Screen flickering accompanied by ticking sounds coming from the PSU.

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not_klip

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May 5, 2017
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This is my first time posting here. I've had this issue for a few months and would like to get advice on how to go about solving it. Keep in mind I'm not tech-savvy and my knowledge of PC hardware ends at opening the PC case and tinkering with the cables. I chose the parts myself but don't know how to put a PC together nor how to take one part. I'll do my best to cooperate with you so hopefully this won't be an issue.

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Some videogames on my PC have been doing this weird thing where they cause my PSU to start making audible ticking noises and the screen starts flickering on and off with at random intervals. If ticking can't be heard there is no flickering. By "flickering" I mean the following - screen would go off (all sound stops too) every 1-2 seconds, for a few seconds at a time. When not off, the screen visibly tries to "readjust" (moves a little from side to side) and, if there happens to be a black background/spot on the display, there are visible, white horizontal tear lines at random places on screen.

Another weird thing is that the "severity" of the ticking influences the frequency at which the monitor flickers on and off. For the past week every time I turned my PC on there was slight ticking and my screen would go off every 1-2 seconds for 1-2 seconds; but, if this happens after a game is launched, the ticking can be so loud/frequent that the screen turns off for 10-20 seconds at a time and only turns on for about half a second before shutting off again, effectively making the PC unusable.

Here are some games that cause this to happen:

  • Chivalry: Medieval Warfare - Max graphical settings, fullscreen at a 1080p resolution, makes screen go black after joining any game and waiting for a few seconds.
    Insurgency - Max graphical settings, fullscreen at a 1080p resolution, makes screen go black after exactly 2-3 rounds (playing multiplayer matches has a chance to not cause this, playing Coop with other people and bots almost always does).
    Superfighters Deluxe - Max graphical settings, borderless window at a 1080p resolution, makes screen go black after 20-40 minutes of playing. Setting the resolution to fullscreen seems to fix the issue.
I never had any performance issues with the aforementioned titles and could run them without running into any optimization problems. This does NOT happen with most small (undemanding) indie titles such as Terraria, Nuclear Throne, DEADBOLT, SUPERHOT etc. This also doesn't happen when watching movies or videos in fullscreen, or working with software at fullscreen mode in general.

Here's what I tried doing to mitigate the issue:

  • - Changing the HDMI cable. This helped for about a month or two before the flickering returned.
    - Running onboard (Intel) graphics when the flickering started instead of using the GPU. This doesn't stop the flickering.
    - Running the PC in Safe Mode. This doesn't stop the flickering.
    - Updating the graphics drivers to the latest version. Alternatively, rolling versions back to outdated ones in case the new ones are somehow incompatible with my OS/GPU. Neither prevented flickering.
    - Running the games on lower graphical settings and windowed/borderless settings. Neither prevented flickering.
At this point I'm not certain where the issue lies because I'm told many components could be at fault here. The flickering stops once the PC has been off for 5-8 hours or if the PSU has been off for 30-40 minutes, which I hear is the time it takes for the PSU to keep charge or something. I might be completely wrong, though. This could either be the graphics card being damaged, or the cable(s) being faulty, or the monitor being faulty, or the harddrive screwing up when info is being actively written on it, or the PSU having too much load put onto it. I don't know. What I do know is that flickering happens only when ticking can be heard, and that ticking is coming from somewhere around the PSU area on the physical machine.

Here are my specs:

  • MB: Gigabyte Z97-D3H
    CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K @ 3.50GHz
    GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
    RAM: Transcend 4GB DDR3 1600MHz [x2]
    SSD: Transcend SSD370 256GB
    HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
    PSU: Antec HCG-620M (620w)
    OS: Windows 7 Enterprise Edition 64-bit
Any help would be massively appreciated. This PC is 2 years old so it shouldn't be getting too old yet. If there's software I could use to check for faulty components I'll gladly run the tests, because actually opening the PC up and getting into its guts is something I probably shouldn't be trusted with doing. Thanks!
 
Solution
mjslakeridge
Based on your detailed description in your first post, it sounded like a low quality PSU being overworked. Now that we know you don't have a low quality PSU, that makes it harder to proceed. Of course even the highest quality components can fail without warning. I have had Mercedes and BMWs with problems. I don't know of a way to test a PSU under load without removing it and hooking it up to some sophisticated test equipment, and having the expertise to interpret the results.

What I would do would be to dis-assemble the computer and rebuild it outside of the case and try to verify the ticking noise is coming from the PSU. But this doesn't seem to be something you would likely want to attempt.

You could try contacting Antec and...
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not_klip

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May 5, 2017
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Oh yeah, I somehow forgot to mention the most important part lol
Uhh I don't actually remember the particular instance I have, and CPUID doesn't tell me either, but I know it's 620w if that helps. Is there a way to find the specific make of a model?
 
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not_klip

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May 5, 2017
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Ah, there we go. Somehow missed this when writing the specs.
My PSU is Antec HCG-620M (620w).

Here's a link to a store if you need more details.
http://www.antec.com/product.php?id=705192&fid=5022035&lan=nz

Updating the main thread with the new info.

EDIT: I am not aware of any overclocking being done on the CPU. I haven't done it myself and I don't think someone else did that for me before I received the machine. If there's a way to reliably check that I can do that for you.
 
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not_klip

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May 5, 2017
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510

I'm sorry, I must've missed the part where we established the PSU is in fact the cause of the issue I'm having. I am told this could be a result of a myriad other technical issues, such as the GPU or the HDD. I wouldn't be this quick to buy a new product if I wasn't 100% sure it was the weak chain link, especially from someone who advertises power supply units this actively. This is a budget build, as you can tell by the mid-range specs; I don't mean to be rude, but I'm not going out of my way to buy a $160 PSU (my currency is worth much less than yours) without a good reason to do so, a reason you haven't given me in neither one of your two short replies. Aren't we, like, supposed to test whether this is caused by other components? I'm not an expert by any means but this is the fastest I was ever told to buy something new, ever.
 
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mjslakeridge

mjslakeridge

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Mar 6, 2013
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Based on your detailed description in your first post, it sounded like a low quality PSU being overworked. Now that we know you don't have a low quality PSU, that makes it harder to proceed. Of course even the highest quality components can fail without warning. I have had Mercedes and BMWs with problems. I don't know of a way to test a PSU under load without removing it and hooking it up to some sophisticated test equipment, and having the expertise to interpret the results.

What I would do would be to dis-assemble the computer and rebuild it outside of the case and try to verify the ticking noise is coming from the PSU. But this doesn't seem to be something you would likely want to attempt.

You could try contacting Antec and describe the problem to them in the same amount of detail as you did in the first post. Most likely the PSU is still under warranty, and they would either test it, or just replace it.
 
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Solution
Froberg

Froberg

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Jan 9, 2008
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If you have a very, very good friend - try and borrow a PSU to test with. How do you know it's the PSU making the ticking noise? You say you don't dare open up the PC, so how do you know the sound is coming from the PSU?
It may be completely irrelevant, but I have an audio card - xonar - and that makes an audible ticking when it initiates.
If you're certain the sound is coming from the PSU, then it's a very good place to start testing, but you can't do that without another one - and it's a fairly major operation if you're inexperienced.
Maybe consider bringing it to any local PC-store and have them test it with a different PSU. Might be cheaper than buying a new one, certainly safer if you don't know what you're doing.
 
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not_klip

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May 5, 2017
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510

I never said I don't dare open the case, I said that's where my technical knowledge basically ends. I don't need to open the case to hear the sound, though. The back grill/cover of the PSU isn't solid (as can be seen in this picture), and if I put my ear to it I can hear the sound better whereas I can't hear it well from anywhere else on the machine. I mean, the sound emerges from the back of the case, the bottom; the graphics card and the fan are at the top of the tower, the SSD and HDD are at the front, so the sound can't be coming from them (I don't think). It could be the PSU fan, or a cable being misplaced, or one of the cables not being connected properly. Something along those lines?
 
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Froberg

Froberg

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Jan 9, 2008
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Fair enough. I think your only option is to test with another power supply. As another poster said, it's a quality PSU so you might write to them and ask if it's an issue they've heard of before.
 
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