Noises coming from computer - unsure of source

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NcSchu

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These noises occur in two different times. Sometimes I try to turn on my computer but hear a really loud noise that sounds almost like a grinding noise. If the previous sound isn't made usually I hear a quieter version of the sound everytime I try to do something on my computer. These two problems started fairly recently with no unusual indications. I'm guessing it might be the hard drive but I'm not sure how exactly I would find out. I'm fairly positive it's not any of the fans because I made sure no wires would get in the way of their movement.
 
From what I can tell, it's narrowed to the hard drive or the CPU fan. Unplug the hard drive, then turn on your computer to see if the grinding noise still occurs.
 
For the fans, it's also possible that wires are not in them, but they might just be misaligned and are "grinding" on their housing. Happened to one of my older computers. I would look very closely at the source of the noise.
 
Hd could be vibrating. I know having 3 hds and putting them on your desk and they go vroooooooom and vibrate in the case when I only had two of four screws. Any perofrmance problems.
 
Sorry to bump this, but I tried unplugging the hard drive and it still makes the noise. I'm guessing it has to be one of the three fans I have in my case, because I made sure everything inside was secure. I have a fan for my power supply, and fan for the processor, and a fan on the video card. I'm not sure how I would go about finding the source because the only one I think I can unplug is the processor fan.

I'm thinking it might be the video card, but I'm not sure why it would be that since it's less than a year old. In case anyone needs to know I have an ABIT Radeon 9600 256 MB.
 
First of all unplug the video card fan and see if it still makes the noise. If it does that obviously narrows it down. I'm sure you could just open your case, turn on your PC and listen to find the source.

note: do not put your head inside too far :p
 
my fx5500 used to do that. It wasnt getting enough air. Anyways, im getting in a new 6800xt, and i hope it doesnt do that. ps, if I put my hand over the blowhole fan in the top of my pc, the noise stopped. So, that means that it was probably the card not getting enough airflow, because without the blowhole, the air was not being taken away from the video card, and the noise stopped. Try geting a pci fan, like this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835137001

It probably wont help a whole lot with cooling, because it just blows warm air back to the card. But it should stop the noise.

And dont get an exhaust fan, because that will take air away from the card.
 
I'm not sure if you're familiar with my video card, but there's this long metal plate over it. It seems as though this is making the noise. Since it's really only guarding the fan blades, do you think if I were to remove it it would do anything - good or bad? By the way, I purposely left the PCI port directly next to it clear.
 
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