Strix G18 making(mechanical) hard drive / buzzing sound

nadj

nadj

nadj

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Brand new G18 just unboxed. Still pretty vanilla with no software installed and no updates done.

Regardless of the usage (though more noticeable at idle), approx. every 1-2 seconds there is a sound that I can only describe as the sound "a 2.5in mechanical hard disk" would make when it's loading data or like a faint buzz (similar to a lorry reversing). It's continuous. I'm reasonably familiar with electronic components and have heard something similar when non-moving electronic components are under load (Electrons moving around lol?). Doesn't sound like a fan to me. It comes from the area where the 7, 8, 9, 0 keys are under the F keys. I don't think it's the speakers, I've muted them.

I've experienced this same thing on a STRIX III from 3 years ago, but for that there was a work-around and this laptop has it way worse. I would go into Armoury Crate, briefly select the "Windows" profile settings, then go back to "Silent" and that would fix it till the next Shutdown/Reboot. On the G18 I can't get rid of this sound no matter how I play with Armoury Crate.

What exactly is this sound? I can't bear it and urgently need a solution. An idle machine should not be doing this. Thanks

Sound sample: https://fastupload.io/E4E0tPrAZltdjQX/file
 
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Just found out what this is called and it's common on Asus laptops, it's called coil whine. As suspected, a by product of electrical components at load. Only thing is mine is sitting idle doing nothing with nothing open. Sneaky suspicion it's coming from the SSD.

Tragic, but I might be returning the laptop because of this. No pleasure in having a £2.5k laptop sitting on a desk that sounds like it's got a mechanical hard drive inside it. Literally the loudest thing in the room.
 
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After some more testing, I'm sure it's the SSD. When I first reported must've been a background task reading/writing data. That has ended so machine is now silent. If I copy a large file, it's back. Stupidly, I didn't notice before. But still, wouldn't expect this sound from a SSD doing next to nothing. I'm not hammering it.
 
nadj said:
After some more testing, I'm sure it's the SSD. When I first reported must've been a background task reading/writing data. That has ended so machine is now silent. If I copy a large file, it's back. Stupidly, I didn't notice before. But still, wouldn't expect this sound from a SSD doing next to nothing. I'm not hammering it.
Click to expand...

I have certainly heard SSD's make this noise before. It's surprising but they can.
 
So a lot of people out there say for them it's been the GPU that was responsible. OC Support suggested the same and asked me to play with GPU clock settings. Made zero difference for me. The SSD is either a reason for, or the source of the sound, and I proved it by running Windows perfmon. When I say the SSD is the reason for the coil whine it is because there is a clear correlation between the sound and the physical disk read/write counters registering activity. I appreciate it's probably not the SSD to blame but a combination of components that are creating the right conditions but that's where I'm starting. I've ordered a Samsung SSD to give it a try. I feel Asus have installed one of the cheapest/most basic 1TB M.2 SSDs in this laptop that are available. Interestingly, the model number WD SN560 is not even available to buy and almost unknown.
 
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nadj said:
So a lot of people out there say for them it's been the GPU that was responsible. OC Support suggested the same and asked me to play with GPU clock settings. Made zero difference for me. The SSD is either a reason for, or the source of the sound, and I proved it by running Windows perfmon. When I say the SSD is the reason for the coil whine it is because there is a clear correlation between the sound and the physical disk read/write counters registering activity. I appreciate it's probably not the SSD to blame but a combination of components that are creating the right conditions but that's where I'm starting. I've ordered a Samsung SSD to give it a try. I feel Asus have installed one of the cheapest/most basic 1TB M.2 SSDs in this laptop that are available. Interestingly, the model number WD SN560 is not even available to buy and almost unknown.
Click to expand...

The one I had that was particularly noisy was Samsung. I don't think it comes down to make. I suspect that it is a little onboard crystal or something that is just rattling.
 
nadj said:
So a lot of people out there say for them it's been the GPU that was responsible. OC Support suggested the same and asked me to play with GPU clock settings. Made zero difference for me. The SSD is either a reason for, or the source of the sound, and I proved it by running Windows perfmon. When I say the SSD is the reason for the coil whine it is because there is a clear correlation between the sound and the physical disk read/write counters registering activity. I appreciate it's probably not the SSD to blame but a combination of components that are creating the right conditions but that's where I'm starting. I've ordered a Samsung SSD to give it a try. I feel Asus have installed one of the cheapest/most basic 1TB M.2 SSDs in this laptop that are available. Interestingly, the model number WD SN560 is not even available to buy and almost unknown.
Click to expand...
Hi did it make a difference changing the SSD?
 
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