Strange noise coming from pc tower!

Every time i run a standalone .exe file that i create with unity3d i hear a strange noise/buzz coming from the pc tower and not the speakers… I have not experienced this with any other game or application…

I am using unity 3 and this happens in either full screen or windowed.

Anyone have an idea of what might be wrong ?

1 Like

This will be the fan on your CPU or graphics card running. It’s probably broken or faulty, and I would guess the reason you’re hearing it is because your game is thrashing the CPU or graphics card more than it should be.

hey man thnx for reply.
i play lots of games and this doesnt happen in any of them… just in unity and its just a test scene with only a cube inside…
when i compile the game in web player this doesnt happen… only in standalone
also the pc is new… isnt there anything else ?

Sounds crazy to me. Try opening task manager and looking at the CPU usage, or using an app to monitor CPU/GPU temperature and fan speeds. Nothing should be making a noise like that in your computer, and the only thing that would is fans. Fans tend to speed up when the thing they’re cooling is under a heavy load. Try running a benchmarking program like 3dmark (or whatever people use these days) that stresses the computer and graphics card and see if that also causes the problem.

its not a fan… i used speedfan and maxed out all fans… they were making normal noise… not a buzz like i have told u…
weird indeed…

Then I’m out of ideas. Unplug your speakers (from both the computer and the power source) and see if that helps. Try downloading some games written in Unity and see if they do the same.

If Unity really is capable of making strange noises emanate from inside your computer then I’m impressed, and I wish I could make it do that.

Hi, porvas20,

I bet the sound comes from your graphics card. With such a simple scene the GPU can draw a very big amount of images in little time, there’s nothing it must wait for; this causes a lot of stress on it, and a buzz from some component working too hard (I’m not sure if that could be the fan, I think it’s some other component).

Try reducing the image drawing speed of the GPU, and see if the noise is reduced or disappears. You can do it in many ways, for example:

  • Activate “Sync To VBL”, from “Edit → Project Settings → Quality” (inside each one of the quality presets). With this option the images per second will match the vertical refresh rate of your monitor, so if it is, for example, 75 hz, the GPU will be limited to drawing 75 images each second (that’s the maximum, will be much lower if the graphics are too complex).

  • Use a more complex world. Instead of the cube, use a model with more triangles (or, much better, many models), or use some image effects in the camera (I think the “Screen Space Ambient Occlusion” is the most demanding). This way, the graphics card will be more busy with the geometry or effects, lowering the drawing speed.

What I’m not sure is why in the web player it does not happen. Maybe it’s limited by default?

As an anecdote, there was a bug in Starcraft II related to this: the game didn’t limit the images per second in the menus (which are very simple to draw), and some graphics cards (with insufficient cooling) overheat and died after drawing the images too fast: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/computers/is-starcraft-ii-bad-for-your-graphics-card/3454.

Looks like it’s a good idea to limit the images per second in graphically simple games or screens.

2 Likes

Indeed it certainly could be the GPU. Those fans are loud when they want to be.

ok thnx i ll check it out…

If we don’t hear back from this guy, my money is on it being deadly Computer Bees.

He will be missed.

3 Likes

:stuck_out_tongue: i run 3d mark and i again didnt hear that sound i am telling u about… dont know what else to do. anws i ll live with it… :slight_smile:

using deferred rendering and no vsync, the gpu can in theory get hotter than if it was under stress, it all depends since it isn’t capped by the cpu.

I’ve had this with a few random games I was testing. First time it happened we spent hours trying to find the source of it - turns out my headphone’s cord was touching my desk, which caused the sound via computer vibrations. GPU is likely the cause. GTX260

Solution : Complex the scene more. Add unnecessary commands (high batch count attached to camera, so they’re always rendered). You don’ hear it in most games as they either limit framerate, or too complex to reach the FPS high enough.

guys… the sound he talking about is not the fan or anything like that.
it’s simply because he has no VSync enabled, this causing the GPU to draw 1500-2000fps and the components on the GPU are making this noise.
More exactly the voltage controller.
I had this same exact issue on my GTX560 and by simply turning on Vsync, the sound is gone.
The better your GPU is, the louder the sound will be without Vsync and it’s also not healthy for the GPU, because it’s a lot more stressed.

1 Like

Was just having this problem. Turning on vsync fixed the problem for me.

I had the same problem and solved it by adding the below line in the Start of a script.
Application.targetFrameRate = 60;

It tells Unity to aim for 60 FPS (and is overriden by the VSync if you set it in the Quality Settings).
The default is of -1 which means go as fast as you can.

Why Unity would think it is a good idea to draw more than 60 FPS (alright 75 for some screens) and risk burning graphic cards is beyond me.

4 Likes

Because Unity cannot dictate what customers might want.

If your graphics card gets damaged by being used normally, it was faulty to begin with. Replace it with a unit that’s not defective. Anyway, Unity is used for developing games; artificially limiting the framerate can make it harder to profile properly. Also newer monitors do 120fps and higher.

–Eric

Just got a new pc with a Geforce GTX 970, and the noise is quite high, the noise is almost gone if I set the game to max 500 fps… but the more fps after that, the higher the noise is…

Do you guys think I should send it back and complain and get a new one? or will all newer gfx cards just make the same noise… ?

I will reactivate this thread now. I have the exact same behaviour, that there come strange noises from the pc and from the speakers (the speakers may support the pc’s noises).
I also have the feeling, that the more models I have rendered in scene the more silent the pc is. But adding random 3D models seems not like a good solution.

I tried different pcs/laptops and had the same behaviour. Some machines more louder than others.

So how do I supress this noises?

Framerate Settings, Quallity Settings?