Strange sound from my PC while in games

[~Neon~]

OK, so I have a strange problem. I'll let you know the whole story. My friend gave me an AMD FX-55 processor the other day for free. We also got talking about GFX cards and how mine runs really hot (X800 GTO2). He said he had a much better cooler for the X850 and that I could have it. So I installed the FX-55 and the new fan for my GFX card yesterday and it all went well.

 

When I was checking everything for the first time I could hear this sound every now and then. It was kinda like the fan was slipping a little. Like a faint squeak but over and over really fast for a few seconds (not like a flat tone). My first though was just, hmmm, probably just the fan, meh.

 

Anyway, I decided to overclock my GFX card now I had decent cooling. Once I did that I fired up some games, Half Life 2 and FEAR mainly. Anyway, I noticed a similar noise to the first one I heard only this time it would only happen when I look at certain things in a game. I could look at one certain spot and this noise would be clear, then look slightly to the side of where I was looking and it would stop, look back and its back again. It also seems to "squeak" at different speeds. Sometimes, if I focus on a point where its at its loudest I can move the mouse a tiny bit and it will get fainter. Its like I can control it by where I look.

 

I kinda hope my first thought was right in that its just the fan, but that don't make sense anymore. I also tried different fan speeds in ATI tool and never hear the noise outside games.

 

I tried Googling the problem but found it hard to find any specific, relevant topics.

 

Anybody have any ideas? Does it sound obvious to you?

Edited May 2, 2007 by ~Neon~

[SIP YEK NOD]

i am assuming the new fan was a whole heatsink assembly, did you use thermal grease?

 

 

also, CRT or LCD monitor?

[~Neon~]

Indeed it was the whole heatsink, and yes I used fresh thermal paste. And Im using an LCD - 19inch wide.

[SIP YEK NOD]

a couple possiblities here:

 

-bad fan that is throttled thermally, try stopping it by putting your finger directly in the middle. don't stop it for too long, and don't miss.

-bad caps. the video card could have been on its way out or just weak, overclocking is just exposing the weakness.

-not getting enough power. however with my experiences, when a card isn't getting enough power, it just squeals.

[~Neon~]

The fan is controlled by the temp of the card, is that what you mean by the first point? I have tried different speeds in ATI tool and also tried nudging it. I can't place my finger on it as its all closed up. It's one of those fans that sucks the air across the card. I could get to the side of the fan from the vent on the back, but that will probably hurt. Physically trying to get it to make or stop the noise has not been successful.

 

Also, to note your second point, I first noticed it while windows was loading and all my startup programs were loading. This was after the fan/CPU was installed but before the overclock. I have even clocked it back down to the defaults for a while and still get the noise. I also just noticed the noise just now as everything was loading after booting up.

 

The noise isn't very loud and to be honest, I'm not a 100% sure it is the GFX card. I just don't understand how looking at certain spots in games can aggravate it. It's also quite hard to pin-point its location.