Noise from graphics card

[Dan Norfolk]

Just bought a new machine from Dell, barely 2 mos. old when the graphics card suddenly failed. They replaced it, but now I hear a whirring sound from the card. The tech said it's normal as the card is still adjusting and will go away eventually. It's been 2 weeks and the I still hear the sound. Should I be concerned? the warrantie's good for only 1 yr.

[Jeff Mottle]

That's sounds like someone who got his computer repair certificate out of a crackerjack box LOL. Fan bearings are either good or their are not. I'm assuming the problem you are hearing is a bearing issue and not just fan noise. If one of the bearings is flat (assuming it uses ball bearings and not a sleeve), improperly greased, or somehow defective, or the fan is out of balance it will make noise. They don't adjust themselves over time. LOL. I have a stack of about 15 cards from both AMD and NVDIA in my office and none of them make noise unless they are are spinning at high RPM to cool the card. I'd get it replaced again. What card is this? I don't know your working environment but one quick killer of fans is dust. The dust that clings to blades can cause it to spin out of balance and kill the motor prematurely or cause the bearings to wear unevenly and causing noise. I'd assume that this is not the case given it's doing this out of the box though.

 

http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/779-computer-case-fan-bearing-differences

[Dimitris Tolios]

It could be many reasons, but more often "weird sounds" originate because of:

 

• Horizontal Sleeve bearing fans - most bearings are made with the concept of the axis of rotation being horizontal, aka the fan rotor wheel or whatever rotating/rolling element the bearing supports being vertical (front case fans, car wheels etc). When we mount sleeve bearing fans horizontally, the friction assembly operates out of original design specs and does not get lubricated properly, thus sleeve bearing fans that could stand years of vertical operation, usually start failing after a few months of horizontal placement, wearing prematurely and making noise. Manufacturers that are aware of the issue, usually opt for fluid dynamic bearings or sealed ball bearings. Ofc the vast majority of GPUs has the fans horizontally.
  

 

• Newer, high performance GPUs (which one do you have really?) are power hogs. Draw high currents and demand precise voltage modulation. High performance GPUs might draw 2 or more times the power you CPU draws under load, in some cases reaching 200-250Watts or more. This stresses the chokes and mosfets in charge of feeding the GPU chip. In one of these components made its way through quality control without being properly tested (or just because it is barely up to the task as the manufacturer tried to cut some corners), it might produce a high pitch squeaky sound, just like it might happen with PSUs and or Mobos. In such a case you could demand replacement of the GPU - not that they will give it to you, but you should try.
  

To test if it is A or B, just carfully try to slow down the GPU fan with your hand - be careful, do not put you fingers in the blades, just carefully apply some pressure on the center hub and slow it down gradually. If the sound decreases along with the fan speed, then you have a mechanical issue with the fan itself. If the squeak insists and or is getting a higher pitch, then you might have the electronic issue with the GPU mosfet/choke/capacitor etc QC.

 

If the sound doesn't come from the GPU, it might be coming from the PSU itself, being pushed past a certain threshold by a newly installed card: some low-end Dell workstations do not come with a powerful enough PSU to safely handle really powerful fermi quadros and/or GTX cards.

 

There is no definitive answer, but you can narrow it down.

Edited July 16, 2012 by dtolios

[Dan Norfolk]

It's an AMD Radeon HD 6800. It only made a sound when it was replaced. It's not dusty here, but the heat has been unforgiving lately.My older computer had a similar problem, first it started to make noise. then the screen just blacks out, it recovers after a while then just blacks out. I suspected its a problem with the video card fan. I solved the problem by putting an electric fan to help cool it down, but that was a 3 yr. old computer. This is barely 2 mos. old.