About noises in your desktop

[London Geezer]

Right, i just read the thread about the "chirping" inside someone's desktop.

Well i have a similar issue.

When my graphics card is under 3D situations, i can "hear" the frames output!

Now, this might be normal, i'm not sure, and if it's not u'll think i'm crazy, but basically I (and others) can distinctly hear a continuous BZZT noise, the T being the frame being done. It's a long BZZZZZZZ when the framerate is high enough for the T not to be noticed, but when the framerate is low, I can clearly hear BZZZT BZZZT BZZZT for every frame being drawn!

Is it normal?

I initially thought it could be an electrical-power issue, since i have a rather weak PSU (350W), which is the weakest link in my system, an AMD64, 1GB RAM, 5900U, 160GB SATA HDD, and all the usual crap, but i really have no clue...

 

[Simon F]

Right, i just read the thread about the "chirping" inside someone's desktop.

Well i have a similar issue.

When my graphics card is under 3D situations, i can "hear" the frames output!

I used to get the same thing with an old PC with an Ensoniq sound card. It must have had p-poor filtering because you could "hear" how hard my old PCX2 graphics card was working. I guess because it transfered all the pixel data back across the PCI bus there was a lot of VERY high frequency electrical noise. I can only assume the Ensoniq card had no filtering for this and it, somehow, it aliased back to the audible range <shrug>.

 

[London Geezer]

Right, i just read the thread about the "chirping" inside someone's desktop.

Well i have a similar issue.

When my graphics card is under 3D situations, i can "hear" the frames output!

I used to get the same thing with an old PC with an Ensoniq sound card. It must have had p-poor filtering because you could "hear" how hard my old PCX2 graphics card was working. I guess because it transfered all the pixel data back across the PCI bus there was a lot of VERY high frequency electrical noise. I can only assume the Ensoniq card had no filtering for this and it, somehow, it aliased back to the audible range <shrug>.

THAT is total CRAP!!!!!!!! Is there any way to get rid of it? For the note, i don't have a sound card, i use the integrated sound thing on my motherboard...

 

[Nappe1]

well, I remember my friend having same kind of issues a way back on his 486. The problem got solved when he moved Sound Card further way from the graphics card. In this case, I suspect that in your motherboard, integrated audio is pretty close to AGP slot, so high speed frequencies running on your GFX card might be causing directly that noise on your audio output. (bad shieldings between output connector and DACS perhaps?)

In your case, this might be _a bit too hard_ thing to do, so changing GFX card or motherboard comes first to my mind. which either does not sound good... :?


EDIT: how about buying a sound card and installing it further away from GFX card? that could help.

 

[London Geezer]

well, I remember my friend having same kind of issues a way back on his 486. The problem got solved when he moved Sound Card further way from the graphics card. In this case, I suspect that in your motherboard, integrated audio is pretty close to AGP slot, so high speed frequencies running on your GFX card might be causing directly that noise on your audio output. (bad shieldings between output connector and DACS perhaps?)

In your case, this might be _a bit too hard_ thing to do, so changing GFX card or motherboard comes first to my mind. which either does not sound good... :?


EDIT: how about buying a sound card and installing it further away from GFX card? that could help.

Oh dear. I'm gonna see how many AGP slots i have, and try moving the card to see what happens... I mean it's not too annoying, and to be honest the sound system on my MB is pretty crap anyway, so i might just get a sound card instead, but then i think about Creative and all the issues attached to them, so it's like opening Hell's Gates...

 

[Nappe1]

well, I remember my friend having same kind of issues a way back on his 486. The problem got solved when he moved Sound Card further way from the graphics card. In this case, I suspect that in your motherboard, integrated audio is pretty close to AGP slot, so high speed frequencies running on your GFX card might be causing directly that noise on your audio output. (bad shieldings between output connector and DACS perhaps?)

In your case, this might be _a bit too hard_ thing to do, so changing GFX card or motherboard comes first to my mind. which either does not sound good... :?


EDIT: how about buying a sound card and installing it further away from GFX card? that could help.

Oh dear. I'm gonna see how many AGP slots i have, and try moving the card to see what happens... I mean it's not too annoying, and to be honest the sound system on my MB is pretty crap anyway, so i might just get a sound card instead, but then i think about Creative and all the issues attached to them, so it's like opening Hell's Gates...

if you don't like Creative, don't buy one. There's a lot of other choices too. for example, Philips cards (Seismic and Acoustic Edge) are pretty excelent choices.

 

[Dio]

Silicon is not necessarily silent. I found this out with the ZX Spectrum - the buzzing noise that a Spectrum makes is largely emitted by the (highly oversubscribed) ULA on the circuit board.

That said, I haven't heard it from silicon in a long time (I think I remember someone at ATI having a preproduction board that hissed, though). I have definitiely heard power supplies that make noise depending on how hard the CPU and/or graphics cards are working. (This is all audible without amplification or headphones.)

I also know that there are people working on using the audio fingerprint of CPU's and power supplies to try to crack encryption.

 

[anaqer]

Quick reality check - make sure your line in and mic inputs are muted properly.
/ducks 8)

 

[Neeyik]

I have lots of things that squeak/whine on my pooter room - main PC has an optical, wireless mouse that squeaks as you move it about and the main test machine squeaks badly with NVIDIA cards (especially when performing vertex shader tests); there are others but these are the worst of the lot.

 

[RussSchultz]

Oh dear. I'm gonna see how many AGP slots i have

I'm guessing you've got one.

But its just a guess.

You might have none at all.

 

[horvendile]

well, I remember my friend having same kind of issues a way back on his 486. The problem got solved when he moved Sound Card further way from the graphics card.

Same here. In fact, I routinely place sound cards far away from the graphics card for precisely that reason. Though it helped at least as much to ditch my SBPro and buy an AWE32 instead. Definitely poor shielding / filtering.

 

[Guden Oden]

My GF3 or my mobo (Intel custom jobbie for Dell) hisses too when certain transfers are done. It doesn't come from the speakers, it's the hardware itself that produces the noise, though damned if I know which part of it it is.

Also, Creative soundcards are pretty good IMO; my Audigy2 ZS works like a charm. Very nice, I like the ability to use enormous soundfonts with it for great-sounding MIDI, and the CPU useage is probably the lowest in the business from what I've read in tests, especially when using DS3D/EAX.

 

[breez]

Heh, I can hear what I see on the screen if I plug the sound output cable from my Ati AIW card to the line-in of my soundcard (integrated soundstorm or Chaintech av710) It's really bad and I have to mute the line-in when I don't use the TV function.

 

[cristic]

my motherboard (nforce2) chirps when I move the mouse or when I start 3dmark2003, though I'm getting used to it ...

 

[London Geezer]

Yeah i'll try to mute the Line In, whch i too use to record TV and VHS...oh well...

 

[Colourless]

On one of my old sound blaster cards if i didn't have all the inputs muted i'd hear a very quite clicking sound when i moved the mouse around or doing hard drive transfers.

 

[Vadi]

Also try turning on "spread spectrum control" in your BIOS. I read it affects overclockability though.

 

[rabidrabbit]

My PC also makes a buzzing or "chirping" noise sometimes when I move the mouse cursor or scroll a page, it's not making it with games or other 3D heavy apps though. The noise is not coming from the speakers but inside the PC.
I've read somewhere that it is some interference from your mobo sound chip or something, haven't tried if it'd go away if I install a soundcard or disable mobo sound.
Or maybe you've left your vibrator inside the PC.

 

[RingWraith]

Very interesting.....

I have PS with a dual fan load-controlled cooling system and I assumed this was the cause, but I did find it strange that scrolling and moving the mouse would cause the fans to go faster.

Maybe its me board instead.

 

[Basic]

If a power supply is involved (more power drawn when some ation is done), then it's not strange to hear sounds directly from the hardware. Because the power supply usually involves inductors, and there's something called magnetostriction.
Read more: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/solids/magstrict.html

If the noise comes from your speakers, you could consider what I wrote here: http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13861&start=20