AutoCAD 2021 - Weird noise from the power supply whle moving crosshair cursor

[3d-labor]

Hi all,

I got a new PC and have a audible noise from the power suplly unit while moving the crosshair cursor in AutoCAD viewports. It sounds a little bit like mechanical harddrive activity but it doesn´t come from the harddrive definitively. I uses something like a stethoskope and the noise seems to be loudest on the backside of the power supply unit. This doesnt happen in other programs with cursors, only in AutoCAD with the crosshair cursor, so i post it here. I know from the past that I was able to hear the "sound of the moving data" while working on the PC 20 years ago, there many quiet sounds came from the motherboard or other computer components. But this one here is louder. I sit in a quiet office, only the sound of my watercooling pump ( a quiet growling noise) is audible. And now, when I move the crosshair cursor in AutoCAD....does anybody the same experience (AutoCAD 2021, 3dconnection CAD mouse, Win 10/64)

[ The subject line of this post has been edited to include the product name by @handjonathan ]

[illusionistNUGXG]

The only change in the "noise" from the power supply should come from the cooling system, if your power usage increases significantly. Obviously shouldn't happen just by moving the crosshair.

If you open the task manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) - does anything unusual happen during that occurence?

(e.G. CPU-usage, GPU-usage)

[pendean]

Your new Pc is choking under AutoCAD, a very intense hardware abuser unlike your other listed programs that are better coded: most of us get that only in 3D imports and renderings, not just cursor movement.

What brand/model is this?
What does Windows Task Manager report is going on?
Did you do the "shut all other programs including anti-virus and other protection tools while using AutoCAD" test yet?
Does disconnecting from your network/Internet help?
Contact your PC's Tech Support yet? What does your IT person think is going on?

I fear you got a lemon... .

[3d-labor]

This is a brandnew machine I bought from a guy in Germany who built high performance watercooled systems himself for customers worldwide. It is my second one I bought there. It is an AMD Ryzen 9 5900x with 32GB RAM and a Samsung 980PRO 500GB PCIe4 x4 7.000 Mbit/s system drive. The graphics card is a Quadro P5000 (bought it used). It has a 850W PSU and a ASUS Gamer Motherboard ASUS TUF X570-PRO. I completed the machine with my other 2 500GB SSDs and a 3TB HD. Win 10/64 20H2 is installed. Other Programs I heavy use are 3dsMAX with VRay 5.1.2 or Photoshop, no one of these programs made this noise. When I only use ACAD there are no other programs running than DisplayFusion for multiple screen management. In the background there are of course some proccesses running, I had no time so far to delete useless stuff like "Photos" or "Your phone". Usually I´m niot connected to the Internet. I think, this is no mayor problem because if I hear music the noise is not audible, and I hear much music besides my work.

[pendean]

Thanks or the reply.

You wrote:
>>>.. I think, this is no mayor problem because if I hear music the noise is not audible, and I hear much music besides my work....<<<
If I understood your meaning, then that is probably how your new system just reacts to AutoCAD's use of your hardware (which is older and less sophisticated than "3dsMAX with VRay 5.1.2 or Photoshop" as you noted). As you noted in your first pot this new computer is louder than your older ones.

Good luck.

[3d-labor]

This morning I noticed, that this noise also comes when I move a layer in photoshop or wenn I pan a view in "2D Pan Zoom Mode" in 3dsMAX. I would say, this could relatd to the graphics card, but the noise IMO comes from the PSU.

[RobDraw]

The only way to verify is to replace the power supply to see of it makes the same noise. It could be a bad part.

[3d-labor]

Your right, I will observe the thing. Indeed I had some events in the event monitor which says "kernel-power", which is a sign that something could be wrong with the PSU, it´s a Gigabyte 850W ...

[3d-labor]

Edit: With the good old CoreTemp  open I saw, that during moving the crosshair in AutoCAD one of the cores gets a load up to 30%. This is awesome, never thought that the crosshair is demanding these computing ressources...

[RobDraw]

Yeah, doubt it is the crosshairs. Have you thought about what else it could be? 

[3d-labor]

Some news in that issue: When I turn of the hardware acceleration of the graphics card under Options-->System in AutoCAD the noise is gone. But then the crosshair cursor is not antialiased and it is jerky. So I think the issue is related to the graphics card and it´s power consumtion.

[Jones.oRJ8BZ]

It´s called coil whine and it´s coming from your GPU. Nothing you can do about it and it doesn´t harm or affect your system in any way. I have the same sound. It´s a feature rather than a defect.

[RobDraw]

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@Jones.oRJ8BZ wrote:

It´s a feature rather than a defect.

---

I think you nailed it except for this statement. According to this article, it's not a feature but rather a phenomenon that creates an annoying noise.

[3d-labor]

No, it is definitely the PSU. I watched the fan inside the PSU when moving the crosshair cursor. The noise was synchronized with some micro movement of the fan blades. In my opinion it is some bad design of the PSU. Under low processor load there is some threshold, where the fan begins to rotate. But if the processor load is arround the point of thie threshold the fan rotation begins and stops in a very shot period of time. This creates the noise which sounds like an old mechanical hard drive. Sadly I didn´t found the youtube video from another user who had the same problem. In that video the small movements of the fan blades which creat the sound.

[RobDraw]

That doesn't "sound" right. Small movements of a fan don't make noise. Maybe the fan shaft is disconnected from the fan and is ramping up without the fan only moving a little bit. Maybe.

I think your message 11 supports @Jones.oRJ8BZ's theory.

Did you read the article that I linked? It describes your system as one that will have coil whine coming from the graphics card.

[3d-labor]

Yes, I read your linked article. But I can only say what I hear. I use a flexible thin plastic hose attached to my ear at one side and the other side I move through the PC to find noise sources. My Quadro P5000 is almost inaudible.
And now I found the youtube video, where you can hear the sound: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ppQZ_Q7iLNQ
I don´t think, that the sound comes from the mechanical parts of the fan itself. It is only a visible connection between fan movement and the noise. The noise itself could be made by some tiny module or relay which switches the fan on and of. But surely I will change the PSU if I got time, because I found out, that this one, the Gigabyte P850GM is recommended to change ASAP according to the so called PSU tierlist, because other users have had tiny exposions of electronic parts (MosFET) inside the PSU under full load.
https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aACtT_rzToI&t=156s
 

[jaiganesh.venkatesan]

Hi boss,

This is due to graphics pull happen while using AutoCAD. If your opening a large sized file due to that cooling fan used for graphics  card  automatically get speeded and this the noise making thing while your are working.  

While your getting noise check the task manager GPU will be loaded.

If your are OK with the solution, Please ACCEPT SOLUTION

Thanks,

JAIGANESH GV

[3d-labor]

You are completely right: When AutoCAD uses the croshair curser the load of the GPU goes up, as awaited. So the PSU has to handle it, and following that the noise appears.

[RobDraw · Accepted solution]

Ten messages and nearly a year and a half later, we are back to message #7.

[3d-labor]

You are completely right. That´s the live of a freelancer. If I´m working on projects it´s too risky to work on the hardware of the PC. If the projects are done I have a lot of more important other things to do and the PC Problem remains  in the middel of the to-do list. When I first decided to change the PSU I thougt it would be easy, because it is a so called "modular PSU". But modular means, that you can change only the PSU of the same Model without replacing all the cables. Every manufacturer and every model of PSUs seem to have other cables or the wires have different assignments. It is strongly recommend to use the cables delivered with the PSU.  So it would be a larger thing to change the PSU and so it went down the to-do list.