So, I have a, what I consider, a nice system. An Athlon XP 1800, 512 MB of RAM, GeForce 4 ti4200, 120 GB hard drive, CD-burner, DVD-drive. Yet, it is the little things that anooy me more than anything else. I actually have very satified with the performace, but I am NOT satisfied with the noise.
It wasn’t always like this, only this past month. I started noticing a whining/clicking sound from my PC, obviously from a fan of some fort in there. It would be a high pitched whine, and a small, kind of click, periodically. If I gently thwacked my PC, the noise went away for a while, then came back. Eventually, it got to the point where it was very load, and I had to turn it off at night before I went to sleep.
I replaced my power supply, and the noise remained, so it wasn’t that fan. I unplugged my case fan, still the noise remained, so it swas most likely my CPU fan. It knew my fan/heatsink was cheap, and had intended to get a new one, now I had an excuse. I got a new one, a fairly nice one with a copper core, and those nifty, “cyclone”-ish design. For some reason, the noise is still there! That means it is either my motherboard fan, my video card fan, or just that Godm and my PC, hate me.
You have a freakin’ motherboard fan? When did they start making those?
My PC occasionally clicks and whines, too. Of course, it is an el cheapo eMachines so that kind of comes with the territory. If it ever catches fire or anything I’ll just chunk it in the trash and buy another one.
Well the clicking could be your Hard drive, but I doubt it, especially if it is rythmic (is it?)
Also when you have such a nice computer keeping the noise down could involve an investment in some quality sound dampening foam, or you could water cool everything… Hmmm, on second thought maybe not…
Your best bet is to open her up, unplug various things and then turn it back on and then off again until the sound stops, that way you don’t have to buy more parts until you know for sure what it is!
I had a clicking noise once… I changed a fan, then I wanted another one, then I wanted a bigger case then I wanted to control the noise/speed of each fan… anyways, it got a little out of control and that is why I took back my suggestion of water-cooling and other such major modifications…
Oh my god!! i soo want to be you Çyrin, that is some mean set-up you have there! nice case, and your walls are the same colour as mine. I think you have more kit than sense and should send it to somoene who can give it a good home. * ahem *
Do you have an air humidifier in that room? because my room gets really dry with 2 machines running. almost every picture i see of someone’s room on the net ( with a pc or 2) shows a humidifier. That’s the thing that niggles me about my computer. It’s not the noise, its the dryness of my room.
< REAL BAD ADVICE >
My old power supply fan used to make a kind of groan when it was running for any length of time ( over an hour). If i covered the fan outlet for a few seconds it switched off. I dont know why i did this, but it worked.
</REAL BAD ADVICE>
It could be vibrations within the case. Make sure everythign is attatched, and there are no loose screws or ribbons touching the outside of the case, 'cos they can wobble and tap against the inside of the case. double checking the door is firmly held is good too, my old one used to wobble just enough when the computer was on, to make the computer far more audible.
I’m with Çyrin on the trial end error bit. The clicking has me stumped outside of an HDD.
The clicking could be something switching on/off, a case fan( you’ve checked that tho.)
You Could always move the computer somewhere further away, the loft or something, if its dry and cool all the time, and just run the cables to your room. But your set up sounds too nice to hide away.
I really cant recomend checking everything is tight enough. just having the door slightly open on the front of my case makes an audible difference because it wobbles on its hinge. side pannels and all that can cause similar problems, but if you’re serious about making it quiet, i feel Çyrin could show you the way.
I have to turn my computer off before i go to sleep, or else wake up really thirsty. so perhaps its for the best.
Hmm…it might be something vibrating around. Maybe my heatink “clip” thingy on my motherbaod ain’t as tight as it should bbe, hence why both heatsinks make the noise.
Oh, and mudcrutch, the motherboard fan is just a teeny tiny little fasn on the main chipset on the motherboard, about and incha and a half wide.
My Geforce 4 graphics card has a fan that whines and clicks, really annoying, I’ve oiled it several times (remove the little sticker on top of it and add a drop of oil - put sticker/tape back on) that usually helps.
to find out what fan makes the noice, take something plastic and not too hard (I have used a drinking straw on occation) and put it shortly into the fan so that it stops - when the noise goes away, you’ve found the faulty one. Just make sure the fan starts turning again or you could damage something.
