AX850 Coil Whine

I just replaced my Corsair TX750 with an AX850. Unfortunately I'm one of the many unlucky ones that got a unit that has coil whine. I had no such noise with my old Corsair TX750, and I'm positive it is the AX850. Nothing else has changed in my system.

The whine is from the coils on the inductors/transformers working slightly loose and vibrating - And no I'm not going to fix it by covering the inductors in question with a non-conductive lacquer (non-metallic nail polish is a cheap solution) which will lock the coils in place - Opening up the PSU to do so will void your warranty, which I'm not going to do on a $180 power supply that shouldn't do this. I don't think that a $180 power supply should have coil whine, its simply not acceptable in my opinion. I've heard coil whine is not an indication of a bad unit or a failing unit, but more than anything its annoying to have it - Especially when you've bought lower end power supplies for less money that don't have the issue...

I noticed the coil whine occurs mainly when my GTX 570 switches between 2D and 3D clock speeds. Since most web browsers use your GPU now to render content my GTX 570 will go back and forth between 2D & 3D clock speeds in firefox, chrome, or IE. When my card goes back and forth between 2D and 3D clock speeds I notice the whine.

I have seen tons of reports on the AX850 and its coil whine. I even watched some videos on YouTube documenting how loud their unit was, which thankfully mine isn't as loud as some other unfortunate customers.

My main question after all this rambling is - If I RMA, do I get a brand new unit or a refurbished unit ? Also, if I RMA, can my warranty be honored again within this 7 year time frame ? I don't want to RMA a brand new unit I just got that's defective, then get another unit that fails after 3 years, and then I can't RMA that unit I've had for 3 years...

I'd get a replacement from Buy.com but I don't think they will cross ship (plus they might send me another A1W unit that whines worse). I will be a happy camper if Corsair will cross ship, send me a brand new unit with no whine (not a refurb), and still honor my warranty again within the 7 year time frame. It would be ridiculous to honor the warranty only once on a defective unit in the first place.

Can someone please give any advice ?

/edit

Forgot to note - My AX850 is revision A1W.

Another note - If I get a replacement AX850 that still whines I will be a very unhappy camper. Don't make me waste my time, please.

My main question after all this rambling is - If I RMA, do I get a brand new unit or a refurbished unit ? Also, if I RMA, can my warranty be honored again within this 7 year time frame ? I don't want to RMA a brand new unit I just got that's defective, then get another unit that fails after 3 years, and then I can't RMA that unit I've had for 3 years..

It would be a nother brand new unit.

Why would it be 3 years? You have 7 year warranty from date of purchase.

It would be a nother brand new unit.

 

Why would it be 3 years? You have 7 year warranty from date of purchase.

Sorry I think the way I said that is difficult to understand. I basically mean to say that I don't want to waste my warranty on a unit that is defective from the start. It may be the case that your warranty is only honored once, so if I RMA this noisy AX850 and get a second one back that lasts 3 years before it fails, I can't RMA the second one I had for 3 years.

You do have a 7 year warranty from date of purchase but I'm assuming it can only be honored once - Either that or the warranty is more limited on the new unit they send you back.

I'll just keep this unit unless Corsair will cross ship, send me a new AX850 with no whine, and still honor my warranty again within the 7 years.

/edit

A warranty isn't a one time replacement deal. It covers the purchase for the full length of time.

Guess I better start the RMA process. Thank you.

As for cross shipping, you can ask for an advanced RMA after it's approved. If this is a new item though, you may want to look into RMAing through the store as it may be faster.

Hmmm, this brings me back to realize an important issue - I don't want another AX850 that has coil whine.

If I take the time to RMA with Buy.com or Corsair and get another AX850 that has coil whine I'm returning it and never buying another Corsair product again.

I'd hope that if I RMA with Corsair they can make it certain I won't get an AX850 that has coil whine. There is no doubt it is the AX850 that has the coil whine, nothing else in my PC was just replaced.

I'm afraid if I RMA with Buy.com they'll send me another AX850 affected with this coil whine and I'll be a really unhappy camper.

Can Corsair guarantee I will not get an AX850 with coil whine through RMA ? I read the Noisy PSU sticky but none of the suggestions helped remove the coil whine. The noises is definitely the AX850 - Just look at the amount of others complaining about the same issue. The problem is not with any other component in my system. The noise is gone when using my old TX750.

I submitted an RMA and I want to do an advanced RMA.

Are there shipping costs with advanced RMA ?

Just finished an Advanced RMA for this issue. I was able to forgo any shipping costs "because of how short of time I've had this AX850"...

Currently waiting for the new replacement AX850 - The rep said it would be shipped out by tomorrow.

When the rest of the world that has an AX850 with coil whine finds this thread they'll have an idea of how to approach the situation.

I'll post back with results whenever I receive the new replacement AX850.

I received my new replacement AX850 today and... no coil whine !

Thank you for the courtesy of shipping both ways Corsair, and for the advanced RMA option.

I am now a happy camper and very satisfied with my $180 purchase.

I too went from a TX750 to AX850 and the coil whine has annoyed me for almost a year now. The problem lies with Seasonic, since these are manufactured by them. (Their X-850 Gold has the same problem). Corsair suggests to disable power management (C1E and EIST) to lessen the coil whine in this thread, but what's the point of paying extra for a Gold efficiency PSU only to turn off power management and use more power anyway?

Corsair did offer to RMA it but could give me no guarantee that the new one wouldn't do it too and I didn't want to be without a PSU for a week or two. Advanced RMA can only be done over the phone and I'd still have to pay return shipping, so I lived with it for a year until finally going with a differnet brand CWT-based PSU like my TX750 was and all is well again.

Personally I think Corsair shouldn't have gone with Seasonic for their PSU's. The smaller 120mm fans and the coil whine are both a downgrade and a flaw compared to the older CWT models, but that's just my opinion. There are many people who love the Seasonic-based PSU's since they perform VERY well (as evident from all the reviews), but I would take a slightly less performing PSU any day over a flawed one.

I don't mean to rant here but I'm just tired of all my recent Corsair purchases having some flaw in it (PSU whine, water cooler rattling sound, keyboard not fully mechanical, atrocious M90 mouse). They need to step up the Q/A and start living up to their name again.

P.S. Sorry to bump an old thread, but this is in the top 5 google search results for "ax850 coil whine"

Getting a PS that has coil whine, whether new or a replacement, is completely chance and random, IMO. It depends on how the offending coil is wound, and the way a particular PC draws power from the PS. Expecting a PS to be tested and guaranteed to not whine can only be done on that users PC, which is impossible for a manufacture to do. The RMA center obviously can't do this, they simply pull one off the shelf and ship it out.

Large inductors, which are the coils of enameled copper wire we are discussing, are used (among other places) in the PFC (Power Factor Correction) circuitry of a PS. PFC is required only in certain areas, such as the EU. PFC is not required in the US, at least for consumer level products, for example. Since it's logistically difficult to manufacture and distribute multiple variations of one product, they are all simply made identically. It's a shame that this feature, which was mandated by some governments, is causing grief for the end users and manufactures, not to mention the added expense.

You would think that inductors that are manufactured differently or treated to prevent vibration would help minimize or cure this issue. In reality, it may not be that simple. I've read that all inductors actually "whine", but at such a high frequency that we can't hear it. Some whine in the audible range, for whatever reason.

IMO, a 140mm fan is not automatically better than a 120mm fan. The former needs more room to mount, increasing the PS case size unnecessarily. I use three of the new Seasonic X PSs, and none of them have coil whine.

Is coil whine a fault that can warranty a RMA ? I get very loud coil whine while doing most things that use the GPU. I seem to also have an issue that the PSU won't always turn on without be unplugged first.

Its still under its 1 year warranty from the reseller (ebuyer) will the honour the warranty fro coil whine?

Some amount of electrical noise is pretty typical for any power supply but it shouldn't be any more than you can hear without putting your ear right up to the thing. If you can get an advance RMA and not even have to pay for shipping then I'd say go ahead and try a replacement.

As mentioned, Seasonics X series (the AX units are almost literally the same thing and also built by Seasonic) have had more issues with coil whine than typical but if you can get one that is quiet then it's a great platform.