Random "clicking" noise coming from PC..

pimper

pimper

pimper

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I've noticed that over the last week or so, on occasion my PC will start making a random "clicking" noise, much like the noise you would get from a HDD reading or writing.. Interesting thing is though I have no spinning disks in my build, only two M.2 cards. It seems to occur after a fair amount of time spent on a graphically intensive game e.g. GOW 4 or Wolfenstein etc. Could it possibly be GFX card thats the cause of the noise? It doesn't last long, maybe about a minute at the most, however it can vary in its intensity.

Full PC specs below;

i7 7700k - No OC
Corsair H110i
16GB Corsair Dominator 3600Mhz - No OC
Samsung Evo 960 1TB M.2 + 250GB M.2
Asus Maximus IX Mobo
Gigabyte GTX 1080 - No OC
Corsair HX850i
Dell SG2716DG

Any advice and guidance would be greatly appreciated. As I mention this has only started in my mind within the last week. I have never noticed this before. P.S. the PC is less than a year old.

Thanks
 
Can you record the noise and post for us to hear? You can remove the case side panel and try to determine from which component the noise is originating from.
 
pimper said:
I've noticed that over the last week or so, on occasion my PC will start making a random "clicking" noise, much like the noise you would get from a HDD reading or writing.. Interesting thing is though I have no spinning disks in my build, only two M.2 cards. It seems to occur after a fair amount of time spent on a graphically intensive game e.g. GOW 4 or Wolfenstein etc. Could it possibly be GFX card thats the cause of the noise? It doesn't last long, maybe about a minute at the most, however it can vary in its intensity.

Full PC specs below;

i7 7700k - No OC
Corsair H110i
16GB Corsair Dominator 3600Mhz - No OC
Samsung Evo 960 1TB M.2 + 250GB M.2
Asus Maximus IX Mobo
Gigabyte GTX 1080 - No OC
Corsair HX850i
Dell SG2716DG

Any advice and guidance would be greatly appreciated. As I mention this has only started in my mind within the last week. I have never noticed this before. P.S. the PC is less than a year old.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Could it be the fans on the graphics card ? generally at idle, ie no gaming they don't spin, when you game they do, as the GPU gets hotter the fans speed up, as it gets cooler they slow down, best way to find out is run a graphics benchmark, 3dmark etc, when you hear the clicking start again, stick your finger into one of the fans to stop it, try all of them to see if one of them is causing the clicking, then remove the card and see what's actually causing it, could just be a loose screw they're tiny that just needs tightening down or a piece of dirt etc.

I had a sapphire RX480 that did this, thankfully at the time the fans were covered if faulty, so I got in touch with sapphire, they asked me to prove it, so I recorded some audio on my phone and sent it to them, they sent me a replacement fan, dead easy to change.
 
Thanks chaps, will record it when it happens again. Will also check to see if it is indeed the GFX card fans that are the cause of the clicking noise.
 
Smffy said:
Possibly the pump unit in the H110 - sign of failure, is it old?
Click to expand...
Less than a year old. Only noticeable after a good amount of time spent gaming? Would have thought pump failure would be there all the time.

P.S. I have doubts that it is the GFX card. The card I have tells me when the fans are stopped. Took the side of the case off when it started its clicking noise and saw none of the three fans were spinning on the GFX card. Also checked on of the fans at the back of the case and that wasn't the cause either.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2sfb4jomtk3zxpu/Voice 001.m4a?dl=0 - Recording of clicking sound. Apologies for the background noise, I had the phone close to the PC for obvious reasons but it picked up a lot of the noise from the fans on the PC.
 
That sounds like one of those agitators chemists use. So I think you should put your ear next to the pump on the H110.
 
defo sounds like a fan blade somewhere just slightly catching something, a thin wire etc, could be the PSU I guess, if you get an A4 piece of paper, make a funnel shape out of it, stick the smaller end in your ear, then when the sound starts again, move it about inside the case, it will amplify the sound and you should be able to at least narrow down the area its coming from.

Like this: you'll look like a right clown whilst doing it, but trust me, it works.

1z32fdv.jpg
 
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Would be definitely best to try to narrow down its location.

Fan's blades catching something lightly could be one candidate.
Guess some worn bearing might also do something like that.

And wouldn't exclude some small air bubble in pump.
Air bubbles in pumps of central heating can cause some nice sounds.
And it's possible that small enough bubbles and pump could move noise profile to higher frequencies.
 
Jamin280672 said:
defo sounds like a fan blade somewhere just slightly catching something, a thin wire etc, could be the PSU I guess, if you get an A4 piece of paper, make a funnel shape out of it, stick the smaller end in your ear, then when the sound starts again, move it about inside the case, it will amplify the sound and you should be able to at least narrow down the area its coming from.

Like this: you'll look like a right clown whilst doing it, but trust me, it works.

1z32fdv.jpg
Click to expand...
Haha, well people tell me I look like a clown normally so I guess I'll just blend in even more :P . Thanks for the advice, will give this a go when I am home from work.
 
EsaT said:
Would be definitely best to try to narrow down its location.

Fan's blades catching something lightly could be one candidate.
Guess some worn bearing might also do something like that.

And wouldn't exclude some small air bubble in pump.
Air bubbles in pumps of central heating can cause some nice sounds.
And it's possible that small enough bubbles and pump could move noise profile to higher frequencies.
Click to expand...

If it is an air bubble in the pump, is there any way to "bleed" an AIO pump solution?
 
pimper said:
If it is an air bubble in the pump, is there any way to "bleed" an AIO pump solution?
Click to expand...

Not really, it could be the pump if you try to isolate the sound - you may not hear it during gaming due to fan noise and or the varied RPM if set that way.

Hard to tell I know, do you have any other hardware that isn’t listed like fan controllers?
 
Smffy said:
Not really, it could be the pump if you try to isolate the sound - you may not hear it during gaming due to fan noise and or the varied RPM if set that way.

Hard to tell I know, do you have any other hardware that isn’t listed like fan controllers?
Click to expand...
The only other component in the case is a fan "hub" that has multiple fan inputs to one output to the motherboard. Other than that, nothing.
 
Jamin280672 said:
defo sounds like a fan blade somewhere just slightly catching something, a thin wire etc, could be the PSU I guess, if you get an A4 piece of paper, make a funnel shape out of it, stick the smaller end in your ear, then when the sound starts again, move it about inside the case, it will amplify the sound and you should be able to at least narrow down the area its coming from.

Like this: you'll look like a right clown whilst doing it, but trust me, it works.

1z32fdv.jpg
Click to expand...
Oh god I can see my obsession with quiet PCs and noise testing going up a notch. I've already started testing with batteries and DC supplies before each build :D
 
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