I bought a PC a few months ago and have only recently started noticing a faint rattle or clicking sound. It reminds me of the noises older spinning hard drives made. I tried manually increasing the GPU and CPU fan speeds to see whether one of the fans was responsible, but the sound mainly appears while gaming under heavy load. Temperatures and performance seem normal. What should I check?
2 Answers
This could be coil whine from the power supply. It can sound like clicking, buzzing, or a faint electronic rattle and often becomes noticeable only when gaming or when the GPU is working hard. It usually doesn’t affect temperatures or performance, though an unusually loud or mechanical-sounding noise is worth investigating further.
Try listening closely to the power supply when the system is under load. Some PSU fans stay still at idle and begin spinning only when the computer draws more power, which can reveal a rattling or clicking fan bearing. Check that the sound isn’t coming from a loose panel or cable as well.
Is coil whine something I should be concerned about? The temperatures and performance are fine; the noise is mainly irritating.