Graphics card making a new/strange noise.

[Dayve]

I've had the PC for almost a year now and the specs are in my signature. I'm just wondering if it's anything serious. I can only describe the noise it's making as a high pitched kind of dog whistle noise. It's not loud or anything but when I play a game and the fan starts spinning faster that's what it sounds like, high pitched dog whistle sound. If I put my ear right next to the vent on the back of the case where the graphics card is it sounds more like an electical rattling. Like the bells you hear in the Christmas song "jingle bells" only constant. I realise the way I described it is bizarre but I can't really think of anything else to liken it to. There don't appear to be any adverse effects, temperatures aren't higher than usual, games are performing just as good as always - just the noise.

By the way I clean the PC once a month with an air compressor so I don't think it's dust, I last cleaned it about 2 weeks ago. Also it can't be damage from the air compressor cleaning because while it is a powerful jet of air I spray it from far away so as not to damage anything, plus I didn't start hearing the noise until yesterday, around 2 weeks after the last clean.

 

[vanthus]

Sounds like "Coil whine" or "cap whine" which are terms used to describe high pitched sounds that can emanate from components such as capacitors or inductors on the motherboard or GPU for example.
This is usually caused by high frequency power draw from the PSU & is normal to a certain extent.
If the noise is excessive a replacement PSU may be required.

 

[baron75mk2]

as vanthus has said its cap whine , unless its very excessive its fairly normal , its also possible the noise is actually coming from the pci-express slot its self , i have a very tiny & quiet amount of this noise coming from my pci-express slot (hear it with 3 or 4 different cards in there at one time or another) , but unless i stick my head right in the pc (literally) i cant hear it so its not an issue at all - but if its actually the pci-express slot doing it then a psu upgrade might possibly fix the issue as you get it sometimes when the slot cant deliver what is required to run the card (in terms of amps).

do you only hear it when the card is loaded like when playing a game ? - & does it vary in pitch and volume as the load goes form higher to lower like when playing a game ?

 

[Dayve]

Sorry for the necropost (this thread was on page 3) but I only remembered today that I had made it and just wanted to say thanks for the replies. It seemed to stop about 2-3 days after making this thread so I'm guessing all is well. As to Baron's question yes it did vary in pitch at times. I do still hear it occasionally when playing games but, strangely enough only when I press escape to bring up the menu. When I return to the actual game it stops.