Buzzing from motherboard area of PC

[TheTaintedBean]

I know this isn't really the right forum to ask, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

So I have this fairly loud high-pitched buzzing sound coming from around the CPU area of my motherboard. It is more of an electric kind of sound than a mechanical one. Interestingly, the buzzing stops when I perform intensive tasks, such as gaming, and even moving the mouse around a bit causes the noise to become quieter. It's nothing to do with my CPU fan as I have replaced it recently and the sound persists. Also, it's not my GPU as I also recently replaced it for an unrelated reason and I still have the buzzing. I'm not ruling out my power supply, but I'm fairly sure the sound is coming from my motherboard.
Is this sound dangerous and does it indicate a dying component? I can't tell how long the buzzing has been going on, but I only really took notice of it recently.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[rotNdude]

If you're worried about it and you know it's the motherboard, contact the manufacturer before the warranty runs out. They may replace it.

[_I_]

what board and cpu?

most likley coil whine

[Azza ☠]

Get a piece of paper / light cardboard and create a coil cone from it. Use it against your ear to detect the location. Is it the PSU? The fans? The CPU? The graphics card? or a component on the motherboard itself?

It's quite possible that it's whining from one of the capacitors, if it's the motherboard.

[The Muppet Surgery Special]

Sound slike a capacitor is gone in the PSU.

http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/capacitor-squeal-coil-whine-explained-a-63.html

I don't suggest you poke about with a PSU unless you know what you're doing but capcitors that have BUBBLED caps are generally BAD and need replaced.

OR

It could be coils.

If it is under warranty, take it back to the seller, simple. It's their problem then whilst you walk out with a new one.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by Azza ☠:

Get a piece of paper / light cardboard and create a coil cone from it. Use it against your ear to detect the location. Is it the PSU? The fans? The CPU? The graphics card? or a component on the motherboard itself?

It's quite possible that it's whining from one of the capacitors, if it's the motherboard.

^This

Often times even with side panel removed; can be very hard to tell if buzz is from MB, PSU, GPU... use the cone-to-ear method. Easier then removing the Motherboard and PSU to further narrow it down.

Whichever it is, have it replace if under warranty. If no longer under warranty, well I wouldn't expect much more life from it then.

Now it's different compare to a GPU doing coil-whine at various loads; sometimes that is just poor GPU design and many I have seen that suffered from this went on to work just great for many years. But when it is the MB or PSU, I'd replace it.

[TheTaintedBean]

Thanks for all the help.

I'm certain it's not the GPU as I replaced it recently and I had the problem both before and after. Plus the sound is definetly not coming from the GPU.

Also, my CPU is an FX-8350 and my MB is an Asus M5 A97 R2.0

It doesn't sound like its coming from the PSU: it seems to be coming from lower down, around the CPU heatsink.

I don't know if its a capacitor or coil whine, as I don't really know how how the 2 sounds differ from each other. Does anyone know? It's more of a buzzing than a whine.

If its coil whine I'm OK to leave it, but if its a more serious problem I want to know what is causing the problem before I go RMA'ing anything (which is something I'm not too keen on doing).

I'm still curious about the fact that the sound all but disappears when my pc is under load, so I think thats an important thing to take a note of.

I asked this same question on the Linus Tech Tips forums and someone said this: ''A VRM makes coil whine whenever it's on. The coils in the power stage inductors vibrate, sometimes at audible frequencies and volumes. Depending on what happened during the manufacturing process, it could make whine when it's at idle or when it's pumping 1.4 volts through the CPU at balls-to-the-wall overclocks. In any case, it's just what happens when a power stage is doing its job. It's not a defect, it's just annoying.''
Does this sound right to anyone?

Any thoughts?

[The Muppet Surgery Special]

What we do to test electronic faults on boards is to freeze the component and tap it with a non-conductive stick (wood for example or plastic).

[The Muppet Surgery Special]

Originally posted by TheTaintedBean:

Thanks for all the help.

I'm certain it's not the GPU as I replaced it recently and I had the problem both before and after. Plus the sound is definetly not coming from the GPU.

Also, my CPU is an FX-8350 and my MB is an Asus M5 A97 R2.0

It doesn't sound like its coming from the PSU: it seems to be coming from lower down, around the CPU heatsink.

I don't know if its a capacitor or coil whine, as I don't really know how how the 2 sounds differ from each other. Does anyone know? It's more of a buzzing than a whine.

If its coil whine I'm OK to leave it, but if its a more serious problem I want to know what is causing the problem before I go RMA'ing anything (which is something I'm not too keen on doing).

I'm still curious about the fact that the sound all but disappears when my pc is under load, so I think thats an important thing to take a note of.

I asked this same question on the Linus Tech Tips forums and someone said this: ''A VRM makes coil whine whenever it's on. The coils in the power stage inductors vibrate, sometimes at audible frequencies and volumes. Depending on what happened during the manufacturing process, it could make whine when it's at idle or when it's pumping 1.4 volts through the CPU at balls-to-the-wall overclocks. In any case, it's just what happens when a power stage is doing its job. It's not a defect, it's just annoying.''
Does this sound right to anyone?

Any thoughts?

Never had whine from my builds yet. I would still find out what it is and return it and get a new one and take a chance on that, make it their problem not yours :) That is a right we have as consumers, if you are not happy with it, ship it back to the seller.

Whilst its nice to learn all this stuff, you can do that for free, not the price of the parts.

Is your power source clean? I run mine all through a smoothing power strip.

[_I_]

fx8 are power hungry cpus, its most likely the choke coils on the mobo

stress it with prime95 blend test and see if the sound changes under different load tests
http://www.mersenne.org/download/

[TheTaintedBean]

Ok, so on youtube I found an example of what is apparantly capacitor whine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6229o4OuEM.Now, my computer DOES NOT sound anything like this. As I said, its more of a buzzing. Also from what I've heard coil whine is more of a fluctuating and high pitched whine, though I'm certainly not an expert and I'm most likely wrong.

I also noticed that even scrolling in chrome/steam causes the noise to stop. This makes me think that its something to do with power usage, and makes me think that what the person on Linus Tech tips said about the VRM (voltage regulator module).

[The Muppet Surgery Special]

Originally posted by TheTaintedBean:

Ok, so on youtube I found an example of what is apparantly capacitor whine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6229o4OuEM.Now, my computer DOES NOT sound anything like this. As I said, its more of a buzzing. Also from what I've heard coil whine is more of a fluctuating and high pitched whine, though I'm certainly not an expert and I'm most likely wrong.

I also noticed that even scrolling in chrome/steam causes the noise to stop. This makes me think that its something to do with power usage, and makes me think that what the person on Linus Tech tips said about the VRM (voltage regulator module).

Electrical buzz then from the source sounds like you're using a lot of juice and it's straining maybe.

What is the PSU and what are the system components?

Check this http://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator and see what it suggests on wattage.

[TheTaintedBean]

Originally posted by The Muppet Surgery Special:

Originally posted by TheTaintedBean:

Ok, so on youtube I found an example of what is apparantly capacitor whine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6229o4OuEM.Now, my computer DOES NOT sound anything like this. As I said, its more of a buzzing. Also from what I've heard coil whine is more of a fluctuating and high pitched whine, though I'm certainly not an expert and I'm most likely wrong.

I also noticed that even scrolling in chrome/steam causes the noise to stop. This makes me think that its something to do with power usage, and makes me think that what the person on Linus Tech tips said about the VRM (voltage regulator module).

Electrical buzz then from the source sounds like you're using a lot of juice and it's straining maybe.

Is there anything I can do about this?

[The Muppet Surgery Special]

Originally posted by TheTaintedBean:

Originally posted by The Muppet Surgery Special:

Electrical buzz then from the source sounds like you're using a lot of juice and it's straining maybe.

Is there anything I can do about this?

Add more power? :)

I don't know, try that calculator and see what wattage it suggests for all your components, it will give an estimated value and compare it to what you currently have.

Did this Buzz always happen or just start, was it starting on it's own or after you changed the hardware in an upgrade?

You shouldn't be hearing any buzz, no buzz is acceptable really and should be considered a warning of a failure down the line.

I remember a time when Motherboards started to ship with substandard capacitors and caused problems. This was quite a while back but I don't know how relevent that issue is today. (there is even a website called badcaps :) )

[TheTaintedBean]

Originally posted by The Muppet Surgery Special:

Originally posted by TheTaintedBean:

Is there anything I can do about this?

Add more power? :)

I don't know, try that calculator and see what wattage it suggests for all your components, it will give an estimated value and compare it to what you currently have.

I have a corsair CX 750, and the calculator recommends 414 watts for what I have.

[The Muppet Surgery Special]

Originally posted by TheTaintedBean:

Originally posted by The Muppet Surgery Special:

Add more power? :)

I don't know, try that calculator and see what wattage it suggests for all your components, it will give an estimated value and compare it to what you currently have.

I have a corsair CX 750, and the calculator recommends 414 watts for what I have.

Oh well it's not the lack of power then lol.

Make a cone and put it to your ear, and go around with it on your system. Make sure to run it cool so the fan isn't annoying. Focus on the PSU and power connectors to the Motherboard.