Hardware noise from my tower.

Hello.

For the last year, iirc, there has been strange noises emanating from my computer.

There a two major ones.

1) Some kind of low clunking noise. Like something completing a turn (I can hear some mecanic robotic sound and, passing a certain point, makes it go "tunk".
This noise has now "evolved" into that same problem now not beeing able to complete a turn. Now I hear that mechanical sound trying to make a turn but stops. Tries once more. Stops. Tries once more. Etc.

This is getting on my nerves. Something is happening but I get no error messages of some kind.

2) Now and then, I hear this low "bee" sound that gradually gets louder until I want to hit my tower. I wait like a minute or so then it fades and stops. This happens on and off.

Do I have to start looking for a new rig?
It's 3 years old.

I'm thinking that I might need a stronger power supply since my graphics card is an ati radeon 4870 that needs a min of 500. My power supply is 475.
Can this create a "strain" of somekind on the system?

Thanks for any helps.

PS : I know that I know nothing about computers.

First sounds like fan with a bad bearing(or some wires in the way of the blade); not sure on the second, need more information. No sense in spending hundreds of dollars if you can simply spend 10 bucks to replace a part or two.

Originally Posted by enodenroH
I'm thinking that I might need a stronger power supply since my graphics card is an ati radeon 4870 that needs a min of 500. My power supply is 475.
Can this create a "strain" of somekind on the system?

Impossible to say for sure, but that could definitely be part of your problem. A 475 PSU is pretty small for any system by today's standards, especially a gaming rig. You really should have at least a 550-600 in there.

I have a Western Digital 640GB hard drive that makes sort of humming "bee" sounds from time to time. It happens randomly and is easily solved by accessing the drive, i.e. by just going into Windows Explorer and clicking on a folder. It's a strange little issue. I have no idea why the hard drive would make that noise and why it goes away so easily but that's just the way it is. So next time you hear that noise you could try to open Windows Explorer and just click some random folders on all of your hard drives to see if it makes the noise go away.

If it doesn't, it could also be vibrations from your hard drive that are not absorbed by your case (this is a frequent issue with non-expensive light cases and/or aluminum cases). To find out if it is vibrations, you could try to grab your case firmly on both sides the next time you hear that noise. If that stops the noise or reduces it significantly then it's a vibrations issue. You can buy anti-vibration kits for hard drives at just about every PC retailer worth a damn.

To eliminate the fans as a possible source of the noises, you could try the simple method of stopping the fans. You need to be careful, of course, but if you use e.g. a toothbrush or a paintbrush then it's relatively risk-free even with the CPU and GPU fans.
Do physically stop them though and do not use the unplug method. Your mainboard might not appreciate a sudden unplug event and in case something goes wrong then replacing a $10 fan should be less painful than having to replace a $150 mainboard.

Originally Posted by Moriendor
I have a Western Digital 640GB hard drive that makes sort of humming "bee" sounds from time to time. It happens randomly and is easily solved by accessing the drive, i.e. by just going into Windows Explorer and clicking on a folder. It's a strange little issue. I have no idea why the hard drive would make that noise and why it goes away so easily but that's just the way it is. So next time you hear that noise you could try to open Windows Explorer and just click some random folders on all of your hard drives to see if it makes the noise go away.

Could this be the hard drive going into idle mode?

+1 For hard drives and fans. If you feel comfortable with playing with wires you could disconnect the fans one at a time to isolate the offending fan. Otherwise the hard drive is the only other likely offender.

Some CD drives can also be very noisy.

My guess would be a fan, either mainboard or GPU fan, you can run the computer with an open case if you don't want to disconnect any fans… to hear more clearly where it comes from and perhaps see it happening.

The "tunk" sounds like the harddrive to me…

The "bee" sound…. Sounds mostly like a fan that's not "stable" or slightly out of place.

Thanks for the info.

I have not touched the computer because of the damned heat wave.
I don't have a/c hence I don't want to sweat into my favorite toy.

Much of what has been said is what I think.

Fan : She must be tired and or misaligned.
It's good that someone braught it up because I had my computer assembled by and IT tech at a job I once had. He had misaligned the fan at installation.

Hard drive : The noise I have now is similar (but much smoother) than the one my 3 year old hd did at an old job. It did a loud clunking. Almost like someone limping. When the drive was replaced, the clunking was gone.

I did a little reasearch on my side.
A holy bible of a computer book was suggested on a page that spoke of fan noise.
I'll surely buy it when it comes out :

Upgrading and Repairing PCs (20th Edition) [Hardcover]

I'm very curious about its content.

The thing about consumer computer hardware these days is that everything is modular. Take one part out, put the new one in. That book looks to be WAY overkill for your purposes @1100 pages. It will likely do more harm than good through sheer confusion.

Originally Posted by Drithius
The thing about consumer computer hardware these days is that everything is modular. Take one part out, put the new one in.

Praise the Lord for idiots like me! but assembling a computer from scratch is something else.

That book looks to be WAY overkill for your purposes @1100 pages. It will likely do more harm than good through sheer confusion.

I am sure that I will have a blast learning from this monster.
This book will serve me for ever.
I humbly bow down before "The beast at Tanagra"!

So, about the noise :

Not CPU nor case fan.

I strongly suspect my 320Gb WD drive (it'll turn 3 this September.) for the chief reason that it does something very close to another 3 year old drive I once had at work.
Hence, having foreseen this possibility a few months ago, I bought a new 1Tb WD hd.
It's installed and working fine.
I'll make my main drive soon and see what happens with that annoying mechanical thingy sound that's trying to make a turn but can't and trying once more and on and so on.
But I'm afraid of formatting everything once more. I hate change.
Consequently, I'll wait a few days or weeks.

On another note, I now know for a fact that my Graphics card needs a minimum of 500W.
Do you have any suggestions as to how I can select the best psu for my board?
I don't want an overkill 9000 psu.
Just the bare minimum specs for the best performance.

My computer has minimal needs :

P5K-VM Asus motherboard
Intel Q6600 Cpu
LG dvd drive
1 * 1Tb WD hd
1 * 320Gb WD hd (temporary)
Ati Radeon HD 4870 Graphics card.

I'm just waiting to decide on a psu and I'm changing the old one.

Thanks for any help.

Regarding the PSU:
Most normal gaming PCs of the 500$ class, say a 4-6 core CPU, a decent mainboard, a 150-200$ graphics card, 8 GB RAM, 1 HDD and 1 optical drive, will run prefectly fine with a 420W PSU. Even a 350W PSU will often be sufficient. Especially if an upgrade only includes mature mainstream components it's rarely necessary to buy a bigger PSU.

It's about quality, not quantity.

My card cost 300 $ in 2008.
I think that it is a small miracle that is still works fine.
It needs 500W. It will get it soon.

I'm looking at Thermaltake psu's like this one.

My actual one is an Acepower 450W.

How can I find another psu that have the same specs but for an 550W?
I really don't know what to look for besides that my fan cannot be bigger than 120mm.
If I get a smaller one, like an 80mm fan, it won't fit because of my case right?
So do I absolutly need an 120mm one?

Thanks.

The specs are meaningless. They don't tell you how efficient this thing is.
All you can rely on are word of mouth and reviews.
Thermaltake is a good brand for PSUs.

The form factor for PSUs is standardized. The fan is inside the PSU. Every PSU should fit your case unless the case designers got more creative than they should have.

Also make sure you pay attention to the amp rating of the +12 volt rail.

Here's a good guide to PSUs for gamers.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3990

Oh.. and avoid PSUs that only have one 6-Pin PCI-Express Connector. Most newer high-end graphics cards require two of those.

Ahah!

Found it after a few minutes.

Since last I started this post, got myself a new psu.
A Corsair TX650M.

I also got another graphics card since my ATI Radeon was getting really noisy and I didn't dare to clean it…. I know. I could've saved a few bucks by doing it myself…
So I got this not so recent Asus Geforce GTX 650 ti. It does the job.

And recently, got two SSD drives.

Consequently, the case doesn't make anymore noise.
The culprit was the 1 Tb drive. Do they all make noise like that?
And do they all take for eternity to open a folder????

Anyway, now that I changed all of that, it's like I have a new computer.

I'm happy.

This thread is also a success.

Thanks for all whom replied.

PS : I'll have to get another build to play The Witcher 3 though.
It can wait. I didn't even finish the first two…

Originally Posted by JDR13
Also make sure you pay attention to the amp rating of the +12 volt rail.

Here's a good guide to PSUs for gamers.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3990

Oh.. and avoid PSUs that only have one 6-Pin PCI-Express Connector. Most newer high-end graphics cards require two of those.

Thanks for the info JDR.
At the time, I didn't have a clue as to what the hell two pci-e connectors were (even though my old psu had them…).
Reading your reply again now, I didn't understand anyting then. I admit.

1 Tb drives are usually not very noisy, but some models do buzz more than others (WD black for example). Also, more RPM, more sound. 7200 drives are noisier than 5400, but are also a bit faster.
Usually if it's not constant buzz but clicks you hear, the drive is dead or neardeath. Not always true though as I've seen adata drive that clicks while operating normally for months.

HDD browsing is very slow? It's probably full of bad sectors, HDD data cable is faulty or controller on motherboard malfunctions. To be sure, chech event viewer log. If there is HDD problem, you'll see it inside.

Just bought a Corsair R330 tower with a pair of 120mm CoolerMaster case fans (intake & outtake) and added one 140mm (intake) and it is the quietest case I've ever owned. But every now and then something buzzes or resonates in there. I have 1 3TB Seagate in a removable rack, 1 Kingston 120GB SSD, 1 1T Seagate that I ripped out of an external enclosure, and an Asus blu-ray burner. My drives are set in Windows Power management to power down when idle. Wish I could figure out which device is causing that annoying hum short of taking out each unit in the process of elimination. That way lies madness.