Crazy squeaking sound coming from the video card when playing Crysis.

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magictoaster

Limp Gawd
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Apr 6, 2005
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Whenever I start Crysis, there is a really crazy squeaking sound coming from the video card (BFG GeForce GTX 260 OC Maxcore). I've contacted NCIX for an RMA, but this morning I found this on the inCrysis forums :

"You have VSync disabled.
With VSync disabled the movies and load screens (and the main menu before the world is loaded/rendered) will be rendered at the highest possible FPS. What you are hearing is the GPU generating 2500-4000 FPS and the accompanying squeal from the electrical components--likely the Voltage Regulators--struggling to accomplish this and maintain an even load.
Most other games have a cap on movie and menu FPS which prevents this massive overworking from happening.
Enabling VSync will make this go away with Crysis (and Warhead)."

Does this make sens? I'll try it tonight and see if this works, but I find this very strange. My "old" 8800GTS did not do this at all...
 
That's crap......2500-4000 FPS? C'mon you know it's crap.

It's normal for some chokes to squeal, even ones encased in plastic, when working harder to clean the power going through them. It's usually a sign of dirty power or loosely wound chokes.

There is another theory that claims the heat spreaders on the GT200 chips cause the sounds, exactly how I cannot be sure.
 
Crazy... the same exact thing happened to me, only once, with Crysis Warhead, but it was upon loading. It seemed to be coming from my GPU (GTX 280), a whining noise that scared the hell outta me, then stopped, and I never heard it again.

I couldn't speak to it one way or another as to what it is/was, and I use v-sync in every game, but I did have that happen once.
 
I'll check again tonight, but I've played Crysis Warhead a few hours using this video card and I've never noticed this before.

NCIX are sending me a replacement card (the exact same model), so I'll be able to test everything tomorrow after work.

Someone told me my PSU (Corsair HX620W CMPSU-620HX) could be underpowered, but I'm not running a killer 10 000$ computer setup:

- Intel Q6600
- 4GB DDR2
- GeForce GTX 260 PCIe
- SoundBlaster X-FI PCIe
- 2 x WD 500GB HD
- 1 SATA LiteON DVD burner
 
My GF, who finished early today (lucky me), just ran the Vista performance index test, and the same thing happened during the 3D portion of the test. I'm guessing these are not incredibly taxing tests, so the card is probably borked. Oh well... I'm always unlucky that way... :)
 
uh... I feel a movie quote coming on..

(Christmas Vacation)
Aunt Bethany: What's that sound? You hear it? It's a funny squeaky sound.
Uncle Lewis: You couldn't hear a dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant.

Seriously, this is prolly just the same old capacitor squeel which many report on video cards and other components under load.. sometimes it just goes away with use, but sometimes it doesn't... you can "goop" (gluing them to the pcb) the caps up to try and dampen the noise with some non-conductive resin/glue or something.. but that should only be done if you just can't live with the noise..
 
@renenant : thanks for the feed back, and the nice movie quote! It's definitely to loud to live with so I'll try my luck with a new one. The thing is that it did not do that when I first got the card. Since it's still under warranty at the shop where I purchased it, I'll try another one.
 
@magictoaster: That was my post over at inCrysis and I'm glad it helped. If you can't stop the RMA, you might luck out on a faster sample for your 15% restocking fee.

vick1000 said:
That's crap......2500-4000 FPS? C'mon you know it's crap.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure why you think it's crap for intro movies and load screens to render extremely fast. They cap out Crysis' built-in counter ( r_displayinfo 1 ) at 999 FPS and RT/Precision's OSD displays the full framerate as considerably higher. At lower resolutions it breaks 2500FPS easily and scales exponentially with higher clocks. This is when the noise occurs, and capping the framerate resolves it.

Not only does it happen during movies and load screens in Crysis, MOHA, etc but when doing the aforementioned WEI test, while Folding, and running the ATI Tool artifact scanner.

The funny thing about your incredulity is you've managed to more accurately describe the problem than I did, while appearing to refuse to accept the cause.

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=569158&mpage=2&key=squeal򋼯

http://www.incrysis.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=22631

I haven't heard about the heatspreaders being a potential cause, but I think I'd put money on aftermarket cooled GT200s making the same noise as stock cooled.
 
I can also hear the squeaking sound issue in Crysis with a BFG GeForce GTX 280 OC.
I had a couple of issues with this video card and I am awaiting a replacement unit from NCIX.
 
I have a hard time believing that a solid state voltage regulator is capable of producing noise; I've mucked around with plenty of VRs, and whether I have them under heavy load or light load, they don't squeel. Capacitors or Coils, sure...but not a solid state VR.
 
@badcaps

The replacement card should arrive tomorrow, so I'll know then if I'm lucky! :) Like I said, the noise is now present when I start any 3D applications, not just Crysis. Since it's really loud, I feel that the possibility of a 15% restocking fee is well worth it. :)
 
ok yeah, if the sound came on like all of a sudden and it's that loud, you might have a FET which is going bad.. better to replace the card. good luck!!
 
magictoaster said:
the noise is now present when I start any 3D applications, not just Crysis. Since it's really loud, I feel that the possibility of a 15% restocking fee is well worth it. :)
Click to expand...

This actually happened to my 260 also, around the end of the first week. It went away and is properly silent as well as breaking in nicely on clocks. I haven't tested the 180.42 for OC stability yet but the 178.15 set was quite stable @ 756/1512/2600
 
My card makes a noise as well, but it sounds more like "maaake it stooop! tooo much foooooliage! ahhhh!"
 
Mine is more like OMG ! Jana Jamison live in my case and is squealing like a banshee kind-of-noise. ;) Seriously, it's so loud I can hear it from outside the room. Since I've ordered a new card, I'll get a full 30 days exchange warranty directly with NCIX, so I'll be sure to push the card to see if it does the same thing...
 
pgaster said:
Welcome to Nvidia coil whine.
Here is more for you to read:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=37899

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1352835&highlight=whine
Click to expand...

OK, figured it was a coil and not a solid state VR or a FET...a transistor won't make a high pitched noise when it dies, it will just die. Don't go spreading rumors...

Thanks for the link pgaster - I've never had this issue in either of my 2 8800s or my GTX280...but my old 5900 Ultra had it back in the day, never bothered me enough to figure out what on the card was causing it..
 
The new card is in, and the noise is still present when starting Crysis... So, I guess it's nothing to worry about. At least it's not as loud as the first card so I'll keep it. Using V-Sync, like badcaps suggested fix the problem...
 
Well now that that's resolved, it's time to start turning up the dials on the new sample. :p

@RadXge: Isn't the input lag resolvable simply by turning down the maximum pre-rendered frames? I had it in WoW running a slower system with VSync on, but never when running a decent framerate.

Is the new card making noise aside from the predictable places? (movies, load screens, etc)
 
I disabled VSync and the screeching went away. Man Nvidia needs to fix this. So far Warhead seems to be the only game I have that's doing it.
 
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