# PC with SSD sounds like HDD
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-with-ssd-sounds-like-hdd/738294
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 22, 2015, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-with-ssd-sounds-like-hdd/738294 "2015-11-22T18:19:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2015, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-with-ssd-sounds-like-hdd/738294/1 "2015-11-22T18:19:55Z")
My new desktop PC has a SSD, and no HDDs. I notice it makes an intermittent, faint clicking/buzzing sound, similar to the noise I’ve always associated with hard drive head movement. This seems to be associated with the PC being active. But the only mechanisms in the PC are cooling fans (3 of them, I think - case, CPU and GPU). What could be making this noise?
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-with-ssd-sounds-like-hdd/738294/2 "2015-11-22T18:30:12Z")
[Power supply coil noise?](http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2348511/weird-psu-noise-gpu-load-coil-whine.html)
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### Author:  [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-with-ssd-sounds-like-hdd/738294/3 "2015-11-22T19:07:48Z")
Is it an SSD or a SSHD? The SSHD is a hybrid drive with both SSD and HDD components.
I ask because a SSD would be common in a laptop, but a desktop might have a hybrid drive since most people expect 1 TB or more in a desktop. That is expensive to do with a SSD compared to a SSHD.
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### Author:  [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-with-ssd-sounds-like-hdd/738294/4 "2015-11-22T21:28:15Z")
Could be fans or transformer coil buzz.
You know, what you are experiencing is an interesting paradox. Human hearing gets more sensitive when the background noise is quieter (basically auto-range adjust).
So if you make your computer quieter…you still hear every little click, buzz, and whirr.
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### Author:  [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2015, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-with-ssd-sounds-like-hdd/738294/5 "2015-11-22T23:03:31Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> [Power supply coil noise?](http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2348511/weird-psu-noise-gpu-load-coil-whine.html)
this would be my guess.
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2015, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-with-ssd-sounds-like-hdd/738294/6 "2015-11-23T00:51:40Z")
Thanks all! Now that I know what phrase to search for (“coil whine”), I see people are complaining about this phenomenon on the video card I gave (Gigabyte GTX 970). Though in my case, if I had to guess, it’s the power supply and not the video card I’m hearing.
p.s. I definitely don’t have a hard drive, it’s a custom built PC with an M.2 SSD card and no other storage device (yet).
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### Author:  [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2015, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-with-ssd-sounds-like-hdd/738294/7 "2015-11-23T13:47:25Z")
You mention the noise when the PC is active. Perhaps you could test by stressing different components. Some applications like games are more GPU-intensive. Other apps are more CPU-intensive and others will stress your drive.
How old is your PSU and what is it rated at?
From the reviews I saw, the Gigabyte is supposed to be rather silent. Perhaps you got a bad one or your fan setting may be too high.
I hesitated between the Zotac and the Gigabyte 970. What made you go with the Gigabyte?