Question High pitched noise from PC at random intervals

OsaX Nymloth

Community Contributor
Ok, so I finally got my new machine last wednesday. All seems good, I moved my data, I migrated appdata (Firefox etc.) and played some RDR2 - all seemed good!

But now, after 3 days at 3 am I heard a noise. Weird noise. At first I thought it was just a bottle of water, kind of hissing noise a bottle can make if not closed properly, right? But it repeated. After few times I was certain it was from inside my new PC. Cold sweat instantly on me.

Checking temps - all in norm. Turned off the game I was playing (Pathfinder: WoR). Checked SMART for drives. All good.
Noises still kept coming. At a bit random intervals.

Turned off PC. Turned off the power strip. Made sure UPS is also off.
For the next 2 hours it still made the noises.
Which makes me rather confident it's PSU - because hell, what else?

So now, the question is. WTF is this? Coil whine? I never heard one such as this:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jjd3uyf6lx161q6/VID_20211010_030833.mp4?dl=0
(move to last 10 seconds or so)

I never experienced this nor myself nor in ex-work where I was repairing PCs and it made me lose some sleep already.
 
Its a weird noise for sure!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT6PzY8bT1Q


I've had coil whine on a couple of cards that was more like a high pitched whine at the edge of my hearing. But I found this on Youtube, and I can see some relation to the noise you are getting. Have a listen and see.

If its coil whine then I'm sure you know its not dangerous, but it might be a case for RMA. Depending on your PSU manufacturer they may even send you a unit out straight away so you dont have any down time if your lucky/talk to them directly about it. I've known at least Corsair and EVGA to do this for people in the past, not sure about others.
 
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So you weren't playing Metal Gear Solid at all? Cos first thought is there's a Snake somewhere inside!

Weird one indeed. Our experts will need more info to dig into this, so please supply as much as you can per this:

PS if you can slip a mouse inside—a live one, not one that sits on a mat—and it doesn't come back out, then there is indeed a Snake in there. A happy well-fed Snake to be sure—so he might stop hissing for a day or two, which would totally confuse things, right?

<off-topic>
Weird forum, my post is listed #3, even though it's the second post 🥴
</off-topic>
 

OsaX Nymloth

Community Contributor
Its a weird noise for sure!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT6PzY8bT1Q


I've had coil whine on a couple of cards that was more like a high pitched whine at the edge of my hearing. But I found this on Youtube, and I can see some relation to the noise you are getting. Have a listen and see.

If its coil whine then I'm sure you know its not dangerous, but it might be a case for RMA. Depending on your PSU manufacturer they may even send you a unit out straight away so you dont have any down time if your lucky/talk to them directly about it. I've known at least Corsair and EVGA to do this for people in the past, not sure about others.

I listened to those hellish sounds from the video and I will have nightmares for days now. Thanks.

So, so far the noise didn't come back. I am wondering tho. Every "coil whine video" I saw was mostly the sound being constant. Not being there for 1-2 seconds and disappearing for minutes only to reappear X/XX minutes later. Should this also making sound with everything powered off?

Sent question to the shop I bought parts from and will probably contact Corsair as well (got their PSU, never had issues).

As for @Brian Boru post:

Specs:
  • CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X (30.09.2021)
  • GPU - Nvidia MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Ventus 3X LHR 8GB (30.09.2021)
  • Motherboard - Asus Prime X570-P (30.09.2021)
  • RAM - DDR4 G.Skill Ripjaws V Black 32GB (2x16) 3200MHz CL 16 (30.09.2021)
  • HDD - WD 1GB + WD 1GB
  • SSD - Samsung 500GB M.2 PCIe NVMe 970 EVO Plus & PNY 2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe CS2130 (30.09.2021, both)
  • Sound card - Asus Xonar DX
  • CPU Cooler - be quiet! Pure Rock 2 (30.09.2021)
  • Case - SilentiumPC Signum SG7V TG (30.09.2021)
  • PSU - Corsair RMx 750W 80 Plus Gold (30.09.2021)
  • OS - Windows 10 Pro 64bit
Dates mean well, the date I bought said part.
 
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