"Heartbeat" type clicking noise

I've owned my new GS60 Ghost 2PC laptop for less than an hour. It is making a constant double-clicking noise, almost like a rapid heartbeat, Sounds like it's located to the right of the power button. It starts within a few seconds of power on, slower at first and then quickly gets to a constant speed. It's not going away. Is it a fan or a bad hard drive? I really don't want to have to go through the hassle of sending back to Amazon, or directly to MSI. Is there anything I can do?

Edited to add: if it's the 1tb hard drive that is most likely bad, I'd actually rather replace it myself with a second SSD drive than return the laptop. Am I correct in understanding that despite the "sticker", replacing a HD does not invalidate the warranty?

 

Usually nope, it does not void MSI warranty to change your HDD. You can always call or send them an email asking that very question, to make sure your warranty will be unaffected.

 

It turns out the culprit is the Realtek HD Audio...if I disable it, and reboot, no more clicking. (Also no sound, of course.) No idea what to do now.

 

Probably a defective audio circuit. Try reset the OS first to factory stock and see if problem persists or not. If it does then it may require warranty service.