Renault on 23/4/2009 at 20:24
On my new rig, everything is running fine, except during certain games, I get a strange sound coming from (I think) the motherboard. It almost sounds like muffled midi music, and I always get it in the same places in games. A few examples include the menu screens of both Thief2 and Stalker, and also during cutscenes and when you bring up any kind of readable on-screen in T2. When you're actually in the gameworld though, nothing.
I've disabled the built in sound on the mobo, and disconnected the PC speaker. Nothing changes. None of this seems to affect the machine or performance at all, it's mostly just annoying.
Anyone have ideas on this?
bikerdude on 23/4/2009 at 23:09
Quote Posted by Brethren
On my new rig, everything is running fine, except during certain games, I get a strange sound coming from (I think) the motherboard. It almost sounds like muffled midi music,
This sounds like ' choke/capacitor squeek ', but this normally comes from a gfx card... the good news is thats covered by warranty, so you will be able to rma the effected part. Try and narrow down if its the gfx card on the chokes (small dark grey squares) on the motherboard.
Renault on 24/4/2009 at 02:40
Actually, after some testing (multiple ear placements), I'm reasonably sure the sound is coming from the power supply. At least, that's where the sound is the loudest. It's a bit tough to narrow down without swapping out some of the parts though.
242 on 24/4/2009 at 08:00
My MB emanates some weird sounds every time there is a call to my cell phone with MB signaling first and only then cell phone ringing :)
Nameless Voice on 24/4/2009 at 16:38
What graphics card to you have?
If you have squeaking capacitors in your motherboard or PSU, you need to replace it immediately. Especially the PSU since it might be damaging all your other components by supplying the wrong voltages.
Still, double-check the graphics card. My 8800GT loves to make odd noises at times like you've described, though I mostly hear it on the headphones.
Hiatus on 24/4/2009 at 17:42
as others mentioned, it's almost certainly coming from your grahpics card (my ATI X19xx is doing the same in situations you described - like game menus, cutscenes etc) - because fps is not limited in such places and goes VERY high on modern cards - check out with Fraps - so lots of current is coming through the card in these moments* (VSync setting doesn't seem to affect such places like game menus etc).
*) it's running as fast as it can
of course, it shouldn't be happening but design/build quality of today's hardware is very poor (or rather: as low as possible) to limit/cut costs as much as possible, and hence the results..
Renault on 28/4/2009 at 23:53
Ok, so I've been able to rule out the power supply. If it's coming from the graphics card (yet to be determined), is this anything to be concerned about? Both NV and Hiatus seem to have this issue and seem to be letting it go.
Edit: Swapped out an old graphics card and the sounds disappeared. Guess it's time to grab an RMA.
gunsmoke on 29/4/2009 at 02:39
In my experience*, Hiatus is dead on the money.
*yours may vary
bikerdude on 29/4/2009 at 08:22
Quote Posted by gunsmoke
In my experience*, Hiatus is dead on the money.
er,
Quote Posted by Bikerdude
This sounds like ' choke/capacitor squeek ', but this normally comes from a gfx card...
Nameless Voice on 29/4/2009 at 11:05
Quote Posted by Brethren
Both NV and Hiatus seem to have this issue and seem to be letting it go.
I'd love to get rid of that annoying sound, though. But I don't think it's anything "bad" as such.
