[Kvjavs]

Hello everybody,

My CPU is an Intel Xeon X3440, running on an ASUS Sabertooth 55i motherboard.

I didn't notice this until yesterday, so it might have gone on for a while but it finally caught my ear. There's this noise coming from my CPU or something related to it, I think.

It's high pitched, not loud, and only seems to happen when the CPU is idle or not taking up a lot of usage. Its almost like a whine or a sequel. It's not constant most of the times, and only stops when the CPU usage goes up.

Think of it like this, where the -'s are the noise.
------------- - ---------- -------------- ---------- ------ -------------- ----------- ------- and it seems to go in rhythm with CPU usage.

I turn on Prime 95 and the sound goes away completely. I'm not running an over clock right now.

Anybody got any guesses?

Sounds like this:

You Tube

 

[AliceInChains]

do you do any [email protected]? because i know my video card makes a very high pitched kind of squeal that is very hard to hear when im folding. it could also be a harddrive screw is lose. ive had that happen. try putting a finger or two on each hard drive one at a time and see if it goes a way. apply mild pressure just enough to prevent the hard drive from vibrating.

 

[Kvjavs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AliceInChains do you do any [email protected]? because i know my video card makes a very high pitched kind of squeal that is very hard to hear when im folding.

Nope.

 

[yashau]

Could be your motherboard itself. There's a thing called capacitor whine.

Edit: could also be a capacitor on the PSU

 

[AgentHydra]

sounds like cap whine is your problem, I have that happen with my 4890 sometimes.

 

[AliceInChains]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AgentHydra sounds like cap whine is your problem, I have that happen with my 4890 sometimes.

normaly cap whine only occurs when there is a substantial load on the cpu/gpu. hes hearing this only when his cpu is idle. you think it could still be cap whine?

if it is capacitor whining its not a serious problem. more of an annoyance then anything.

 

[Kvjavs]

Yeah I thought capacitor whine was only during load, and this is definitely NOT during load.

I'm working on getting a sound clip up or something to show you guys what's going on.

And it's not the PSU because it's coming from the motherboard and near the CPU.

**Update**

It seems to have stopped, maybe I just need to threaten to make a video of it and it will be quiet.

If it happens again I'll record it.

 

[Kvjavs]

OK it's happening once again, and its ONLY during low CPU usage. Even when I open my sound recorder to record it, the noise stops.

Sounds like this:

You Tube

Not my vid though.

 

[AgentHydra]

my 4890 only makes noise when theres like a loading screen for a game, so I don't think cap whine is only from load. Wish i knew more about caps, but I dont... Normally sound would be coming from coil chokes but the 55i has all solid state chokes so thats not it. All i can say is if it really bothers you you could try to RMA it.

 

[Kvjavs]

I think I fixed the capacitor whine on my motherboard.

I read somewhere about the whining occurring with voltages too low, or too high. So since I knew I wasn't over clocking, I turned off Intel Speed Step and also upped my OC some to 3.6ghz, and ta-da! No more squealing.

I feel better now.

 

[redhat_ownage]

it was the chokes...
depending on the model they are made to work within a voltage range, i guess you were under that voltage...

 

[Marc-Olivier Beaudoin]

that's a whiny capacitor nothing to fear but when you overclock you find some of these on some card ( my reference as one ) and if you set volt too high it will begin to whine .

But it will only make your card get used faster so it may kill it a little bit faster than average but if you don't push super high your overclocked it's just a little nuisance and won't blow up the card. I don't recall the exact way it makes the whine tough

well I have tinnitus so I'm a bit used to having a little sound all the time so .

 

[Cadc]

I only noticed this today, and it was after I tried overclocking the day before, I turned my cpu voltage from 4.1 to 4.5, I'm guessing that was probably it.

Thankfully when I put on my headphones, I can't even hear it, probably why I never noticed it till today

well, I intend on getting a second graphics card for cross firing, hopefully that will make up for the higher voltage