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Brand new Corsair PSU fan noise + unable to run brand new R9 280?


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I bought a brand new CX600 PSU.

 

It seemed to run everything pretty well. World of Warcraft played on Ultra with my ATI R9 280 with no issues at all.

 

Then I bought a new case, a Sonata 500. Installed everything very carefully, made sure that no wires were touching anything, or in the way of fans etc.

 

Randomly whilst the machine was running whilst installing some software, the PSU fan started to make an annoying ticking sound. I thought maybe it was because I had turned on CE1 and some other power saving modes in the BIOS. I read here in the forums that I should turn off all sorts of power saving modes etc. in the BIOS. I did so and it didn't change anything. Everything else is seriously whisper quiet, except the PSU fan.

 

In addition to that, I cannot seem to run any sort of game or any benchmark any more.

 

When I tried to run FurMark at even the lowest setting (with the newest AMD graphics drivers installed)

 

There was a loud pop from inside my case and then a bad burning/electric smell that sounded like a blown capacitor/etc. I couldn't locate where exactly that it came from, but it did seem to smell like it came from inside the PSU when I put my nose to the back of the vent.

 

The thing is, the computer boots fine... well... almost always. Sometimes it seems to hang on a flashing cursor just before booting to Windows. I checked and double checked my connections and everything seems to be connected up fine, and out of the way of touching any metal or anything. It can't be a connector issue or anything else, because the computer only seems to fail when I try and pull actual power out of the PSU for games/benchmarks. If it was something shorting out, then it would short out the moment the power turns on.

 

Is my PSU faulty/dead? I mean it seems to be able to provide enough power to boot my PC. Though when I try and pull any load from it, it just gives up. The PC seems to be still 'on' but the screen shows some solid colour/graphical artefact or the screen goes completely black and I have to reset the machine.

 

I ran a benchmark once more with the case open and the moment I ran FurMark, there was a pop again, plus the same solid screen artefact and the PC required a reset... I guess I don't need to test it a third time. I don't want this PSU to damage the rest of my computer if that is what it is doing.

 

What are your suggestions?

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Well... make sure you didn't mount the motherboard on an extra stand off, the graphics card is firmly seated into its PCIe slot, etc. Since you only moved all the same stuff into a different case, that's the most likely cause of the problem. Only hoping that the "pop" is short circuit protection within the PSU.

 

The other possibility is if the PSU wasn't gently handled in the transition and a component within got knocked loose. Heaven forbid that's what happened, but you could always get an RMA for the PSU.

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I took the PSU out, gave it a shake and nothing seems to be rattling at all. There's nothing loose in it. In addition I've shined a torch into the PSU and I cannot see any blown caps, burn marks or anything else that looks remotely out of the ordinary. Except that the PSU has this ridiculous looking plastic 'sheet' that covers part of the area behind the fan. I have no idea wtf the purpose of that is but I couldn't remove it without opening the PSU and whilst it looks like it's actually counter-productive by blocking airflow from the fan. It's probably got some reason for being there.

 

After reading around the internet I'm also starting to have just second thoughts that this Corsair CX600 PSU can even run this ATI R9 280 at full load.

 

I get third-party manufacturer sites telling me that 750W is minimum. But sure I know they like to cover themselves.

I get other calculator sites saying with my set-up that 400W minimum, 500W+ = no sweat.

I get other people telling me that this Corsair CX series are actually pretty low quality PSUs and that even a better quality 550W PSU would be a better choice...

 

So my question is... can this PSU run my card or not? I'm at a position where I just want to find out what the issue is with my PC. Is the PSU dead, or is the GPU dead or in the very rare case, are both of them dead?

 

I will RMA either one (or both) if I need to. But I would rather not RMA something that is obviously not broken..

 

I also thought that perhaps neither of the components were broken and that basically I was just expecting too much power out of the card than what it was able to give. The same way that if you try and increase an overclock too much, without increasing the amount of power the card is allowed to have. Then the system will just halt.

 

However, that was until today after taking everything apart, making sure that the Mobo isn't mounted on any extra stand-on screws. Checking the writing, seeing if I could flip the PSU the other way (I couldn't as I explained before) and just in general testing everything else.

 

I booted the PC with the case side off. Checked temps. GPU running at 34'C -CPU running at 32'C. Nothing abnormal there...

I hadn't even opened FurMark or ran any sort of 3D testing for that matter. But the moment I double clicked Firefox, the screen cut to a solid colour followed by another small 'snap' sound from inside the case.

 

The only other PSU that I have to test with is a 500W Antec Earthwatts. Which I doubt could run the card at full load in FurMark or something else, that would allow me to stress test the computer for reliability.

 

Otherwise I have no other GPU to test the power draw stability of the PSU.

And no other PSU (save the 500W Earthwatts) to test the GPU under full load.

 

Guys.. seriously please, all bs aside. What are my options in sorting out what is causing my issues, and/or which component(s) I need to RMA/return?

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I just noticed this on my R9 280...

 

http://imgur.com/4xW5rZQ

 

That second last PCIE connector is shorter/broken?

I guess that isn't normal at all...

 

Could explain the issue perhaps...

 

P.S. Tried everything on cardboard with both PSUs. Exact same issues. Computer just cuts to a solid colour after a random amount of time.

 

Also tried swapping drivers too. Uninstalling from Safe Mode and then reinstalling. Cut to a solid colour the moment the install finished.

 

Unfortunately I don't seem to have any sort of inbuilt Intel graphics to test anything else on :/

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I took the PSU out, gave it a shake and nothing seems to be rattling at all. There's nothing loose in it. In addition I've shined a torch into the PSU and I cannot see any blown caps, burn marks or anything else that looks remotely out of the ordinary.

 

Something loose doesn't mean it has to be rattling around. For example: Take a component that has two legs connecting it to a PCB. If one leg came loose, the component would still be secure, but the leg could make intermittent contact.

 

Except that the PSU has this ridiculous looking plastic 'sheet' that covers part of the area behind the fan. I have no idea wtf the purpose of that is but I couldn't remove it without opening the PSU and whilst it looks like it's actually counter-productive by blocking airflow from the fan. It's probably got some reason for being there.

 

99% of PSUs have this. It's an air diverter. It's to prevent the intake air from shooting straight out of the back of the PSU and not cooling the components towards the front of the housing.

 

After reading around the internet I'm also starting to have just second thoughts that this Corsair CX600 PSU can even run this ATI R9 280 at full load.

 

I get third-party manufacturer sites telling me that 750W is minimum. But sure I know they like to cover themselves.

I get other calculator sites saying with my set-up that 400W minimum, 500W+ = no sweat.

 

It's a 200W TDP card (non overclocked). 600W is actually overkill.

 

I get other people telling me that this Corsair CX series are actually pretty low quality PSUs and that even a better quality 550W PSU would be a better choice...

 

That's not entirely true. There are lower quality. The CX series are rated at continuous, not peak like some cheap PSUs. So to say that a better quality 550W is going to put out as much power as a CX600 is absolute B.S.

 

The only thing you're missing out on is the temperature rating. A higher quality PSU, like an HXi, AX or AXi series, for example, is rated to output maximum power continuously at 50°C. The CX is only rated to output continuously at 30°C. What that means is that the CX600 may not be able to output 600W continuously if your temperatures exceed 30°C. So then the question is: Are your ambient temperatures greater than 30°C?

 

The only other PSU that I have to test with is a 500W Antec Earthwatts. Which I doubt could run the card at full load in FurMark or something else, that would allow me to stress test the computer for reliability.

 

That PSU would work too. Again: It's only one graphics card rated at 200W TDP.

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Thanks for the reply. I'm just starting to think that the GPU is broken. One of the data pins on the PCIE connector looks broken, and I get the same issue(s) with both PSUs.

 

At this point it seems that the biggest crime the Corsair CX600 has made is having an annoying ticking fan.

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