Motherboard or PSU clicking (capacitor?)

[jroane]

Greetings fellow technicians! I was wondering if any of you had ever experienced this problem:

I recently purchased a new ASRock motherboard (yeah, trash, I know) and made sure to get a decent replacement policy with it from newegg. I also got the 570W Logisys SLi-ready PSU, also with a replacement policy attached (I knew one or both of these components would need a lemon or two replaced)

Anyway, ever since I installed these two parts, I get a strange clicking/whirring noise that speeds up considerably when my system is under load (3dmark or Crysis 2) - even when my components are underclocked. The clicking noise is in sync with the FPS I'm getting (higher FPS, faster the clicking noise goes)

I suspect a capacitor or resistor going bad, but was wondering if anyone else had ever had this problem

Here are my system specs since I know you need them:

ASRock N68-S UCC motherboard
570W Logisys SLi-ready PSU
AMD Phenom II X4 945
MSI Cyclone GTX 460 1GB
2x2GB Crucial Ballistix
Seagate 400GB SATA HDD

I've swapped the video with my old GTS 250, CPU with old X2 7850 BE, same noise. Swapping memory and PSU when I get home, and if problem persists, will do a fresh install on a new SATA HDD - leaving only motherboard as the culprit

Thanks guys

 

[Slaymate]

The Logisys power supply would be my 1st guess, and you may need to swap 2 or 3 of them before you get a good one.

 

[GhOsT1321]

I believe it would be your power supply. You will know for sure when you swap out the power supply.
I would replace that Logisys with a quality power supply. Our power supply guide sums up power supplys pretty good and has good recommendations.
I would go with this CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2

 

[jroane]

Thanks guys that's where I was leaning as well, probably end up RMA'ing it 'til I get a decent one for a secondary system (since I already paid for it) and replace it with a good one anyway. I didn't realize a company would produce an 'SLi-ready' PSU at such poor quality, but maybe I put too much faith into the underdogs

Thanks again for not flaming the guy with the cheap parts =D

 

[patonb]

Check for cables touching fans too.

 

[jroane]

definitely not a fan problem, but definitely a good first suggestion

I've isolated it to an electrical problem involving mobo/psu

but believe me that was my first inspection =D

fan noise is totally different from the clicking I'm hearing, sounds like a missing motor almost

 

[Digerati]

Where is the clicking coming from, inside the computer, or the speakers?

 

[jroane]

It was inside the machine, I don't use speakers - and I just went down to my local PC store and purchased a Thermaltake PSU, which is now performing gracefully and the sound is gone

Also bumped my performance up slightly, I don't think the off-brand PSU was really giving my GTX 460 the juice it needed, at least not consistantly

Thanks for the help guys! One of the only flameless experiences I've ever had on a tech forum

 

[Digerati]

When I hear clicking sounds from inside a computer, I immediately think "mechanical" - such as drive motors, drive read/write arm actuators, fan motors, fan blades hitting wires, so I find it odd it would be the PSU - unless it was the PSU's fan. I also suspect the performance increase is perceived, not real. It's the same when I wash my truck and get it looking good again - it definitely runs better when it looks purdy!

Nevertheless, I am glad you got it sorted out and thanks for the followup.

 

[jroane]

Either way it was that stupid cheap PSU! I should have known better, trying to push the equivalent of SLi 9800 GTX+ cards with a $28 piece of hardware =P

And honestly it was only giving me around 450W on average at load, and if you add up the wattage req. of my system it comes right at 500, so who knows if my GTX 460 was getting all the juice it needed to run at full tilt - Crysis 2 and Metro 2033 are stuttering WAY LESS with this new PSU, I can only assume it's because of the cleaner power (and not starving my GPU)

Thank goodness for Thermaltake =D

and for the truck** analogy, a new PSU would be an upgraded fuel management/delivery system, not a wash (I'd assume? maybe air filter/exhaust? either way performance increase LULZ)