Could FAH cause cracking sounds?

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empleat
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Could FAH cause cracking sounds?

Post by empleat »

Hello,

i have my new computer since summer and i was using it months fine. Manufacturer's bios is badly programmed and overvolting cpu by default. While still below safe voltage 1.35v for i5 9600kf. FAH is very very demanding. Even with continuous 100% load on cpu i don't have, as temp high temps as, while using FAH. And i have big tower case (with one of best airflow) and quite strong cooler. I got 76C max, which is still perfectly fine for long term usage. But since it could raise voltages and put start strain on cpu, i was wondering, if it couldn't damage something. Core was fine, but vccio was up to 1.328v. Which i have no idea, if it could damage something under heavy load.

To the issue: i started having cracking noises around same time, i started using FAH. Not sure exactly. Did you ever head FAH causing issue like this? It is probably issue with motherboard, their DOA increased lately (for motherboards in general) and this brand is infamous for this issue. I already ruled out software cause pretty much - tried 2 headphones and even other system.

Thanks!
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Re: Could FAH cause cracking sounds?

Post by PantherX »

When it comes to overclock, officially, F@H doesn't recommend it. Personally, I would ensure that the CPU is having the best cooling I can afford since by default AMD/Intel do overclock their CPUs a bit. If you want, you can enable the automatic overclock on the CPU which should handle everything automatically if you choose to do so.

When it comes to crackling sound, the only aspect I know is when your folding on the GPU and it can produce coil whine (https://www.howtogeek.com/297166/what-i ... -on-my-pc/). Generally speaking, it is harmless and can be ignored.
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Foliant
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Re: Could FAH cause cracking sounds?

Post by Foliant »

empleat wrote:having cracking noises [...] tried 2 headphones and even other system.
Do you mean cracking sounds out of your Audio-Outputs?
If so i would accuse your Power Supply or maybe the voltage regulators on the Mainboard.
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empleat
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Re: Could FAH cause cracking sounds?

Post by empleat »

Foliant wrote:
empleat wrote:having cracking noises [...] tried 2 headphones and even other system.
Do you mean cracking sounds out of your Audio-Outputs?
If so i would accuse your Power Supply or maybe the voltage regulators on the Mainboard.
No overclocking. My psu is excellent - Corsair RM650x 2018. Motherboard asus z390-i gaming, it should have like 8+2 phases. Decent enough vrm for 5.1 ghz overlocks. And also grounding is not issue in flat i live in and i have outlet with ov protection. I tried to enable - vrm sprectrum something and changed phases to standard and switching frequency only to 300 - didn't help. Also i had months no issues, it started from the blue sky. But roughly at the time i started using fah. My motherboard was overvolting vccio and vccsa and i didn't noticed it. Because these values were new to me. It was under 1.35, not sure if could damage cpu, or something in combination with high load caused by FAH. But otherwise i have no problems, no bsod, no stability issues, no fps drops. Seems weird. I could understand, if it was happening since i got motherboard, but from the blue sky? Only other thing i can think of, it just broke. Because i everything tried anything else. Other headphones, other jack, other system. So fah could/couldn't damage cpu theretically, or something, since it heats up cpu like nothing else? Temp still in safe limits only 76C max, while 99 is max and under 85 for long term usage.

Motherboard has no shield for EMI, but that doesn't make sense as well, it would need to happen all time. It didn't happen before ever, i would know! Probably will have to replace motherboard, since they have high fault rate. And it is already 2nd, which is faulty in a row, so lucky... It was even built in computer shop and i was building computer since i was kid never had problem. ASUS is garbage, i had my reason i wanted this one, but only good manufacturer is GB, maybe msi yet dunno... ASUS motherboards suffer from 100 other issues...

Oh and vrm, i can try to increase that, but it was auto and probably already set to decent level. As voltage was quite high for stock frequency. Yeah phases to extreme, vrm switching frequency to 500 does nothing...
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Re: Could FAH cause cracking sounds?

Post by foldy »

Increased voltage will not damage your CPU, except you go to the extreme like >1.5V. But if you run your CPU with increased voltage for 10 years then the ability to overclock may get reduced over the years. e.g. You could run 5 Ghz for 5 years but later CPU can only take only 4.8 Ghz anymore for the next 5 years and after that 4.5 Ghz - with same voltage.

FAH uses AVX instructions on CPU which most other programs do not use. So maybe it helps in UEFI-BIOS to set an AVX offset downclock?
MeeLee
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Re: Could FAH cause cracking sounds?

Post by MeeLee »

FAH does cause what's called 'coil whine' on GPUs.
It's not really coil whine, but capacitors expanding and shrinking very quickly. And is usually only heard when they're rapidly charged and discharged thousands of times a second.
Though usually it would indicate a situation in which the charge nearly overcharges the cap, and the release nearly empties the cap, and the whole process is oscillating.
It's usually a situation in which a GPU is ran near to it's maximum rated values, and can be lowered by reducing power (voltage, and/or current) to the GPU/CPU.

It stands to reason that if it happens on new GPUs, it could also happen on motherboards as well.
Newer hardware is kind of ok with this, but older hardware with coil whine on the caps, usually means they're about to go out.
empleat
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Re: Could FAH cause cracking sounds?

Post by empleat »

MeeLee wrote:FAH does cause what's called 'coil whine' on GPUs.
It's not really coil whine, but capacitors expanding and shrinking very quickly. And is usually only heard when they're rapidly charged and discharged thousands of times a second.
Though usually it would indicate a situation in which the charge nearly overcharges the cap, and the release nearly empties the cap, and the whole process is oscillating.
It's usually a situation in which a GPU is ran near to it's maximum rated values, and can be lowered by reducing power (voltage, and/or current) to the GPU/CPU.

It stands to reason that if it happens on new GPUs, it could also happen on motherboards as well.
Newer hardware is kind of ok with this, but older hardware with coil whine on the caps, usually means they're about to go out.
No it has nothing to do with hardware. It is sound artifact. I am talking about cracking sound in headphones, or speakers. While it can be cause by EMI and sound card on my motherboard doesn't have shield, so didn't have my old for 35$ and i never had problem! Also it didn't happen months, so it doesn't make sense it would be that. Seems like broken hardware, because i tried other headphones, event front jack and linux, which has totally different drivers. Even tried all drivers on windows there are, even microsoft oem, which should fix issue, but it didn't!

So i am looking for causes, imagine if i returned mobo and it was cpu, that would be so annoying! Because i hear voltage could cause this on cpu, but i already tried almost everything and it is not undervolted with 1.225 it can get to 4.8 ghz i think. And vccio and vccsa is now on 1.12 in 1-1.2v range.
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Re: Could FAH cause cracking sounds?

Post by ajm »

Well, you would have to test the system with other components to be sure.
But you can solve this by picking up the sound from a digital source, eg hdmi: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=hdmi+to+head ... _ss_i_1_17

EDIT: It can also be a latency problem: https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon
empleat
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Re: Could FAH cause cracking sounds?

Post by empleat »

ajm wrote:Well, you would have to test the system with other components to be sure.
But you can solve this by picking up the sound from a digital source, eg hdmi: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=hdmi+to+head ... _ss_i_1_17

EDIT: It can also be a latency problem: https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon
I just found out, i forget to test nvidia hd audio using display port to monitor and than connect 3.5mm jack there. I have still crackings. While onboard soundcard is disabled in BIOS. LMAO. I have no idea what component it can be. I will have to put whole computer to shop, because i have no idea how to isolate issue. I can only change gpu, that's 1 thing i could test out. Otherwise everything is incompatible, from my old pc. But i would bet on cpu being damaged by motherboard, which overvolted it and using fah, which is ultimate workload. As it started around same time. And like buying something and returning, it is easier to put whole computer to shop. It is nice there, so they will test it out!
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Re: Could FAH cause cracking sounds?

Post by Neil-B »

Heads up ... there is another topic formed about audio noise ... believe at least two people have reported issues in it
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Re: Could FAH cause cracking sounds?

Post by foldy »

But for the other people the noise sound goes away when FAH is stopped. On your machine it is permanent.

Maybe it helps to put some ferrite core ring EMI filter around the headset cable? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braid-bre ... _shell.jpg

Or even put it on the power coord. The noise may be is introduced from the power supply or from the wall. If it works in your computer store then it is your wall.
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Last edited by foldy on Wed Oct 07, 2020 6:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Neil-B
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Re: Could FAH cause cracking sounds?

Post by Neil-B »

Cab I just check issue is permanent rather than just when FaH is running (which if course could be permanently)... cant see confirmation of this in thread.
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empleat
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Re: Could FAH cause cracking sounds?

Post by empleat »

Neil-B wrote:Cab I just check issue is permanent rather than just when FaH is running (which if course could be permanently)... cant see confirmation of this in thread.
Yep it is permanent, when fah is not running! Tried even linux without nvidia drivers, double headphones (one brand new). I tried microsoft OEM drivers in windows 10, also disabled gpu in device manager. Even disabled onboard sound card and used nvidia hd audio to monitor, where is 3.5mm jack! And updated bios, and mei firmware, reset to default and what not... At this point, i am trying to pin point cause, so i don't have to bring whole computer to pc shop, but i would do much difference probably, since i won't be able to use pc anyways that time. And i hope i could perhaps fix it somehow, even it is improbable at this point i think!

But it started around same time, i was using fah. It was fine 4 months before, fah didn't work on my old pc, it rendered my pc useless. So i thought it wouldn't work and tried that only recently again.
MeeLee
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Re: Could FAH cause cracking sounds?

Post by MeeLee »

I still suspect it could be a bad cap somewhere.
Finding that is hard to trace. You'd have to find a cap that looks broken, but if they're solid state caps, they're much harder to find.

You could plug in a USB audio device, an audio card that you can plug in the USB port.
Other than that, it's often replacing the motherboard.
empleat
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Re: Could FAH cause cracking sounds?

Post by empleat »

MeeLee wrote:I still suspect it could be a bad cap somewhere.
Finding that is hard to trace. You'd have to find a cap that looks broken, but if they're solid state caps, they're much harder to find.

You could plug in a USB audio device, an audio card that you can plug in the USB port.
Other than that, it's often replacing the motherboard.
Hmm i don't even know how usb card would help. As nvidia audio is digital and than dac in the monitor coverts it to analogue. What i mean, if even nvidia hd audio (with onboard soundcard disabled) is affected by this issue, how would other sound card help? But i don't have usb audio, as it is crap :lol: I found yet loose psu cables could cause it. Gonna check capacitators tommorow, thanks for an idea!
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