Capacitors on motherboard hiss/buzz.

George7 · Post by **George7** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 3:01 pm

I recently got a new system, an i5 750, 4gb of XMS3 and a Gigabyte P55A-UD3 motherboard. The system runs great, stable and everything, but under heavy load at higher clocks, something around the CPU area (I'm guessing the VRM) makes a buzzing/hissing sound. It's not particularly loud but it worries me. The sound is only really prevalent above 1.3v and when using specific stress testing programs such as Intel Burn Test and Prime95, but does this mean that my motherboard is faulty, or is this normal?

Thanks

Lawrence Lee · Post by **Lawrence Lee** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 4:11 pm

Common issue. No need to worry.

George7 · Post by **George7** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 4:42 pm

So it's not a sign of imminent failure like I first thought?

Here is a video of the sound.

http://s82.photobucket.com/albums/j275/ ... 9501-1.flv

Some opinions would be great

I need to know whether I need to RMA this board or not. It's not the sound itself that bothers me, it's the thought that my system won't last very long because of it.

kaotikfunk · Post by **kaotikfunk** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 10:23 am

It sounds similar to the noise coming from the power supply on my Intel DG33BU, although the video compression cut out most of the high frequencies. It's annoying, but I don't have a solution and I don't think it will affect longevity of the board.

Here's my timeline:
- bought board in 2008, no noises while running 65W TDP CPU (E5200)
- upgraded to Q8400 around June, 2009 (95W TDP), noise started
- Everything is still running fine in Feb 2010. My only crashes have been happened when dealing with buggy video and sound drivers.

I run the system a bit hot since the CPU and video are passively cooled, and I haven't run into any stability issues yet. My CPU varies from around 40-45C at low load, 60-65C full load, and the video ranges from around 60-90C. Supposedly the lack of airflow is dangerous for the VRM's on some boards, but I haven't had a problem yet.

danimal · Post by **danimal** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 10:55 am

too much noise to tell what is whining and what isn't.

do a before and after with the overclocking, with all fans off.

JazzJackRabbit · Post by **JazzJackRabbit** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 5:41 am

Sadly it's normal. My mobo (IP35Pro) intermittently squeals when I overclock my q9550 to 3.4GHz. Drove me nuts when I first discovered because I never noticed it before and I thought it was my videocard. I downclocked it to stock frequency and all is good now. As much as I'd like a faster CPU, I would rather prefer 2.83GHz over annoying high pitch whine. If I have enough time on my hands I may try finding max frequency that does not result in squealing.

George7 · Post by **George7** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 8:59 am

JazzJackRabbit wrote:Sadly it's normal. My mobo (IP35Pro) intermittently squeals when I overclock my q9550 to 3.4GHz. Drove me nuts when I first discovered because I never noticed it before and I thought it was my videocard. I downclocked it to stock frequency and all is good now. As much as I'd like a faster CPU, I would rather prefer 2.83GHz over annoying high pitch whine. If I have enough time on my hands I may try finding max frequency that does not result in squealing.

Well in my case the noise is a low buzz rather than a high pitched noise, so it's not at all noticable in normal circumstances. It's only when I'm running Prime95 in a completely quiet room when I notice it :p If it's normal and won't effect the long term running of the board then I'll stop worrying about it

colm · Post by **colm** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 9:34 am

power flutters.

do you run a full ups battery backup? I encountered this once a long time ago, and ups has helped everything. Best advice ever.

12clip · Post by **12clip** » Thu Feb 11, 2010 5:43 pm

I have this exact concern and exact config as the TS. The noise is the same and I would call it a "low pitch hiss" with some stutter to it, or almost a faint static type noise.
I thought it was coming from the Mosfets but it almost seems to be coming directly from the CPU.
I think I recall some laptop owners complaing of a cpu hiss a couple years ago. (Makes sense given there are no fans to drown out noise)

Does anyone else have this noise?

12clip · Post by **12clip** » Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:47 pm

On second thought it may be from the caps to the left of the CPU.

Vicotnik · Post by **Vicotnik** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 8:48 am

Capacitors don't make sound as far as I know. What you are describing is coil whine.