ultra high frequency noise?

[magictorch]

I've noticed an ultra high frequency noise thats been getting louder over the last few weeks.

Its not the psu (although this has built up some dust): Seems to be the mainboard and starts after a few hours.

The systems running at great temps. but I have been running the board at 311FSB for a few months straight (asusA8N-32 SLI deluxe) and some dust has settled on some components despite my best attempts to get rid of it with cuetips.

Any ideas what it could be?

[Frustian]

My guess is it is an inductor coil (those donut shaped things with wire wrapped around them). One of the may be touching something, the wires are too close together, or it may just be bad. A capacitor could also be causing it so look for any bulging caps, or ones that are angled (indicates it is bulged on the bottom).

[magictorch]

Ive checked the "capicitors" but cant seem to find any problems with them.

Theres no wires touching anything but some dust may have got between the coils.

Its difficult to work out where the sound is originating.
Could be the mainboard (close to the ethernet port), fan controller or HD.

I've put my ear up against the psu and it doesnt seem to be that but could be wrong.

Hopefully its nothing serious. Wonder if should evacuate my GTX?

[AkG]

IRC this was a common "problem" with that board. Heck one of my A8n32's was a hummer as well. How I fixed it was to remove the heatsink/heatpipe combo that "cools" the northbridge/southbridge and replace the gunk with Artic Silver. After that no more noise. Did replacing the TIM with AS5 solve it by cooling an overheating part or was it simply a improperly mounted heatsink that was vibrating...I DO NOT know. All I know is that the noise went away as SOON as I replaced the thermal interface material.

I have no clue if this will this work for you. IF you still have some warranty left (and you don't feel like messing with the board) I would phone Asus and RMA it.

Good Luck!

[Cptn Vortex]

My DFI board would do this also, but it was only when running game stress tests, like CS source stress test or 3D Mark 06. It was strange, because there would be no noise when stressing the CPU only with StressPrime, but as soon as I did a "Blend" or RAM only test the noise would start again. So strange!

[Theblackmages]

I got a high freq noise but its coming from my primary monitor sometimes when its running in 1024...

[magictorch]

IRC = internal regulatory circuit?

Its not the monitor-switched it off to see...noise is constant and not everyone can hear it.

Ive got a new board arriving in a week or so anyway with some other goodies. Ill try and RMA when Ive got the new system up and running. It does seem to be that NB/SB area mentioned.

Hopefully it will be ok to run for a few more weeks.

I had wondered if the gamexstream 600watt may have caused some issues as its running the GTX , ocd opteron and the board. Only got four case fans though, 1HD and 1 DVD writer so I cant see how the psu could be that lame....although its collecting dust.

Hopefully its just a board thing.

Ive heard GTXs can get noisy too so ill switch that out with my 7950GT to see if its that.

cheers... you really do learn something new everyday when your trashing expensive components!

[Cptn Vortex]

Let me know if it is the GTX, cause I have the same thing....and I can kindof source the noise from the area closest to it's power connections....

[magictorch]

It doesnt sound serious just annoying. It almost certainly located near the NB/SB pipes which just happens to be where the GTX power connectors are as well!

[AkG]

Sorry Magictorch I was on doing 3 things at once (answering you and talking on two different Internet Relay Chat channels at the same time) and was in spelling "shortcut" mode .

IRC means: "If I Remember Correctly"....and as a double whammy I spelled it wrong it should have been IIRC. Sorry about that.

Mine hummed more loudly the more juice I was pushing through it. The higher the OC, the louder the noise. When I had the system maxed out it was very noticeable. At idle stock speeds it was fairly quiet and you really had to "strain" to hear it. That was nearly a year and a half ago and its still going strong (just with a very mild Over Clock now).