Alienware Aurora R7 buzzing sound

Something could have come loose during shipment.  If your up to it, check the mounting for the power supply and make sure its all tight.  Same with other parts.  Otherwise contact Dell support since its a new system.

Here is the link to the Dell service manual.

http://www.dell.com/support/manuals/us/en/19/alienware-aurora-r7-desktop/alienware-aurora-r7-sm/before-working-inside-your-computer?guid=guid-5d3b1051-9384-409a-8d5b-9b53bd496de8&lang=en-us

May be the "load" on the power supply but causing the buzzing somewhere else in the PC.  I had Dell desktop (Dimension E510) and I kept getting an intermittent buzzing.  I worked for days on it and finally found a front panel Bezel that was slightly loose and was buzzing.  

Hello,

Thank you for your response. I opened a ticket in the support section, just not to screw around with Warranty.

This sound only occurs under load of games, basically where my GPU draws more power than with any other task. If something would come loose during shipping, wouldn't this sound be around all the time? I mean everything works perfectly fine, it's just the PSU with it's buzzing noise that really bugs me. If someone can confirm it's normal I can live with it. If not, I would really like to have a professional look at it.

I've read several topics where people talk about Coil Whine, and even a video on YouTube with the exact same issue, where in the comments people explained their 850W power (not same brand/factory build) supply makes that noise too and that it's normal. Many different answers. I know my parents had a machine like 10 years ago, and it made a really loud noise under load.

Not necessarily the same noise, back then it seemed okay and the PC lived for quite some time actually. In my case right now, I spent a lot of money on a desktop made for gaming and I kind of expect it to work perfectly out of the box, but you know once you hear something you tend to dramatize it even if it could be perfectly normal. 

Just came here to check people's vieuw on this.

Cheers.

This might be unrelated, but I bought an Aurora R7 and the first time I turned it on the PC made a sound like a motorcycle engine idling. The noise was constant.

I opened the case and saw the sound was caused by an unused, unsecured GPU power cable that was touching the front fan. Once the cable was moved the PC was quiet, even when overclocking and stress-testing it (liquid-cooled i7 8700K, 850 watt power supply).

It could be that your PC has a similar problem that’s only noticeable when one of the fans starts running high. Also, you might be able to better isolate the location of the noise if you temporarily open the case while the PC is running.

Just tested GTA V today, obviously similar sound. When I hit ESC to go to menu it instantly stops as I press ESC. When I go back ingame it starts again. Do fan speeds adjust instantly? 

If your PC is air cooled only it could indeed be the fans ramping up which can at times get quite loud.  By default Alienware Command Center is set at 20% fan speed which makes the fans very quiet. Demanding games will make the fans suddenly ramp up to high as 50%.  You can lessen the dramatic jump in fan noise by manaully setting the fan controls to use a curve setting and placing it at an  20-50-80 ratio.  This makes the fan not having to suddenly and at once having to go from 20% to 50% or more cause it will gradually and slowly adjust the fans according to load and heat.  This is how I have my none liquide cooled Alienware R6 set.  My temps are in the 35-42 range under normal loads and only got as high as 78 durring a long gaming session.  As long as you keep your CPU 15-20 away from it's TJ MAX specs you should be fine.

Did you by chance open your case? I noticed a slight buzzing noise after I had installed another SSD in my rig and traced it back to the screw in the case opening handle, which if not tightened enough allows the left side panel to vibrate under usage. Was an easy fix, and took care of the problem for me; hope it does the same for you, if not then I hope you'll be able to locate it and get it fixed.

Hello, 

I asked for a Dell technician to come and install a new power supply. The weird sound was not only coming from my PSU. Turns out that a graphics card can make the same buzzing sound when under load. This under the name of coil whine, so I started to google this “inconvinience”. And it turns out to be a normal thing. It’s only a real issue when it gets too loud. And when you get performance drops, or heat issues, this might be something to keep an eye out for. I asked the technician to listen before actually replacing the PSU and he confirmed it came from the PSU aswell.

I opened my case to isolate the sound, and both my PSU (not normal) and gpu were buzzing. If it would be an issue in the near future I would definitely request a repair, but aslong as I don’t get major issues with it, I guess it’s cool.