GPU causing excess noise.

[Wiesty]

Hey everyone, I have a bit of a dilemma that I hope you can provide some insight to...
My video card (XFX 7870 Double D edition) has recently been causing excess noise, kind of a grinding/whiney noise when I play games. It was also causing artifacts so I sent it in for an RMA and had it replaced with a new one.

While it was sent out I attempted playing the same games on the MOBO's GPU. Games obviously ran a bit more sluggish, but no noise whatsoever, none....

Just got the card back and installed it. The artifacts are gone, but the noise remains....

I thought maybe it might be the CPU fan. I ran a stress test on the CPU by itself. Nothing...Silence....

Moving back to the GPU again, I ran a stress test on it by itself at 100% load for 15 minutes. NOTHING! SILENCE! Even the fan at 100% did not reproduce the grinding/whining noise.

I thought, maybe it might be a hard drive starting to go...But the HDD that the game is installed on is an SSD...shouldnt be making any noises associated with a traditional HDD.

So, it may be something else in the computer, but the sound is only happening when the HD7870 is installed, because the computer was silent when running off the onboard graphics.

So is it some weird combination of the card being on board that is causing some weird sympathetic vibration elsewhere or something?

If anybody has any ideas, please share...because I am honestly stumped.

Thanks!

 

[DjDafiDak]

that sounds like a hard drive nosie, try unzipping a rar file, or repeadeatly go to loading screens in a game that's installed on ur cpu, and see if you hear something.

also, make sure ur gpu is stable( the screws are screwed as much as they can be)

 

[Wiesty]

that sounds like a hard drive nosie, try unzipping a rar file, or repeadeatly go to loading screens in a game that's installed on ur cpu, and see if you hear something.

also, make sure ur gpu is stable( the screws are screwed as much as they can be)

I thought that might be it as well...but the game is installed on an SSD, so why would it be so noisy? I also do a lot of audio work which is heavy on the HDD, but i dont get the sound when I'm doing that.

 

[Intel God]

Whiney noise is probably capacitor whine. Its common with the amd 7 series.

Is this the sound?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnJ3XEEbKtM

 

[Wiesty]

The mentioned that when I sent it for an RMA. But the replacement they sent is doing it right out of the box....It also does not do it when I stress test the card in FurMark. Only when I game.

 

[Intel God]

The mentioned that when I sent it for an RMA. But the replacement they sent is doing it right out of the box....It also does not do it when I stress test the card in FurMark. Only when I game.

Watch the video i linked and let me know if its the same sound

 

[Wiesty]

Nope definitely not that sound. I will try and listen for it again tonight to compare.

 

[Intel God]

Nope definitely not that sound. I will try and listen for it again tonight to compare.

If you can get a cell phone video of the sound and upload so we can listen

 

[Wiesty]

I will as soon as I get home this evening!

 

[Wiesty]

Here is a video of the noise....

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hlv4gi0xriz94p2/IMG_0120.MOV

 

[Intel God]

Here is a video of the noise....

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hlv4gi0xriz94p2/IMG_0120.MOV

I listened to it and all i hear is the fan from the cpu cooler. You sure youre just not hearing things? :lol:

 

[Wiesty]

Turn your speakers up a bit, you should hear it. It starts out kinda slow then gets fasters...then starts to wind down. Its a whining sound kinda.

 

[Wiesty]

Nothing?

 

[smeezekitty]

I can hear it but not much. I sounds like maybe a fan is causing something to vibrate at resonance.

Can you listen real close to see where the noise is coming from. See if is the video card, psu, cpu, hd etc.

Also try turning the FAN speed up and down on the GPU. There could be a certain speed it makes noise at. In any case I wouldn't worry much.

 

[Wiesty]

I cannot hear exactly where it is coming from, but i know that it only happens when the GPU is in the computer.
How would I test to see if it is the PSU?

Its not that its super annoying, but it shouldn't be happening at all. I also do a lot of home recording, and I bought a computer case with soundproofing for that very reason, so a quiet computer is kind of necessary.
Thanks!