30 replies to this topic

[RacerX]

Hi all. I need folks help on this one. I opened a ticket with PGI and once again I got the canned, "It's not our problem" response.

So, I am coming to you good folks to see if anyone else is expereincing a similar issue.

When I launch into a game the screen goes black a few times between launch from the Home screen to game launches. Whenever the screen goes black I hear a high pitched whine from my computer. This is the only instance that this sound ever comes from my computer. I did some research and learned that sometimes a video card will produce coil whine. However, I was not able to find what causes this.

Support seems to think my computer is over stressing my power supply because CryEngine3 is such an energy hog. I disagree with this assertion since I know for a fact that computer uses less power during these episodes. Yes, I do have a power meter hooked up to my computer so I can track power useage.

So, my question is this. Does anyone else out there experiencing the same or similar issue?

Thank you.

[Penance]

i'll ask the obvious, are your drivers updated?

[Dagger6T6]

what are your full system specs?

how many watts on your PSU?

Edited by Dagger6T6, 21 December 2012 - 01:36 PM.

[Agincourt]

There's several variables that could be related really.

Which power supply model is it, and how old is it?

Are you running different an in-game resolution that is different from your desktop resolution (as this can add to screen resizing delays, etc)?

What's the videocard model and brand? You may want to run afterburner or HWiNFO (in sensors-mode) to see if the card is dropping clockspeeds randomly in-game. If it is you can usually set the card to run in 'performance mode' or 'prefer performance' for the game within the videocard's driver control panel.


However if it is just videocoil whine, which you can test by holding a cardboard tube to your ear and pointing it towards the probable noise source, there's really nothing to worry about. Coil whine can be annoying, however it's generally harmless.

Edited by Agincourt, 21 December 2012 - 01:48 PM.

[choobert]

buy a new video card, or RMA it and get a new one.

[Retu81]

Are you sure it's not the video card fan kicking up the speed? Other noise source might be an integrated sound card. They pick up all kinds of noise from motherboard when there's a lot of activity going on.

[Elkarlo]

System Specs would help. AMD systems may need a Bios update ( there is a bug known with Cryengine and Unreal Engine)

There maybe another reason: The Voltage Converter on your Motherboard maybe in bad shape, when they are under high Stress then they give High Pitched Sounds.

My Suggestion: Stress test your System
CPU Burn In
http://www.cpuburnin.com/
and
Furmark
http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

Install Furmark
and open it dont start jet.
open now CPU Burn IN and enter 15 in the Minutes field, start CPU Burn In for every core -1.
( so when you have 2 Cores and 2 Virtual HT cores start CPU Burn in 3 times)
So that one Core is free for Furmark.
Then you start furmark, you will notice that your system is very slow now as it is under maximum load.

CPU Burn IN and Furmark will run blank test, with very little chance of crashing your system.
But it will consume Maximum Powerload when your system survives the 15 Minutes test, then it be healthy... when the highpitched sound start while testing, you have a big problem.

Btw when the Highpitched sound starts while still starting te CPU Burn IN tasks. STOP it you may have still around 3 month livespann on the board... but overstressing damaged Voltage convertes with CPU Burn IN will kill your board faster.. with both test you can locate the Source of the Highpitched sound. If it is a MB oder Graphikcard Problem.

Edited by Elkarlo, 21 December 2012 - 02:20 PM.

[Antagonist]

Eh, some graphics cards do that, or more specifically, some solenoids or capacitors do it when under load or discharging. It's usually not dangerous, just high-frequency vibration. I have friends who silenced their solenoids with a bit of hot glue.

Mine does it as well, whenever it clocks up to 3d mode. It's been doing it right out of the box, I usually don't even register the noise anymore.

[borisof007]

RacerX, on 21 December 2012 - 01:01 PM, said:

Hi all. I need folks help on this one. I opened a ticket with PGI and once again I got the canned, "It's not our problem" response.

So, I am coming to you good folks to see if anyone else is expereincing a similar issue.

When I launch into a game the screen goes black a few times between launch from the Home screen to game launches. Whenever the screen goes black I hear a high pitched whine from my computer. This is the only instance that this sound ever comes from my computer. I did some research and learned that sometimes a video card will produce coil whine. However, I was not able to find what causes this.

Support seems to think my computer is over stressing my power supply because CryEngine3 is such an energy hog. I disagree with this assertion since I know for a fact that computer uses less power during these episodes. Yes, I do have a power meter hooked up to my computer so I can track power useage.

So, my question is this. Does anyone else out there experiencing the same or similar issue?

Thank you.

I've had this happen to me. It is directly related to the video card, and some games cause it to do this, and some don't.

I'm not sure exactly why, but it never seems to be too much of an issue for me.

[Zero Neutral]

Make sure that you are not trying to force any settings for the game and that you allow the application to control them.

You might also try deleting your sharers folder.

You might also try a custom cfg file.

[RacerX]

Thanks for the advice and listing the possible causes of this. Someone asked for details:

Video: AMD 6950
Power Supply Corsair TX 650. - about 2 yrs old
Motherboard - G1.Sniper M3
CPU i7 3770

Second I need to clear up one fact. When the whine occurs there is absolutly nothing on the screen. It only happens twice during the loading of the map and then goes quite once the graphics draw in. The screen resolution of the game is set to the desktop resolution and refresh. Also, the ATI video driver is set to use the game settings instead of enforcing its own. It is possible that the reason the screen goes dark is because the game is forcing a resolution that my monitor doesn't support and then switches back. If that is the case then it is an issue with the game and nothing that I have any direct control over.

I'm also playing other games such as Batman Arkham City, Supreme Commander 2, Starcraft 2, and Battlefield 3 do not experience any whine. At the very least I've isolated the circumstances.

I did check for newer ATI drivers and I am using the latest. I am checking my other system drivers as well. I did check the fans and eliminated them as candidates. I haven't tried the paper towel roll trick yet but will give it a shot later next week when I have the system apart

I would like ot thank everyone who responded and gave me some advice.

[Agincourt]

RacerX, on 22 December 2012 - 06:06 AM, said:

Thanks for the advice and listing the possible causes of this. Someone asked for details:

It doesn't sound like there's really anything going on, other than the resolution changes.

Check it with a tube when you have time and see if it's coming from the GPU or the PSU (as Corsair v2's are known to have coil whine and/or fan noise), but it's likely nothing to worry about.

[madMAx666]

RacerX, on 22 December 2012 - 06:06 AM, said:

Second I need to clear up one fact. When the whine occurs there is absolutly nothing on the screen. It only happens twice during the loading of the map and then goes quite once the graphics draw in.

I got the same thing with my GTX 260. The problem is when the screen is black the game renders like 500-1000 (black) frames per second which will cause the noise.
Maybe vsync will help. Although i dont think it's harmfull in any way, i would'nt buy any new PSU or GPU.

EDIT: btw any chance you are the guy running this blog: [Redacted] ?

Edited by Egomane, 22 December 2012 - 11:26 AM.
Removed a Link containing NSFW content

[GioAvanti]

madMAx666, on 22 December 2012 - 09:50 AM, said:

I got the same thing with my GTX 260. The problem is when the screen is black the game renders like 500-1000 (black) frames per second which will cause the noise.
Maybe vsync will help. Although i dont think it's harmfull in any way, i would'nt buy any new PSU or GPU.

EDIT: btw any chance you are the guy running this blog: [Redacted] ?

Wouldn't surprise me lol

Edited by Egomane, 22 December 2012 - 11:27 AM.
Edited the quote to remove a link to adult content

[Zero Neutral]

Have you tried any of the suggestions?

[Elkarlo]

There maybe another source of the whine.
The Corsair PSU don'T have the best reputation.

And an old PSU may get the Coil whine too when the power is extremly unbalanced.

Like lot of CPU load but few GPU load ( like it is when there is by the black screen)

You have a PSU with 650Watt and 80+ Gold, AMD recommends a 500 watt _standard_ PSU
which means that a 80+ with 450Watt would be sufficient. So you have a extrem low powerconsumption rate procentual speaking, also a weak point of the Corsair. Together with the high Consumption on the 3,3 Volt this may cause the whine.

It should be checked as this could destroy the PC.

My recommendation:
CPU-Burn-IN 3 times and Screensaver on Blank Screen testing...
when there is the whine..
Then it is the PSU.

I use a PSU-Tester to check the Powergood time of the PSU to see how good the PSU was,
and have found several "uncertain" bugs a PC had was easily related to old worn out PSU's.
New PSU and all was fine.
(PSU-Tester tests without load so only the Powergood time is important on them. a new PSU has a Powergood time of 250ms 450ms is the limit, and most PSU of around 3-4 years are at 380ms Powergoodtime and start to produce funny Bugs in the PC, when it is over 400ms it is time to say goodbye.)

Edited by Elkarlo, 22 December 2012 - 11:24 AM.

[Odins Fist]

RacerX, on 21 December 2012 - 01:01 PM, said:

Hi all. I need folks help on this one. I opened a ticket with PGI and once again I got the canned, "It's not our problem" response.

So, I am coming to you good folks to see if anyone else is expereincing a similar issue.

When I launch into a game the screen goes black a few times between launch from the Home screen to game launches. Whenever the screen goes black I hear a high pitched whine from my computer. This is the only instance that this sound ever comes from my computer. I did some research and learned that sometimes a video card will produce coil whine. However, I was not able to find what causes this.

Support seems to think my computer is over stressing my power supply because CryEngine3 is such an energy hog. I disagree with this assertion since I know for a fact that computer uses less power during these episodes. Yes, I do have a power meter hooked up to my computer so I can track power useage.

So, my question is this. Does anyone else out there experiencing the same or similar issue?

Thank you.

.
You have a "CAPACITOR" going bad on either your PSU, Motherboard, or Video Card...
.
What you are hearing is "CAPACITOR" whine....
.
If it is your PSU, then replace said PSU, with higher rated (power wise/wattage) PSU..
It is "possible" your PSU is right at the edge of it's output range due to "CAPACITOR" aging or over burden due to system wattage requirements..
.
If it is another component, then replace that component.. Case Closed.

Edited by Odins Fist, 22 December 2012 - 11:28 AM.

[Elkarlo]

PSU rating for his PC would be 550Watt 80+ recommandation max.

It sounds funny but a PSU too big causes problems as well... and his is a little big.
(200 Watt GPU 90 Watt CPU so a would 500 watt enough as AMD recommends for the 6950)

Edited by Elkarlo, 22 December 2012 - 11:32 AM.

[Flapdrol]

This kind of coil whine is very common, usually with very high framerates.

I run msi afterburner, so I know when the screen goes black you get like 2000 fps or something, when the map and mechs show up the framerate goes back to normal agian and the whine is probably gone.

quick fix, run with vsync on
more elaborate fix, use a frame limiter.

or do nothing, it's just a few seconds, annoying maybe but it's not going to kill your pc.

Anyway, Piranha could just implement a frame limiter in the options, many modern games have it, so why not. Then agian they dont even have a mouse sensitivity setting or fov in the ingame options.

Edited by Flapdrol, 22 December 2012 - 11:34 AM.

[Odins Fist]

Flapdrol, on 22 December 2012 - 11:29 AM, said:

This kind of coil whine is very common, usually with very high framerates.

.
"FALSE", this has "NOTHING" to do with framerates... It's about "CAPACITOR" whine, and Capacitors start to whine when they are stressed, about to go out, or have "TOO MUCH" current running through them due to an underpowered/inefficient PSU.
.

Elkarlo, on 22 December 2012 - 11:29 AM, said:

PSU rating for his PC would be 550Watt 80+ recommandation max.

It sounds funny but a PSU too big causes problems as well...

.
"ABSOLUTELY FALSE".... Having a bigger than needed PSU causes "ZERO ISSUES", and is actually better, as the PSU in question doesn't have to work as hard, and the system components will not have to pull "MORE" current to get the same number of AMPS... A little bit "BIGGER" than needed PSU is always better...
"END of STORY"..
.
.
EDIT: F.Y.I. A PSU does "NOT" deliver anymore power than what the system uses/needs.. A system running a 1000 watt PSU, but only has a 600 total watt consumption will only pull the 600 watts it needs, and the PSU will only deliver those 600 watts, it will "NOT" overvolt your system, it is based on demand from the PSU, and "NOT" the PSUs maximum output spec..
.
DOUBLE EDIT: I wasn't saying he needs a 1000 watt PSU either.

Edited by Odins Fist, 22 December 2012 - 11:57 AM.