Yadda · 20 Feb 2019 at 14:39

superleeds27 said:
The problem i've got is getting it to recreate the noise. It's almost random?

Fair enough. I'd run the PC with the side off so the next time the noise starts you can dive straight in.

UnworthyBean · 20 Feb 2019 at 14:41

In that case, run it without any fans aside from the GPU for a while. If no noise, start plugging them back in until you have the culprit.

LuckyBenski · 20 Feb 2019 at 18:05

Have you tried sweeping the fans through their speed range? Could be resonance or something at a particular RPM. Use Afterburner for graphics card fans and whatever you like for CPU fans.

Atari · 20 Feb 2019 at 23:18

Hard to hear it, but it kinda sounds like my PC. The GPU fans don't spin up until 30% load so they sit there clicking away trying to start spinning at low RPMs. My only fix was to set the fans manually at 30% (which is still near silent).

superleeds27 · 21 Feb 2019 at 11:30

Atari said:
Hard to hear it, but it kinda sounds like my PC. The GPU fans don't spin up until 30% load so they sit there clicking away trying to start spinning at low RPMs. My only fix was to set the fans manually at 30% (which is still near silent).

Had thought of this too actually. Fans on the 1070 don't kick in until it hits 50/55c i think and at that temperature it's only 20/30%.

I've adjusted it, will see if it makes a difference!

Atari · 21 Feb 2019 at 11:33

superleeds27 said:
Had thought of this too actually. Fans on the 1070 don't kick in until it hits 50/55c i think and at that temperature it's only 20/30%.

I've adjusted it, will see if it makes a difference!

Fingers crossed for you bud. On my GPU, it sounded like the 'click of death' a hard drive makes before it gives up the ghost

Manually setting it at 30% to spin all the time left me with idle temps on the GPU of about 31deg instead of the 50/55c you mentioned

YMMV though, I know the fans on my Zotac aren't the best so 30% is as low as they'll go but yours may go lower.

Cheers.

superleeds27 · 22 Feb 2019 at 21:20

Atari said:
Fingers crossed for you bud. On my GPU, it sounded like the 'click of death' a hard drive makes before it gives up the ghost

Manually setting it at 30% to spin all the time left me with idle temps on the GPU of about 31deg instead of the 50/55c you mentioned YMMV though, I know the fans on my Zotac aren't the best so 30% is as low as they'll go but yours may go lower.

Cheers.

Yeah, it's deffo the GPU fans!