High pitch noise coming from cpu

[Marcello]

Hello everybody and thanks in advance for any help.
I have put together my first computer and everything worked out fine except for a high pitch noise coming from the cpu (I am pretty sure that's where it comes from), it's not continuous and the frequency of the noise seems to slightly change depending on the task. I am using the hardware configuration below:

ASRock Z77 Pro4 LGA 1155 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i7 3770K 3.5GHz LGA 1155 Processor
HERCULES 400 Watt Micro PS3 ATX Power Supply

and the attached calcs for the power supply that gives me 261W.

It's not the processor fan. I tried changing the voltage of the cpu in the bios with no success.
Please let me know if you have an idea on how to fix the problem.

Thank you very much, all the best.

Marcello

 

[happita]

Welcome to TPU
I would try reseting the BIOS to default settings if you tweaked it at all. Another thing I would try would be to turn down the system, take out the CMOS battery and put it back in. Just some suggestions which I have no idea whether or not will solve your problem.
I would think it would be coming either from the Motherboard or PSU. I have never heard of people experiencing a high pitch noise from the CPU itself. Strange. Hopefully someone else with experience can chime in here.

edit: By the way, what graphics card and hard drive do you use? It's best to fill out your system specs so we can have a better chance at helping

 

[Marcello]

Thank you happita. It is definitely not the PSU (I have a good ear for music...).
Edit for happita: I see what you mean now, it is the psu even though the noise comes from the cpu.

Hard Drives:
SAMSUNG 840 Series MZ-7TD120BW 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Caviar Green 2TB IntelliPower SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Graphic Card:
GV-R775OC-1GI AMD Radeon HD 7750 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16

Memory:
4x8GB modules = 32GB
Corsair – XMS3 16GB DDR-1333 (PC-10600) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit

Thanks again.

 

[Sinzia]

Sounds like coil whine from the VRM, if its a brand new board try to RMA it.

The noise changes with power draw on the CPU, so depending on how much volts the CPU uses will vary the pitch of the sound.

I'd also try to get a better brand of power supply, I've heard some bad things about them.

 

[Aquinus]

Sounds like coil whine from the VRM, if its a brand new board try to RMA it.

The noise changes with power draw on the CPU, so depending on how much volts the CPU uses will vary the pitch of the sound.

+1: I have a machine that has coil whine on the VRMs. It won't impact the performance of the board but it is annoying to listen to.

 

[Iceni]

I would imagine it is the PSU.

The easiest way to isolate it would be to drop the psu out of the case and power back up.

However i was not able to find any detailed information about that PSU. This tells me it is going to put your computer at a very real risk of damage.

When i say detailed information i mean knowing how the PSU delivers it's power. It is not enough to know the ampages and the total wattage.



here is a link to the psu guide on this forum. It's a heavy read but it's worth attempting to understand a few basic principles.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39758


A PSU's rating can be made from any combination of the power available on any of the rails.

An old psu design will deliver pretty much all of the power on the 3.3v and 5v rails. In a modern machine this is very bad. As it's the 12v rails that are very important. It also presents a very real fire hazard as the 12v rail will be stressed to a dangerous level.

If your PC needs 250W's and you add an old design 400W psu. You might find that 200W's of power are on the 3.3 and 5v rails (totaly useless). Meaning your drawing 250W's on a 200W circuit. That is a big risk.

When you buy a PSU for a modern machine you need to read the information differently.

Firstly you HAVE to know what the 12v rails are capable of in amps, and you have to know the total % of the power available on that 12v rail.

If the PSU does not have a sticker on it with information listed like this throw that psu away and invest in a better quality unit.

Edit: got some information about your psu.

Input Voltage AC115V / 230V

Input Frequency Range 50Hz/ 60Hz

Input Current 10A@ 115VAC / 5A @ 230VAC

Load Range +3.3V@12A;+5V@19/21A; +12V@20A; -12V@0.8A; +5VSB@3A


P= I x V

12V rail 240W max load.

 

[McSteel]

HERCULES 400 Watt Micro PS3 ATX Power Supply

That turd of a PSU can't even do 200W without going out of spec. Your CPU VRM is probably struggling to straighten out the crappy power it's being fed, and it's coils whine as they're flexing, which is normal and expected, but could disappear once you get a proper PSU.

It doesn't have to be stronger than 300W, so choose quality over alleged quantity this time around.

 

[happita]

If you have a Microcenter near you or pretty much any retail computer store that sells a decent quality PSU for ex. Corsair CX 430 or something around there, but make sure it's a QUALITY unit. If it fixes the problem, then keep it. If not, then just return it and tell them it wasn't enough power for what you needed it for. I'm sure they wouldn't mind refunding you.

 

[Marcello]

I am returning the psu in the morning

Thank you guys for all the answers and the precious link to the psu reference post.
I am now planning to exchange the hercules tomorrow morning with this:
Seasonic USA
X-Series SS-400FL 400 Watt Modular ATX Power Supply
Load Range +3.3V@20A; +5V@20A; +12@33A; -12V@0.5A; +5VSB@2.5A
Unfortunately they do not have in store corsair models.
Please let me know your thoughts.

Marcello

 

[Jstn7477]

Seasonic makes awesome power supplies so I feel you should have no problems with it.

 

[Aquinus]

Has the OP even verified that it is actually his PSU? I have a board with coil whine and my voltages are good. I know that these are estimates, but what do your voltages look like in the bios? I'm curious about your:

vcore, +12v, +5v, +3.3v and +5vsb.

Also that PSU has two 16A +12v rails. Not the best design but I wouldn't throw it under the bus yet. It's not like it is rated for 400W and you get 150W off 12v and 250W off of +5v and +3.3v. By spec it should be able to handle at least 300-watts on 12v.

 

[McSteel]

Yes, by spec it should, but the spec label is a blatant and outright lie.
This is the difference between a trusted brand name and a known bad brand such as Athena Power.

 

[Ghost]

Thank you guys for all the answers and the precious link to the psu reference post.
I am now planning to exchange the hercules tomorrow morning with this:
Seasonic USA
X-Series SS-400FL 400 Watt Modular ATX Power Supply
Load Range +3.3V@20A; +5V@20A; +12@33A; -12V@0.5A; +5VSB@2.5A
Unfortunately they do not have in store corsair models.
Please let me know your thoughts.

Marcello

400FL is great, but do you really want to overpay for passive cooling? Also are you planning to add a discreate video card?

 

[Aquinus]

Yes, by spec it should, but the spec label is a blatant and outright lie.
This is the difference between a trusted brand name and a known bad brand such as Athena Power.

How about we find out if his voltages actually are good or not and then pass judgement on a potentially unreliable PSU. I like to base troubleshooting on facts rather than speculation even if it is a strong possibility. You don't want to replace something if it is actually working fine, regardless of the quality. Just because a lot are bad doesn't mean all are bad (relatively speaking). Like I said, seeing what his loaded voltages are will give a better indication if his PSU is struggling or not. If there is coil whine even if the rig is idling, it very well could be the motherboard, not the PSU.

 

[Marcello]

Done. Thanks everybody

I returned the hercules, replaced with Corsair Builder Series CX500 500 Watt ATX 12V Power Supply (the lowest wattage I could find around here) and the noise is completely gone!
You guys rock!

Thank you so much for your help!

 

[Iceni]

Glad is was a simple fix. If it hadn't been the psu we would have had you running in circles for days testing things.

The PSU you have gone with should last you for a few years, and give you far more peace of mind regarding your hardware and it's safety.

Now I would advise you get cranking up the overclocks If you haven't done so already your next upgrade should be a better cooler than stock, to allow you to open that chip up to 4.5Ghz. With that overclock your rig will fly

How about we find out if his voltages actually are good or not and then pass judgement on a potentially unreliable PSU.

Trouble here is not everyone owns a multi meter, and Bios/on chip voltage readers are know to be unreliable. It may also be an ampage fault at full draw. Something that is a lot harder to test for as i am aware of no device that will run in line on pc hardware (without significant modification). I believe the only way to test this would be to have a device capable of applying a variable load that you can monitor, and a voltage probe as well. Without these tools your always going to be shooting in the dark. So aim for the weakest component first and if it doesn't fix it revise your strategy.

 

[Marcello]

Thank you Iceni, I will start looking into overclock, I am a novice and there's a lot to read.

Marcello