GA-X58A-UD7 and Cougar S550: buzzing sound

[DaKo]

Hi!
I built a new computer in December. Everything works like a charm except one little thing: when the energy saving functions of the CPU (C1E and the other C states) are activated the power supply produces a high-pitched buzzing sound (especially when using the mouse or when the graphics card is used during scrolling). When I deactivate these 2 funtions, everything is normal. I already spoke to a guy from Cougar and he said it has to do with the Intel energy saving technologies. This problem first occured on the P55 boards, but as you can see it also seems to be present on the X58 boards. Here is a video (it's not from me, but it's the same problem on a P55 board):



The guy from Cougar said that they are working with some mainboard manufacturers, but I haven't heard anything about it since then. It seems to be a problem with the DC/DC technology of new power supplies (e.g. from Enermax and Cougar) and the Intel energy saving functions. Some P55 users also reported that it has to do with the "Dynmic Vcore" function.

Here is my config:

Intel Core i7 920 @ stock
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7
6 GB G.Skill 1600 CL9
Sapphire Radeon HD 4770
80 GB Intel X25-M
1 TB WD Caviar Black
Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1
Cougar S550
Logitech G500
Logitech Illuminated Keyboard
Windows 7 x64
newest beta BIOS (F3K)

I hope someone from Gigabyte can forward this problem to the BIOS developers in Taiwan as this seems to be the only real solution.

[wazza300]

Re: GA-X58A-UD7 and Cougar S550: buzzing sound

its a common problem even my board does it,its a combination of c1e intel power saving feature or you graphics card or both,updating chipset,lan and audio drivers help lessen the noise,what os are you using?if your using windows 7 then disable c1e in the bios and enable power saving"balanced"mode in windows,it will do the same job as c1e but without the noise,it will reduce cpu speed and power consumption at idle but switch to full cpu speed under load

[DaKo]

Re: GA-X58A-UD7 and Cougar S550: buzzing sound

Thanks for your answer. I'm using Windows 7 (I edited it in my first post). I didn't know that Windows can do this by itself (I'm using this preset already, but CPU-Z showed full frequency when I deactivated the C states); I will definitely try it tomorrow. Will Windows also adjust the voltage? Should I let "C3/C6/C7 states" stay on enabled in the BIOS?

[wazza300]

Re: GA-X58A-UD7 and Cougar S550: buzzing sound

yes it will throttle the cpu when idle,all you need to disable is c1e in the bios all the others can be enabled,only win7 has it,xp and vista doesnt

[DaKo]

Re: GA-X58A-UD7 and Cougar S550: buzzing sound

Ok, I will give it a try tomorrow :).

[DaKo]

Re: GA-X58A-UD7 and Cougar S550: buzzing sound

I tried it now. When I only deactivate C1E the buzzing sound is still there for about a minute in Windows (like before, so no change). After 1 minute the buzzing sound is almost gone; it then only occurs rarely (and it's quieter), for example when moving the sound or when the graphics card is used (fast changing flash banner; games work without a problem). When I also deactivate "C3/C6/C7 states" in the BIOS, the buzzing sound is completely gone (I think sending a core to sleep or turbo boost don't work without it, do they?). So it seems to be a problem with the (implementation of the) energy saving functions on this board :(. Maybe this issue can be forwarded to the Gigabyte BIOS developers as it seems that only they can do something.

[wazza300]

Re: GA-X58A-UD7 and Cougar S550: buzzing sound

I tried it now. When I only deactivate C1E the buzzing sound is still there for about a minute in Windows (like before, so no change). After 1 minute the buzzing sound is almost gone; it then only occurs rarely (and it's quieter), for example when moving the sound or when the graphics card is used (fast changing flash banner; games work without a problem). When I also deactivate "C3/C6/C7 states" in the BIOS, the buzzing sound is completely gone (I think sending a core to sleep or turbo boost don't work without it, do they?). So it seems to be a problem with the (implementation of the) energy saving functions on this board :(. Maybe this issue can be forwarded to the Gigabyte BIOS developers as it seems that only they can do something.

did you look in easytune it should show the cpu at low speed when idle and full speed when at load,with c3/c6/c7 and c1e disabled,for me the sound goes away with just c1e disabled in the bios

[DaKo]

Re: GA-X58A-UD7 and Cougar S550: buzzing sound

I don't have EasyTune installed, I used CPU-Z to check the frequency. When Windows is being started, the CPU seems to have its highest frequency (even higher when C3/C6/C7 states are activated due to turbo boost I think). During this time the power supply makes this sound; it's getting worse when moving the mouse. After about a minute the CPU goes down to 1.6 GHZ (idle frequency); the buzzing sound is almost gone and occurs rarely when using the mouse for example.

I now asked someone from the German Gigabyte forum (who also has contact to the BIOS developers in Taiwan) about this problem. He told me it's a known problem among all mainboard manufacturers caused by the Intel power saving functions. The only solution seems to be another power supply or setting the vcore to a fixed value :(. I wish it would work with only C1E disabled :(.