PSU Buzzing Noise after Upgrading Graphics Card

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Adrian Revitz

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Jul 9, 2013
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So just recently I have done a major PC upgrade. First I changed my mobo and cpu from a AMD Athlon X4 750K to a i7 4790k! With a new ASRock Extreme6 z97.

I currently have a r9 270x and decided to upgrade for a MSI GTX 970 so I did and just since I got it my power suppy has been buzzing.. It is not constant but often comes when I'm in-game and some time after I quit the game..
I had my ears all the way down to my case and it sounded very much like it came from the PSU!

My PSU is a CX Series™ Modular CX750M ATX non modular.

It is very annoying and I can hear the buzzing in my headset aswell.

Any help is very much appreciated!

Thank you for reading :)
 
Solution
ulysses35
970 / 980 cards can suffer with coil whine - its a known issue. do you have your old GPU ? you could swap back to see if the issue goes away. if it doesn't, then you could have a faulty PSU
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Adrian Revitz

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I have heard a bit of coil whine from my 970 but its not the same issue.... i think it is actually a combination of coil whine and psu issue because sometimes in my headset i hear coil whine (or atleast it sounds like it) but the thing i heard before from my PSU was definetly not coil whine! :)

Thanks for the responses! :D
 
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Adrian Revitz

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The thing is i have had this PSU for 1 year without any issues.. is it possible that it just suddenly turns on you like that?? Really weird coincidence that it is right when i upgrade... Very weird.. it might just be coil whine, everything sure as hell points at that :/
 
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Adrian Revitz

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Alright here are some pretty big news, let me explain..

So when I am inside Dying Light on the main menu (and in game) this buzzing starts, I can clearly hear it in my headset and when I take my ear down to my case it is a very clear audible noise from the power supply. Then when the game is in windowed mode (its still there) and when I take the dying light tab and drag it around which causes the game to freeze (the animation of the main menu stops, then continues to play when i am not dragging it around) while i do so it stops. So literally everytime I tab the window to move it around it stops completely, the whole noise from the case dissapears, but as soon as I release and the main menu starts playing and doing its animation it comes back. What the hell? Does anyone have any clues as to what this is.. literally right as i close the game the noise from the power supply stops aswell, no delay AT ALL. Like if it was something the game was outputting the thing is it is clearly coming out of my powers supply.

Very weird, any help is very much appreciated. Thank you.
 
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Jeff Lebowski

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Hi Adrian. Did you resolve your problem with the buzzing PSU? I am asking because I have almost exactly the same problem. This is my first post on Tom's after many years of solving my tech issues by reading other's issues and solutions so thanks to all contributors. I see that the thread has gone cold but was hoping that because my issue is almost identical maybe I could avoid starting a new thread about it.

I have just upgraded from an Asus GTX 680 4Gb (overclocked) to a Gigabyte GTX 980 G1 (non overclocked).
My PSU is a Seasonic X900 which is way overpowered and has always been quiet and trouble free. First thing I did when I upgraded the card was some stress testing/benchmarking. The 980 performed great and almost silently. Then I bought Dying Light (half the reason I upgraded my GPU). I run the game and no noise until the menu loads, then its a rather loud buzzing noise which continues in-game (can't use headphones so the speaker volume has to be insanely loud to drown out the buzzing). Exactly as you described, it also stops when in windowed mode and dragging the window, essentially paused. At first I thought it was GPU coil whine, but after removing the side cover and putting my ear next to each component I am sure it is from the PSU. Also I placed a finger on the PSU while I clicked and dragged the Dying Light window and the vibration felt different. I have heard coil whine from the 980 before (when playing older games and the FPS skyrockets until I turn on V-sync) but this is a different and much worse sound.

What I was wondering is, what plugs are on your model of 970 and have you by any chance got your 970 powered by molex power plugs rather than pcie power plugs?
I am using the two pcie 8 pin to dual molex 4 pin adapters which came with the GPU. The reason for this is that my PSU has 4 6 pin pcie plugs but no 8 pin pcie plugs. It came with four 6 pin to 8 pin adapters marked pcie but the 8 pin socket is slightly the wrong shape (plastic pegs are in the wrong positions). I am thinking the PSU doesn't like so much power being drained from the molex plugs but have no technical knowledge to back that theory up :(. I have ordered two 6 pin to 8 pin pcie adapters online (after carefully looking at pictures to make sure plug config is correct) in the hope that I can avoid upgrading my PSU because I am convinced that is where this issue lies (for me at least).

Hopefully someone sees this and can offer some insight into the problem. Either way I will update with my findings after delivery and testing of the adapters - or after purchase and installation of new PSU. Thanks for your time.
Regards
Jeff
 
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Adrian Revitz

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I have just upgraded my PSU and the sound is still there. Exactly the same.

The way you descriped is is exactly the way I would descripe it, I'm certain we have the same problem.

Tomorrow I'll check about the pcie plugs. I didn't build the PC myself, my dad and I did it and he is the one who knows most about the hardware component so I'll ask him tomorrow :)

Please do reply with the results of changing as I would love to get this issue resolved.

Thank you very much for posting your info here in the thread and potentially helping me fixing this very rare issue 100% :)

Have a nice day

Kind regards
Adrian
 
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Jeff Lebowski

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Sorry to hear that the PSU upgrade did not fix the problem, what a bummer. Yes can you please tell me what your dad says about how your 970 is connected to the PSU and also the model number of your 970 and new PSU.
The adapters I ordered online are coming from overseas so it might be a week or two before I get them and try it out on my PC. As soon as I have tested I will certainly update you. I really hope it works as I am not playing Dying Light until it is fixed. The buzzing noise makes it hard to enjoy the game. You are right that it seems like a very rare problem, but I am sure there must be others who have this problem and maybe are using headphones very loud and are unaware of it. Or maybe they just ignore it because the game is too fun :)
 
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Adrian Revitz

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I decided to take some pictures of the graphics cards power plugs.

I figured it would be better you just see for yourself and decide what they are since my knowledge in this field is not very good.

Hopefully these pictures will answer your questions. If not, just tell me and I will do my best to help! :)
http://imgur.com/a/gLeRe

Regards
Adrian

Here are my specs:

GPU: GTX 970 MSI
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-GTX-970-4G-Graphics/dp/B00NN0GEXQ

PSU: (new one, issue still there, completely the same issue still)
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperNOVA-80PLUS-Certified-220-G2-0750-XR/dp/B00IKDETOW
 
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Jeff Lebowski

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Okay thanks for uploading the good photos. Yes you are using the correct dedicated PCIE plugs. Mine was connected differently. Now for my news and suggestions:

Since my last post the noise has started to happen in Assassin's Creed 3 also. Previously AC3 did not cause this problem. So, with the side off my PC case, I ran Dying Light and then used a 1 metre piece of garden hose to listen to different components inside the case. That 100% convinced me the PSU was causing the noise because I could hear perfectly the change in sound when doing the windowed mode trick. Same thing with AC3, by going into the pause menu screen the noise stops.
I stopped using my PC for fear of the PSU malfunctioning and possibly damaging something else (i.e my brand new GTX980).

Then 2 days ago the adapters I ordered arrived. I connected my GPU with the PCIE (VGA) plugs via the new adapters. NO DIFFERENCE. The noise was exactly the same.

Today I went out and bought a brand new Seasonic 80+ Platinum 760w PSU. I just finished installing it and testing AC3 and Dying Light 10 minutes ago. The horrible noise is gone!!! Only problem is now I can hear a noise I never heard before because the PSU noise was so bad. Using the hose again I easily pinpointed the new noise as being one of the case fans. Sure enough when I unplug that fan the noise goes away. Easy $10 fix.

I strongly recommend using my method with a flexible tube/hose to listen to each component, as putting your ear next to each component is not accurate enough. You need to have your head away from the case to hear the components separately through the tube. When you pinpoint the noise hopefully the culprit is under warranty and you can get it replaced free of charge. I would be really surprised if it is your new PSU or GPU as they are both really great products. But it could be you were unlucky and got a faulty one.

Please try my suggestion and let me know what you find. I really hope this helps. Now I'm gonna play some Dying Light finally.
P.S. you should probably ask your Dad before you cut the garden hose ;)


 
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Adrian Revitz

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First of all, thank you so much for your help. You are truly an awesome member of the community! :)

I tried your method and after further inspections I found out that since I had upgraded my PSU the sound from the PSU had gone away, revealing another similar sound, just way queiter, which I confused for the same sound. That is why I thought that my issue had not been fixed even though it had in a way. Apparently the new sound comes from my GPU. The sound is extremely low in my case aswell as in my headphones and sounds pretty normal to be honest, just a normal GPU sound from the fans. The weird thing is that I can hear the sound in my headset, and I'm starting to believe that it might be my headset/soundcard that is just picking up a lot of electric noise from my PC Case. Meanwhile, I actually stumbled upon a reddit thread about this same issue, they suggested that since a PC makes a lot of noise and this noise seems very normal it might just be my headset/soundcard that is the issue.

Anyways, the sound is very low so I think im just going to ignore it until I get a new headset, then I will try to buy a USB soundcard for it or use the seperate soundcard that comes with some high-end headsets.

Thank you so much for helping me out, now excuse me while I go out and get a new garden hose for my dad ;)

Regards,
Adrian
 
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