MSI Z270 Gaming M3, Mobo making Rattling noise.

E

everapt

n00b
Joined
Apr 23, 2016
Messages
15
My mobo is 1 week old and I'm hearing a very strange rattling noise as though a fan's bearings are defective. I have checked every case fan, the CPU cooler fan, the GPU fan and the PSU fan, none of them are responsible for making the noise.

What on earth could be making this noise, sounds exactly like a defective fan and it really sounds like its coming from the motherboard.

Does this mobo have some mini fan hidden somewhere?
 
Probably coil whine. Does the noise vary with CPU load?

And there is no hidden fan :eek:
 
It seems like the noise does vary, but it's not dependent on CPU load (tried running Prime95 and it wasn't making the noise at 100% load). When I play a game, that's usually when it makes the noise, when out of a game then there is no noise at all. You'd think then it would be the graphics card but I'm reusing this card from a different PC, and I don't remember it doing that noise before. Could it be the mobo making the noise?
 
It is probably coil whine from the capacitors that deliver additional power to the PCI-E slots. That would be my bet. Did you get the mobo from a local retailer?
 
Grimlaking said:
It is probably coil whine from the capacitors that deliver additional power to the PCI-E slots. That would be my bet. Did you get the mobo from a local retailer?
Click to expand...
Coil whine comes from things with coils, like chokes and transformers. Capacitors don't have coils.

I don't think this is coil whine. I've never heard that described as "rattling" before. Coil whine is a high-pitch... well, whine. It sounds more like a high-pitch whistle to me. My graphics card does it during load testing with Furmark.

I dunno... could be wrong of course.
 
Maybe there is a loose case screw under motherboard or maybe a loose standoff.
 
Yea coil whine is pretty distinctive. Standoffs, a loose screw in a heatsink somewhere. Something that gets agitated with higher RPM on your fans.
 
Go through the motherboard methodically inch by inch to check if there are any loose screws, etc. It may not seem obvious because it could be partially threaded in, but has just enough clearance to rattle when the mobo is under load.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top