High pitched whining when stressing Mem mean anything?

[sdrac]

Hi,
I have an older system - A8V deluxe mobo with 2 sticks of Cosair CMX512-3200XL Pro.
That memory is rated at 2-2-2-5 1T @2.75V and I'm running it at that (except for Voltage, which I have at 2.8
since my mobo only goes in full .1V steps).
Anyway, I had noticed a high pitched whinning coming from the system from time to time. By the process of
elimination I was able to determine that this sound appears to come from the memory/memory subsystem when it
is stressed (using PCWizard benchmarking for memory for instance).
I've run memtest86 on the memory for over 12 hours with no errors, but I'm wondering if this sound is telling me that either the memory or something on the mobo supporting it is about to go?
Anyone ever seen (heard) of something like this before and know what it is?

Thx,
Sdrac

 

[badge]

Hi,
I have an older system - A8V deluxe mobo with 2 sticks of Cosair CMX512-3200XL Pro.
That memory is rated at 2-2-2-5 1T @2.75V and I'm running it at that (except for Voltage, which I have at 2.8
since my mobo only goes in full .1V steps).
Anyway, I had noticed a high pitched whinning coming from the system from time to time. By the process of
elimination I was able to determine that this sound appears to come from the memory/memory subsystem when it
is stressed (using PCWizard benchmarking for memory for instance).
I've run memtest86 on the memory for over 12 hours with no errors, but I'm wondering if this sound is telling me that either the memory or something on the mobo supporting it is about to go?
Anyone ever seen (heard) of something like this before and know what it is?


Thx,
Sdrac

I have the same RAM and it doesn't make noise. It could be your psu or a fan making the noise.

 

[sdrac]

Well, I don't have any fans on or near the memory so I don't think its that.
As for the PSU, I don't think so. The PSU is brand new for one and the sound only occurs when I
stress the memory. If I run Prime95 or pcwizard cpu benchmarker, I don't hear it.
I would assume that the CPU would draw more power under load then the memory - so if it was
PSU I should hear it then too I would think?
Anything other thoughts?

 

[Groveling_Wyrm]

You could have a bearing going bad in a fan.

You might want to get down next to the components to find out where that sound is coming from. Having a fan go bad is not a good thing.

 

[NaDa]

It could be not fan related.

I had a graphic card whining and it wasnt the FAN.

I dont think it's anything serious.

 

[altazi]

My first thought would be an over-stressed PSU, which could develop an inappropriate harmonic in one of the power inductors.

If the sound is truly coming from the memory modules themselves, I was wondering if it might be something more exotic, like piezoelectric mechanical vibrations of the ceramic chip power-supply decoupling capacitors. . .

Any luck targeting the exact sound source?

Regards,

Altazi

 

[go1ge]

It could be an electrolytic capacitor leakage. Do you notice any physical deformation in capacitors?
Sometimes pressure builds up in these capacitors and high pressure gas finds a tiny leakage path, sounding like a high pitched noise. Once such a capacitor blow in front of me, it could easily hurt if I was any closer. Smell was horrible as well.

You can check this article for some more detail.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/05/18/fixing_your_motherboard/

 

[go1ge]

It could be an electrolytic capacitor leakage. Do you notice any physical deformation in capacitors?
Sometimes pressure builds up in these capacitors and high pressure gas finds a tiny leakage path, sounding like a high pitched noise. Once such a capacitor blow in front of me, it could easily hurt if I was any closer. Smell was horrible as well.

You can check this article for some more detail.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/05/18/fixing_your_motherboard/

 

[leo2kp]

I agree with the above post. I'd check capacitors or PSU.

 

[pausert20]

Hi,
I have an older system - A8V deluxe mobo with 2 sticks of Cosair CMX512-3200XL Pro.
That memory is rated at 2-2-2-5 1T @2.75V and I'm running it at that (except for Voltage, which I have at 2.8
since my mobo only goes in full .1V steps).
Anyway, I had noticed a high pitched whinning coming from the system from time to time. By the process of
elimination I was able to determine that this sound appears to come from the memory/memory subsystem when it
is stressed (using PCWizard benchmarking for memory for instance).
I've run memtest86 on the memory for over 12 hours with no errors, but I'm wondering if this sound is telling me that either the memory or something on the mobo supporting it is about to go?
Anyone ever seen (heard) of something like this before and know what it is?

Thx,
Sdrac

I saw this on an older Intel motherboard. It turned out to be caused by the Vreg inductors not being correctly epoxied. When stressing the system this caused the inductors to vibrate in time with the boards Vreg loading. The more you load the system the more the Vreg has to supply current. During heavy loadings of the Vreg was enough to physically vibrate the inductors wires. Since these usually operate from 50KHz to over 400KHz the sound could have only been a harmonic of the actual switching frequency of the Vreg.

This will not happen for a linear Vreg. It only can happen on a switching Vreg with susceptible inductors.

Quick check to verify this is to run you stressful program and individually touch each inductors wire windings. You don't need to be worried about shocking yourself. The wires are not bare. They all have a vinyl coating on them.

Hope this helps.

 

[NotSoSober]

I would go with the inductor - bad epoxy theory. If its that then its not too bad, just annoying. One way to test would be to move something slightly magnetic close to the bad inductor, the whining should change pitch. If the whining continues after you shut down the computer then it might be a capacitor.

 

[badge]

If you can hear the noise distinctly. Try this. Get an empty paper towel insert, the cardboard insert the paper was wrapped on. Open the case while running. Hold one end of the roll next to your ear and the other end up to each component, area, etc. until you hone in on what is making the noise. Sneak up on it.