Clicky computers

[johnsmith153]

This is obviously a stupid question, but here goes:

I have a laptop (PC) and desktop PC, and all I ever hear from them is a soft clicking sound. I think that this is the hard drive or some form of loading sound.

My desktop just starts clicking for no reason whatsoever, even when I'm not touching it.

Does an SSD make this sound?

Btw. I'm looking at getting a Mac and wondering about the SSD option.

If I went for SSD in the Mac, would I be noise free?

A friend has a 2009 iMac 2.66GHZ with HDD (no SSD) and theirs makes the 'loading' sound as well.

Thanks a lot.

 

[glitch44]

Yes, SSDs are noiseless. They're just a bunch of memory chips.

There are still cooling fans for the CPU and GPU, which may make sound.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Mechanical HDDs makes sounds, as moving parts like the platters and the read/write head are involved. SSDs are silent. If an HDD makes a constant clicking sound, it can also be the sign of an imminent hardware failure, thus make sure to have backed up all your data.

 

[johnsmith153]

So other than cooling fans, are there no noises from an iMac with SSD?

When I say clicking, it's definitely not a hardware failure, it's just a 'loading' sound I would attribute to all computers.

Having not used or seen an SSD in operation I can't compare the two.

Or maybe I just have noises in my head?!

 

[lilTanker]

Ram makes sound when it's being accessed intensely but it's not a loud sound.

Or at least I think it's the Ram..

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Ram makes sound when it's being accessed intensely but it's not a loud sound.

Or at least I think it's the Ram..

Is this a joke? RAM hsa no moving parts, thus it does not make a sound, or at least it shouldn't.
What you hear is the HDD.

 

[mrfoof82]

The following are the only mechanical devices found in computers. i.e. Parts that contain moving parts.

• Cooling fans. Whirring sound. More of a whooshing sound if they're running at full tilt. If a cable is caught in the fan blades, you'll hear a constant clicking sound. That's the fan blade constantly hitting a cable.
• Hard disk drive. Soft clicking sound. Loud clicking sound if they are experiencing problems (and liable to fail), This is the sound of the mechanical arm moving back and forth over the disk platters to position the head. This is what you are hearing. Here's a video which demonstrates this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eMWG3fwiEU
• Optical drive. Loud whirring sound, which may be accompanied by a soft whooshing sound. Sounds of mechanical servos actuating when loading or ejecting media.

 

[eggfoam]

Is this a joke? RAM hsa no moving parts, thus it does not make a sound, or at least it shouldn't.
What you hear is the HDD.

I don't think this is a joke, but you're right that RAM shouldn't be able to make any noise. However, sometimes power supplies make noise when the computer is under load (which would correspond to heavy CPU, RAM, and maybe GPU activity). I had a dual-G5 Power Mac that made what I can only describe as little burbles and chirps when doing things like scrolling a busy web page or watching HD video. It was definitely not disk activity. Turns out this was a common issue with those G5s. It was mitigated somewhat by turning off the power-saving CPU mode in the Energy Saver prefpane, so maybe it had something to do with CPU throttling.

 

[lilTanker]

Is this a joke? RAM hsa no moving parts, thus it does not make a sound, or at least it shouldn't.
What you hear is the HDD.

I **** you not, I tell no word of a lie, under extremely high load ram does make noise.

I can't remember the name of the card but it used to use flash ram modules as a hard drive, was fantastic in servers and, you where **** outta luck if for some reason the power went out without a battery backup. But that flash ram based hard drive made noise, it wasn't loud but you could hear it when it was under load. This server I worked on for a short period was water cooled had one very large slow fan (the server farm considered it's self a green company) that didn't make any perceptible sound.

The only thing that could be heard was a sound coming from the ram modules, I thought I was insane when I first heard it, had to be something else, but I wasn't and it was the ram.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

I **** you not, I tell no word of a lie, under extremely high load ram does make noise.

I can't remember the name of the card but it used to use flash ram modules as a hard drive, was fantastic in servers and, you where **** outta luck if for some reason the power went out without a battery backup. But that flash ram based hard drive made noise, it wasn't loud but you could hear it when it was under load. This server I worked on for a short period was water cooled had one very large slow fan (the server farm considered it's self a green company) that didn't make any perceptible sound.

The only thing that could be heard was a sound coming from the ram modules, I thought I was insane when I first heard it, had to be something else, but I wasn't and it was the ram.

Maybe it was the electric circuitry or some LEDs. But as I haven't seen every kind of RAM existing on this planet, it might be true. But normal RAM does not make a sound, unless it burns, but the smell is stronger than the sound.