Is it possible for processer to make noise?
Hey. there seems to be a high pitched scratching noise coming from my from my PC.
I've had everything out and been swapping all the stuff around trying to find the culprit and after taking off all the fans (including the processor fan) the sound seems to be coming from either the CPU or the southbridge.
Your knowledge and input would be much appreciated.
Re: Is it possible for processer to make noise?
Hard drive? PSU fan?
Never heard of a CPU making a noise before, it has no moving parts :)
Re: Is it possible for processer to make noise?
100% not hard drive and it sure doesn't sound like it's coming from PSU.
Re: Is it possible for processer to make noise?
Funny you should mention that, I've been messing about with some older Northwood systems lately and I've noticed a faint buzz/whine when the CPU gets loaded. It's not loud, only really noticeable when there's not much background noise but it's there. I suspect it may be whine from the power circuit on the motherboard but I could be wrong.
@Caesium, it doesn't need moving parts to make noise - it's quite common to get coil whine especially in power circuitry. Some graphics cards and power supplies are known to create very distracting whine.
Re: Is it possible for processer to make noise?
How about when you guys open Speedfan? does it make a noise at all? because I noticed that for a long time now and always thought it was normal.
Re: Is it possible for processer to make noise?
Hmm, I'm now thinking it might be from a fan PWM controller on the motherboard. PWM is used to control some fans instead of varying the voltage, it sends pulses of voltage on another wire to control it. I'm not sure what frequency this runs at but if it's within the audible frequency range, some component might be turning it into sound.
Re: Is it possible for processer to make noise?
I know the noise you mean. It's caused by transformers vibrating. There is probably nothing you can do about it. The reason it's associated with high CPU usage is probably because that's when the most power is needed. Its caused IIRC when whatever holding the metal plates together in the transformers gets weaker and they vibrate.
Re: Is it possible for processer to make noise?
Yep aka coil whine probably the motherboard not the cpu
Re: Is it possible for processer to make noise?
My Gigabyte P55-UD3 was making a high pitched noise under load until I upgraded the firmware. If it's to do with power coils, I'm not sure why firmware would fix it. But it did. I seem to remember other people having the same problem and result with the board.
Re: Is it possible for processer to make noise?
Could it be caused by overclocking or misaligning the pins when inserting the processor?
Thanks
Re: Is it possible for processer to make noise?
Overclocking would stress the power circuitry more, so it's most likely to be that.
If you'd misaligned the pins, i'm pretty sure there'd be some blue smoke and you wouldn't have a CPU anymore...
Re: Is it possible for processer to make noise?
You couldn't have a CPU installed correctly and still work, it would take some force to get it to go in the wrong way too.
Re: Is it possible for processer to make noise?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
watercooled
You couldn't have a CPU installed correctly and still work, it would take some force to get it to go in the wrong way too.
Pin alignment would be wrong and you'd break a pin or two making the CPU not power up at all.
Check the lan port area. I've had a couple of boards that make a similar noise and it happened when the lan port was transferring data. I think it was a tiny resistor in the end. Odd
Re: Is it possible for processer to make noise?
I remember to hear about a lot of Core 2 Duo notebooks making noise. And it comes from the CPUs. The manufacturer said that it's a problem of switching more than five times in the second from power saving to power state. The users talked about a noise like those from the graphic cards. A little shrill sound, so that Dell for example was willing to replace the CPUs with another chip.
But never heard it from desktop chips, so it could be different. :undecided
Re: Is it possible for processer to make noise?
It's never (well shouldn't be) from the cpu, it's from coils mainly, some times capacitors (esp bad non-solid caps), resistors can sometimes cause it (when not surface mounted)
All sound is caused by vibration, movement of particles in the air, the cpu should not be able to vibrate, nor should the flow of current through it cause the cpu to vibrate as the current is not flowing through two fixed end points, it's coming in through multiple pins and earthing via multiple pins.
Also you're not getting fixed frequencies of current to sustain the generation of a tone.
Basically a wire has a resonant frequency, put the correct current at the correct frequency through it and it will vibrate and generate sound. (some capacitors can make sound that is caused by the fluid inside moving.)
Coils are more prone to it because of their shape it effectively amplifies the sound
This is one reason for using ferrite core chokes instead of coils because they are encased it's less likely to occure and when it does the shape doesn't amplify the sound so it's less noticeable.
Re: Is it possible for processer to make noise?
Buddy the processer does not make noise that the humen ear detect .you should check the fans then the hard drive.If you can over ride the cover off switch let it run with the cover off. Listen to the system when it starts to make the questionable sound. Let us know what you find out.