Can a GPU generate sounds similar to this? I'm trying to figure it out.
Can a GPU generate sounds similar to this? I'm trying to figure it out.
For a few months now I've been trying to fix an odd noise coming from my PC. Every once in a while, I'll hear a single, loud click. I've been working on trying to diagnose it, though it's not that easy due to my lack of spare parts. I apologize for the really long post but I want to be throughout. For those not interested in the details, there is a TL;DR at the bottom. I also apologize if this isn't the correct place to ask, but I believe this is a GPU issue and I'm hoping someone else has an idea of what could be going on here.
The noise started randomly, I came home one day, and the noise was there, whereas it wasn't present the previous day. It's not a constant clicking like a cable hitting a fan, it seems to be random. Sometimes I'll hear it several times per hour, sometimes I'll hear it once in several hours.
My first guess was that the hard drive may have been dying, but taking it out didn't fix it. The only thing that changed that came to my mind was EXPO, as I turned it on a few days prior. Disabling it maybe helped a small bit, but not enough to definitively say, and it also didn't fix the issue.
My second guess was my PSU. I performed a simple test, I unscrewed it from the case and ran it a small distance away from the rest of the PC. The noise still came from somewhere inside the case.
I eventually had to RMA my GPU as one of the fans became obnoxiously loud when turning on. I noticed that when the GPU was out of my system, the clicking stopped. Once I got it back, the sound returned, though it was way less common than before. I then also managed to find a test that reliably produced the clicks, I'd open a specific game, sit in it for a minute or so, load a different map, sit there for a minute, and then close the game. This would almost always produce 3 clicks. It's important to note that the clicking is unrelated to the fans (happens with them on, happens with them off) and can appear alongside or without coil whine, so it's not coil whine. It happens both at near idle and when gaming.
Armed with this information I attempted another RMA. I live in Poland, and here there are two types of warranty, one with the manufacturer and one with the store. I went the store route, since it gives me some extra rights if I don't get a repaired unit. They told me they found no issues (not a surprise, during the previous RMA with the extremely obvious fan issue they didn't find anything wrong either, maybe it's malice, maybe incompetence), but they sent it to the Gigabyte Service Center, and they also didn't fix it, sent it back with a note saying "REPLACED IO SHIELD. NOTE: PLEASE CHECK POWER SUPPLY.". Now, since it's unfixed, I can legally try to get a refund, but if they disagree we'll have to go to court, and so I want my case to be air tight, and to make sure it's actually the GPU, and not something else like the PSU.
I ended up RMA'ing my motherboard, because the one I was using before had a loose PCIe slot and I suspected that might have been causing the issue. I ended up with a replacement unit, and the clicking went back to how it was before. This makes me suspect that BIOS settings might affect it, when the GPU was being RMA'd I disabled C states on the motherboard to reduce coil whine, while on this one they're on, and the clicking is back to how it was before. Maybe this correlates to disabling EXPO ever so slightly reducing the amount of noise? Either way, it proves that if the noise came from the GPU, it wasn't actually repaired.
At this point my two main suspects were the PSU and GPU, and the fact that BIOS settings affected it led me to believe it could be the PSU. It's theoretically possible that it's the PSU, and that it only happens with a GPU in the system because it increases the amount of power draw. I don't have a spare PSU, but one of my friends has an older PC (used mostly for office work) that I salvaged the PSU from. It's 11 years old, but I tested it under load in the previous system and there were no issues. I put it in my main PC, and the earlier mentioned test no longer produced clicks. I sent the original PSU for repair, and thought that was the end of it, but no. I'm still using the replacement PSU, and the random clicking has returned, and so I'm asking for advice.
Could it actually be the GPU? Can a GPU even produce noises like this?
Here is the video I recorded for my RMA claim (warning: boosted volume to make it easier to hear), the clicks happen a second or so after the timestamps.
What else could I try? This is an issue that's hard to replicate as it happens sporadically and is very hard to predict, it seems to happen more under load but even then testing is unreliable. I thought about taking it to a PC repair shop near me and have them test it, but realistically they'll probably put it under load a few times which might not produce the click, it's something that's obvious with daily use but could be hard to find in short tests. The best thing I could do to confirm if it's the GPU or not is to put it in a second system, but I don't own any other PC and can't afford to build a second system just for testing, so that's not an option.
Specs:
- Motherboard: ASRock B650M Pro RS (AM5)
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600
- CPU Cooler: Endorfy Fera 5 Black
- GPU: Gigabyte Windforce OC RTX 4070 Super 12GB
- RAM: Goodram 2x16GB DDR5 6000MHz
- PSU (main): MSI MAG A750GL PCIe5
- PSU (temporary): XFX XTR 650W
TL;DR: PC makes mysterious clicking noises, they don't occur without the GPU, using a different PSU doesn't fix clicks but makes the method used for making the noise appear earlier no longer work. It's not a fan issue, and not coil whine. Also confirmed to not be the motherboard, but it might be affected by BIOS settings. Could this be a GPU issue?
Link to video.
Yes, the discussion centered on an unusual but distinct sound emanating from my motherboard. This noise persisted while connected to the MSI PSU, especially during the period when my GPU was undergoing RMA. Turning off certain C-states resolved the issue, and it seems this adjustment also reduced the noise level once I received the new motherboard. Using the updated board with the same PSU eliminated the VRM coil whine, indicating the problem was specific to that unit.
This situation is considered temporary until I receive my MSI from repairs, which should take about three weeks. Fortunately, the PSU was installed in a less frequently used office computer, and I conducted stress tests on the entire system without any failures or unusual odors. While using it carries some risk, it appears to be the most viable option at the moment.
I’m not planning any heavy gaming sessions, as I want to avoid overloading the system further. However, if the issue is indeed related to the GPU, obtaining a replacement for testing would likely be costly (unless I find an affordable used model from ten years ago, which might not yield reliable results). I also recognize that if the fault lies with the GPU, I might need legal action against the retailer, demanding either a functional unit or a refund. Given their response about only hearing the coil whine in a specific range, it seems the store might be misinformed.
If I must pursue legal steps, I’ll need proof that the faulty component is the GPU, not another part. Acquiring another GPU wouldn’t help much, so I’m considering recording a video of the replacement unit not functioning properly, or simply observing the current one’s behavior. I’ve tried using various power outlets in different rooms, but all evidence points to an issue within the PC itself.
It’s a challenging situation with few clear solutions. I might eventually consider getting a second machine—perhaps handing over the GPU to a repair shop for testing—to see if it behaves differently. Alternatively, I could document a 10-minute clip of the replacement GPU failing to start, either by active use or idling, hoping it will reveal patterns. This would be my best attempt at gathering concrete information before making further decisions.
That's actually the reason why the video is taken at that specific angle, I wanted to capture the fans. The first click is the best example, it happens at 0:31 when all the GPU fans are stationary, the GPU fans start spinning at around 1:15. If it was, let's say the CPU fan or the case fans, then I find it weird that I would only ever hear it with the GPU in the system. After all, the sound isn't exclusive to using the computer at high loads, there have been countless times where the click occurred when I'm just using the internet with no other load on the system.
Analyze the HWINFO fan speeds together with clicking at the same time. This makes it easier to rule out fans if they exceed a specific RPM limit. It’s useful that you can recreate the scenario. The click should be mechanical, as only fans would produce this. By the way, do you have all SSD storage or are you using HDDs?
My second drive is an HDD but the noise continues even when it's removed from the system. I plan to check HWINFO later, and when I have my original PSU back, I haven’t found a consistent test anymore—previously it stopped working after I replaced the PSU. I’m still not sure if it’s fan-related; it seems like the simplest fix, but all my tests so far contradict that idea. At first, I tried to find the sound inside the system, but I couldn’t locate it precisely. If it was a case fan, I’d hear it at the front or back; if it was the CPU fan, I thought I might detect it after repeated checks. It never sounded like it had a clear, obvious location, just a general area near the GPU.