My nvidia geforce 9600 gt makes a weird sound kind of like scraping when I use ATItool's artifact test should I be worried?

Answer 1

I would say yes.

'Scraping' noises usually indicate the fan is hitting something, or may be wearing out or damaged in some way.

If the sound is very faint and comes from your speakers, or coincides with when you move the mouse (try turning speakers up VERY high and move the mouse around, stop, repeat)

If this is the case, it is semi-normal operation, called 'EMR' or ElectroMagnetic Radiation, or EMI/ElectroMagnetic Interference.

High-power devices with poor PCB shielding, as well as power supplies that are over-burdoned or under-powered, old or damaged, will all commonly produce noticeable amounts of EMR/EMI that you can notice usually through your speakers, first. It's 'loudest' during games, benchmarks, tests, and (for some reason) when moving the mouse.

This is not necessarily a sign of failure in the case of EMR/EMI, but it IS a sign that either your PSU is poorly designed or weaker than your system needs, or that the videocard is very poorly manufactured and does not have adequate EMI/EMR shielding.

Most computers will not malfunction noticeably, but some may experienced increased crashing or data corruption from the interference. If it is caused by the Power Supply, the 'bad power' can cause crashes, data corruption, random restarts, random power shutoffs, and sluggish or hesitant booting (won't turn on first try)