Clicking noise when doing CPU intensive tasks on iMac 2019

Question

Clicking noise when doing CPU intensive tasks on iMac 2019

When I scrub through the timeline of a 4K video in After Effects, I hear a clicking/ticking noise coming from the back of my iMac 2019. I also hear it when I'm turning some knobs in the turbulent noise effect. So I think it has something to do with CPU/GPU intensive tasks. I only have a SSD, so it can't be the HDD. I also don't think it's the CPU fan because iStatMenus reports a constant speed of 1200 rpm while scrubbing.

I can imagine it is the sound of a voltage ramping up, but I don't think it's right to hear this. The sound gives me the feeling the computer could shut down any second. My iMac is only 10 months old and I've done many CPU intensive tasks with it. I can't remember it made this sound in the beginning, but I'm not completely sure. Should I bring it back to the store?

iMac 27", macOS 10.14

Posted on Feb 10, 2020 1:07 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 12, 2020 9:14 PM in response to Ferenc Andràs

Do you ever experience this noise when using other applications on your iMac?

Is it possible that you're hearing artifact from the audio circuits and iMac speakers as you scrub through your videos and work with in AE? I realize this may sound a little out there, but I've experienced stranger things.

To check, I suggest plugging a headset into the audio jack and see if that solves the problem. You could just turn down or mute the speakers, but I'm not sure that would be effective as the audio circuits themselves could still potentially respond as they already may be.

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Feb 10, 2020 3:23 PM in response to Ferenc Andràs

Hello Ferenc,

Have you blown the dust out of the intakes lately?

What temperatures & fan RPMs does this App report in the different situations?

Never ever ever drop fan speeds below the speed that the Mac itself is calling for.

MacFansControl…

https://www.crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Feb 17, 2020 8:51 AM in response to Ferenc Andràs

Thanks, iStatMenus reports plenty good. :)

Only thing is with MFC we could up the Fan speed & see if sound changes.

PS. There are some very good Apps that aren't in the Apps or have limited versions in the App Store becuasr of Apple's requirements there, but I do understand.

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Answer 4

Old Toad

Level 10

215,760 points

Feb 11, 2020 1:32 PM in response to Ferenc Andràs

If you have a vacuum with a nozzle attachment I'd use it to s**k out the dust rather than chance blowing it further into the machine.

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Feb 12, 2020 1:04 PM in response to Ferenc Andràs

Does MFC show it's related to temps or Fan Speed?

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Answer 6

Feb 11, 2020 1:23 PM in response to BDAqua

I haven't blown the dust out lately. Never done that with my previous iMac (late 2012) and never had any problems. Would you recommend it?

I'm using iStatMenus and it measures a CPU temperature of 67 degrees Celsius, GPU at 50 degrees and the RPM stays around 1200. I am not running an app that overrides the CPU fan settings, so factory defaults dictate the fan speeds.

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Answer 7

Feb 12, 2020 7:23 AM in response to BDAqua

Hmm, I can't reproduce the issue today. Haven't used the vacuum cleaner yet. If I don't post a follow up the problem seem to have solved itself. Or the sound was coming from another source than the iMac. Thanks for your help.

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Answer 8

Feb 12, 2020 1:00 PM in response to Ferenc Andràs

Ok it's still there. It happens with different CPU intensive tasks after a few hours of working. For example in After Effects, when I make a 4K composition with one layer with Turbulent Noise. If I then animate the evolution over time and then scrub the timeline it results in a tick for every frame. After scrubbing a while all the frames have been cached and then the ticking disappears.

Does someone know what can be wrong? Is this ticking harmless or is it an indication there's something more going on?

I will try the vacuum tomorrow, but I think it's something different.

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Answer 9

Feb 17, 2020 1:53 AM in response to D.I. Johnson

When I read your comment I thought: Of course that's it! But unfortunately it also makes clicking sounds with the headphone plugged in.

For now I've only experienced the issue in After Effects with CPU intensive tasks. I'll do some further testing to see in which other situations it occurs.

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Answer 10

Feb 17, 2020 1:56 AM in response to BDAqua

Thanks for your quick reply. I wasn't able to post on this forum for a few days so now I'm trying again. These are the readings of iStatMenus when the problem occurs: https://imgur.com/KXG4thN

Is there any extra information MFC gives over iStatMenus? Although it seems like a legit app I don't really like to install free software that isn't available in the App Store. But if there's a reason to install it I'm willing to do so.

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