High pitched disturbing noise from the system

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Sorry for poor english I hope you understand what I mention below: Here it comes:

There is a continous high pitched noise coming from my own-built desktop PC. The noise starts just after 5 seconds when the computer posts and it never stops. The noise is independent from any action... it is always there if I play games, use windows or when it is idle... it is always there. The noise is not in extreme but it is still disturbing and I worry that it damages my ears because it leaves clanging in my ears after using computer. When I sit in front of the computer for a long time I forget about the noise especially if I use headphones. But I know it is there and it is giving my ears some pain.

Please help me identify which component is causing this high pitched noise

These are the components and how old they are:

MOBO: GA-965P-DQ6 http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2453#sp (4-5 years old)
CPU: Core Duo E6600 (4-5 years old)
Rams: Corsair 2x1 GB (4-5 years old)
GPU: HD 5770 (2 years old)
PSU: 460 W Feel Hurricane http://img.cimri.com/pictures/wm/300x300/573/573586_300-300.jpg (PSU is eldest, 6 years old)

In order to find out from which component the noise is coming I disabled or removed some parts... I shut down all case fans... I removed GPU... Disconnected power and sata cable of HDD... I even disconnected CPU fan power... And just motherboard and PSU stayed active... The noise was still there...

So I guess it left me only 2 components to suspect... Motherboard and PSU... cleaned both parts from their dusts a day ago and nothing changed... I opened PSU case and checked inside to see if anything was wrong but I don't understand well from it... it only seemed to me that the two huge capacitors in it had a little bit bulge on their tops... But maybe they are normally so because their tops were plastic. PSU seems to have low quality....And it is really 6 years old... But computer seems to be running fine with it... and like I said I disconnected almost all parts and only CPU was running on MOBO and noise was still there.. and this cpu is only 65 W component which draws just couple of Watts in idle mode.

I suspect more from the motherboard somehow. I get my ears close to it in order to identify the exact source of the noise but I can't.. it is like as if coming from everywhere from this huge motherboard not from a certain point...

I connected 3 systems to this same PSU just some days ago.. One system was its original.. A p4 system.. There was no such noise in this pentium 4 system.. Then I connected AM3 socket ati with x3 455 athlon triple core there was no noise again.. and before this one I connected a 1155 socket with sandy bridge pentium g620 and there was a similar noise but less than this one....

Is it the motherboard or PSU ? What do you think ? given these facts...

The computer seems to work fine once it launches. Only somehow yesterday it did not post and restarted itself. I powercycled couple of times and it started to run again. During this ordeal GPU was disconnected which actually draws lots of power...

Today full system is working but with that high pitched noise... but it is killing my ears seriously....

I have a tight budget... I plan on changing the PSU first because I am happy with the system itself. I can play every game with max details in 1680x1050... But if it is the motherboard well I ll replace it too...

 

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Motherboard replacement or PSU replacement ?

 

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By the way I just realised that I have not given one more info... The cpu's power connector on the motherboard has 8 pins slot however I have only connected 4 pins from the power supply and there is not another one... Can this be a reason... it is running like this guy has done.... http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=689952&mpage=1

but still it works

 

[chippies]

The way that the PSU is connected doesn't sound good at all. One way to check if the noise is coming from the motherboard is to unplug the system speaker. If that removes the noise then you know its being generated by the motherboard and is probably an error signal.

 

[Skelt]

Well there are only a few things I've known to make sounds: Optical Drives, Mother Board Speaker either hard wired or the little dongle cable & speaker, CPU Fan, PSU Fan, or Case fans. Hard drives tend to make sounds as well when they are on their last leg. You should be able to identify where the sound is coming from. Leave the case open, start the system and pin point what's making the sound.

 

[Skelt]

The bulged capacitors are not suppose to be like that. A bulge in the top of a capacitor means it is bad and in need of replacement.

Given intermittent problems, or the problem only existing on a certain set of hardware I would equate the issue to your power supply. Try a different power supply and see if the problem persists before purchasing or going through and RMA for your motherboard.

 

[run-dll]

The way that the PSU is connected doesn't sound good at all. One way to check if the noise is coming from the motherboard is to unplug the system speaker. If that removes the noise then you know its being generated by the motherboard and is probably an error signal.

it is not an error signal, I have done what you said. It is more like a noise which comes from old electronic or electric devices... They start to produce such a noise when they get old... I think due to capacitors... I checked all the capacitors in the system, none seemed damaged... Our old CRT TV makes a similar noise which is even more loud, but because I don't use it constantly that does not disturb me.

I consider changing PSU too before doing the same for motherboard. But I can't be sure because actually this PSU has never caused problems before and it worked for all the systems I tried it.

Well there are only a few things I've known to make sounds: Optical Drives, Mother Board Speaker either hard wired or the little dongle cable & speaker, CPU Fan, PSU Fan, or Case fans. Hard drives tend to make sounds as well when they are on their last leg. You should be able to identify where the sound is coming from. Leave the case open, start the system and pin point what's making the sound.

I can not sort it out where this noise is coming from. I disconnected everything... I left only motherboard with cpu and memory and psu working... And noise seems to come from everywhere on the motherboard... Cant sort it out really.. the exact source...

 

[chippies]

I think you really need to change your PSU. Motherboards shouldn't be making such a noise. If your PSU is faulty and producing the wrong kind of output, that could produce strange vibrations, explaining the strange noise.

 

[Raiddinn]

My first guess is the PSU. My second guess would be the hard drive.

Motherboards generally shouldn't be able to make such sounds, but if you have a little speaker hanging in the air inside the PC or on your front panel then it wouldn't hurt to disconnect the cable and see if that changes anything. The port would probably be on the bottom left of the motherboard.

Fans are the most likely thing to make such a noise and the PSU may have two of them. Potentially, the PSU fans are not making a loud noise when they are being run at a slow speed (fast speed not necessary for low power systems) and when you use a lot of power from it then the fans have to spin fast and it starts screaming.

IMHO, switch the PSU with one with Seasonic as the OEM and tell us if it isn't fixed.

 

[delluser1]

I can not sort it out where this noise is coming from. I disconnected everything... I left only motherboard with cpu and memory and psu working... And noise seems to come from everywhere on the motherboard... Cant sort it out really.. the exact source.. .

Turn off the psu switch
Disconnect the psu from everything except the wall.
On the 24 pin main connector; Jump the green power on wire with one of the black ground wires
Turn on the psu switch
If it's the psu making the noise, you'll know it

 

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I got a new PSU today but I havent installed it yet... it is a FSP 500 W Saga II.. I ll tell you the results soon if anything changes... If nothing changes I ll sell both old motherboard and PSU and buy new motherboard and perhaps a new cpu..

I hope this does not happen and my new PSU solves the problem because.. I dont really need to change this system.

 

[Raiddinn]

If the FSP doesn't work, you might still want to try a Seasonic OEM PSU like I mentioned before. I had a FSP PSU 700w generic PSU in the past and I doubt it could even put out 400w at full load.

That was before I had some idea what was going on and I thought that wattage was all people needed to know.

 

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Well, even the new PSU did not solve anything... I was almost sure it was mainboard anyway. It was not my old PSU which was responsible for this disturbing noise... I tried everything I could with the motherboard... The sound must be coming from an electrical component ıf it. I don't really know... Maybe a capacitor or something like that. It is an old tech motherboard anyway, with some older electrical components... I'm going to sell the motherboard now... And transfer to AMD perhaps from intel for the first time. AMD board was the only one which did not disturb my ears..

Bad thing is that I bought a new PSU despite the fact that my older PSU was still operational. So I'm going to sell the older PSU as well. Only positive side is that the new PSU is much more silent. Other than the stupid motherboard's noise I hear almost nothing from the whole system... Only sometimes the GPU when gaming.

 

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Got a new motherboard... There s no such noise... thanks