Corsair AX850 Making a Loud Cicada like Buzzing Noise during Idle

I bought a Corsair AX850 today, brought it home and installed and everything seems to be running just great....

 

EXCEPT...

 

It is emitting this horribly disturbing high pitched buzzing / screaching / whistling sound... I cannot describe it, but it is absolutely mind alteringly TERRIBLE.

 

It cannot be normal for the PSU to output this sound right? It sounds like some sort of high pitched electrical sound... I think.

 

This PSU is replacing my previous PSU, a Corsair HX620W which was completely silent in almost all circumstances, however to go from that to this is like beautiful silence to screeching cicada's....

 

That's probably a good example of what the sound is like! The buzzing of a Cicada.

 

I swear, there is no way this is the sound the unit is supposed to be making... I read the support pages and tried all of the tips - disabled C1E and EIST, tried plugging into regular wall socket, tried changing the power settings of the computer, tried changning different settings in ATI power management, booted into SAFE mode - EVERYTHING and I can't alleviate the problem although it goes away when there seems to any power draw on the system above the lowest of levels...

 

That's the insanity causing part of the problem - it doesn't make the sound all of the time, and that makes it worse... it is sort of intermittent, it seems like when the PSU is drawing power it goes away, but when it's resting or on low power draw it doesn't make the noise... GOD... I swear this noise will drive me insane, I could not handle this being in my computer forever...

 

Every review and everywhere I read on the internet before purchasing this PSU before purchase said that this was one of the best, if not the best to buy because it was almost perfectly silent except in all but the most intensively high use situations... so this cannot be normal right? It's such a bad an easily audible and obnoxious noise... YUK... I've even tried playing games or watching a movie with the sound up loud it's of such a pitch that it can be heard over the top of everything... seriously - driving me mad!

 

Please help!! Worst thing is that this was the last one that the store I purchased from had in stock so I'm going to have to put up with it for a time anyway... Oh good lord I'm going to go insane, or go without my PC, and I just bought this PSU so I could with my new 6950 Crossfire setup :greencry:

Is there also chirping or cracking? Or is it just a buzzing/whistling/screatching? is it a constant noise or does it cycle in either pitch or volume? If it varies quickly or is constant, I'm thinking you have the same problem that I have which from another person's post sounds like "coil ring" what ever that is. If it varies more slowly, I would suspect a fan.

It's not a fan... I am 100% certain it's not the sound of the fan.

 

It's high pitch and sounds electrical in nature, there is no chirping or cracking.

 

When the computer's systems aren't being taxed beyond a certain point, it is constant, never goes away unless i run a benchmark like Unigine or a heavy game like Crysis 2.

 

On another forum I've been told it's 'Capacitor Whine' and it is not normal, shouldn't be happening and I should return it for a replacement, but this is what happens when cheap capacitors are used apparently... of that, I am disappointed to hear! These PSU's aren't cheap! I thought I was buying premium gear when buying this model... a bit disappointed at the moment, especially because I can hardly stand to use my computer with this infernal racket next to my head driving me INSANE!

At the moment I've figured out a way to make the sound go away... I've got Prime 95 running in the background on 1 thread on the lowest possible settings that it can run, it's draining WAY more power than it should be, but for now it has made the sound go away and I can keep my sanity - but this is NOT ideal at all.. it sucks my processing power.

 

The thing that I'm mostly worried about is that after reading these forums, that I get a replacement and my hardware setup just doesn't 'gel' with this power supply and is causing the transistors in this PSU to vibrate at a particular resonance that is offensive to my ear.

 

Perhaps I'll need to take up Folding again... Uk... I dread the power bills.

my AX1200 does the same.

I have the exact same problem. I'm curious if it's been resolved to your satisfaction, ColonialRaptor?