Identifying noises from my rig.

Super VGA · 2013-03-08T14:03:40

Hi Guys, I have become aware of ... something emitting a sound from my case, and I wonder what it could be. Usually when I work with graphics or games, (especially when I have disabled vertical synchronization) I can hear noises from my GPU. I've always heard noises from it when it's working, so I don't think that is a big deal. There's not a lot of noise in the room, my speakers are turned off and the loudest noise is from my case fans, which create a constant humming sound, The rest of my machine is relatively quiet (No writes to my SSD, GPU is taking a break). Just ten minutes half an hour ago, I was messing around with SFMT, some code and allocated a lot of memory upon the initialization of a std::vector. A firm 100ms "chirp" sounds upon allocation. But I'm not sure if it's really my DIMMS that produce the noise... I have consumed a 50cl caffeine-rich beverage an hour ago, but I'm convinced I would hear the noise either way. I have stripped my code down to the parts that cause the sound (and i do realize that I'm not even using the SFMT library, but this is apparently still making a difference.) Goes "Chirp!" #include <vector> #include <cstdlib> #include <SFMT.h> const unsigned pop_size = 10000000; const unsigned seed = 12345; int main(int argc, char* argv[]) { sfmt_t sfmt; sfmt_init_gen_rand(&sfmt, seed); std::vector< unsigned > pop(pop_size, 0 ); return EXIT_SUCCESS; } Noise is lower (how would sfmt interfere with the allocation?) #include <vector> #include <cstdlib> const unsigned pop_size = 10000000; int main(int argc, char* argv[]) { std::vector< unsigned > pop(pop_size, 0 ); return EXIT_SUCCESS; } Does not go "Chirp!" (there is some noise, but it's low and seems to be much shorter). #include <vector> #include <cstdlib> int main(int argc, char* argv[]) { std::vector< unsigned > pop(10000000, 0 ); return EXIT_SUCCESS; } -Removing the allocation silences the unknown noisy component completely during runtime. I compile with -O3 -msse2 (And using SFMT, i also use -DHAVE_SSE2 -DSFMT_MEXP=607) Changing to O2 does little to change the sound. Now as far as I'm aware, there aren't any mechanical parts prone to moving due to executing my program. I have two things that I'm curious in finding out: Why removing SFMT changes the sound of my otherwise independent(?!) initialization; and What component produces the noise and why. They didn't cover this in either signal processing or CPU architecture at uni, and I'm no hardware expert. What could be causing this sound? (And yeah, it's sort of a silly concern, and I have no idea where else to post about it )

GDNet Lounge Community

Started by SuperVGA March 06, 2013 09:47 PM

11 comments, last by SuperVGA 11 years, 1 month ago

Servant of the Lord

33,739

March 08, 2013 04:42 AM

I am not a hardware expert, this is just based off of some experiences I've had:

Have you blown out the dust of your PC with compressed air? (Make sure you don't accidentally blow the dust deeper into crevices)
If enough dust builds up, the heat might not vent properly, causing the fan to turn itself on higher, making the whirring noise.

Also, I bought a videocard a few years back - after about six months, it started getting really noisy. Turns out, the seal around the fan was defective (or something), and the oil/grease around the axis of the fan dehydrated, so the fan was whirring extra loud (and wasn't working as effectively) because of the friction from a lack of oil. So I take apart the card (voids the warranty) and oil it with standard machine oil whenever it starts sounding really loud (every 3-5 months). It's last me several years now, I've probably re-oiled it 10 or more times. I blow out the dust in the case whenever I'm re-oiling the card, just to kill two birds with one stone, though the dust doesn't build up too much in only 5 months.

The overheating videocard (because of dust and the lack of oil) caused computer shutdowns in the middle of online FPS gaming sessions (a safety precaution when the card gets too hot, to prevent it from being damaged).

"Guys, seriously, dust caused my computer to crash!", "yea whatever d00d. way 2 abandon your teamm8ts!"

I'd just blow out the dust before proceeding further, and update your graphic driver while you're at it.

Dragonsoulj

3,213

March 08, 2013 07:29 AM

What Servant said. I've clean several machines that would run okay (you could hear the fan, but only just) and when the machines would actually do something intensive, the fans went crazy. Just blowing the dust out of the fans eliminated the loud noise from the fans.

SuperVGA

1,303

Author

March 08, 2013 02:03 PM

I am not a hardware expert, this is just based off of some experiences I've had:

Have you blown out the dust of your PC with compressed air? (Make sure you don't accidentally blow the dust deeper into crevices)
If enough dust builds up, the heat might not vent properly, causing the fan to turn itself on higher, making the whirring noise.

Also, I bought a videocard a few years back - after about six months, it started getting really noisy. Turns out, the seal around the fan was defective (or something), and the oil/grease around the axis of the fan dehydrated, so the fan was whirring extra loud (and wasn't working as effectively) because of the friction from a lack of oil. So I take apart the card (voids the warranty) and oil it with standard machine oil whenever it starts sounding really loud (every 3-5 months). It's last me several years now, I've probably re-oiled it 10 or more times. I blow out the dust in the case whenever I'm re-oiling the card, just to kill two birds with one stone, though the dust doesn't build up too much in only 5 months.

The overheating videocard (because of dust and the lack of oil) caused computer shutdowns in the middle of online FPS gaming sessions (a safety precaution when the card gets too hot, to prevent it from being damaged).

"Guys, seriously, dust caused my computer to crash!", "yea whatever d00d. way 2 abandon your teamm8ts!"

I'd just blow out the dust before proceeding further, and update your graphic driver while you're at it.

+ Dragonsoulj

Sure, I do that every 4 months or so. All components out. Anti-static wrapping. alcohol, cotton buds and tissues. :)

And I do grease my fans from time to time, but they still make whirring noises. :)

(I'm really picky with the internals not getting layers of dust on them)

I do need a qualified method for cleaning the fins on my heatsinks, though. Compressor air doesn't always do the trick.

At least at 90 psi, and I'm a little scared to break my hardware...

The noises were produced by my ICs while the fan produced constant humming and and my Slave HDD slept quietly,

so I'm convinced it's not due to mechanical components. As i stated, I've had the experience(as in I didn't pay attention to other comonents before) with my GPUs earlier,

and recognize CC Ricers and Olof Hedman's noise GPU phenomenon. So I'd say Brother Bob was right with respect to the specific case I wrote about...

Identifying noises from my rig.

This topic is closed to new replies.

Popular Topics

Recommended Tutorials

Identifying noises from my rig.

This topic is closed to new replies.

Popular Topics

Recommended Tutorials

Reticulating splines