Jump to content
Corsair Community

Noisy PSU? Read this first!


RAM GUY

Recommended Posts

  • Corsair Employees

If you believe that your PSU is louder than it should be there are a few things you should check before assuming that the PSU is faulty. First, you should be aware of what can cause the noise that you are hearing. If you are hearing a buzz or electrical type sound, then it’s likely due to a capacitor somewhere in your system that is vibrating at a frequency which is clashing with the rest of the components in the system. Usually this capacitor is either on the PSU, motherboard, or graphics card and you should be able to try a few things to narrow down the issue.

 

We have seen that the CPU power saving features in the BIOS can cause the PSU to emit the noise. Try disabling these features to see if there is any improvement. ERP, C1E and EIST (Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology) are few examples of power saving settings, but your motherboard manufacturer should be able to tell you specifically which features your board supports.

 

We have also seen that some graphics card drivers can contribute to the sound as well. If the problems seem to get worse when loading a 3D application, try booting your system up into safe mode to see if you can still hear the sound. If the sound goes away, then your problem may be software related. We have found that enabling “vsync” in your graphics drivers options can eliminate the sound.

 

If the previous steps have not eliminated the sound, then you may want to test the PSU in a different system just to be sure that the sound follows the PSU. If it looks like there is a good chance that the PSU could be causing the problem, then please request an RMA through our Support Ticket System and we will be happy to replace it.

 

If a replacement PSU gives you identical issues, then chances are that there is something else causing the sound. Keep in mind that the sound can come from the PSU, while the PSU may not actual be the cause of the problem. So it’s important to try to rule out the motherboard and graphics card if possible.

 

Also keep in mind that our PSUs are quiet, but are not totally silent. If you only hear the PSU when you have the side panel of your case removed, there is probably not a problem at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...
  • Replies 87
  • Created
  • Last Reply
thanks for all this info, I'm gonna test the PSU out of motherboard, and I will tell you something, but it's strange, in my case the fan always is running wild and the noise is annoying... but it's a new psu... with my old psu don't happens that, it suposed that a new psu will be compatible with all components, dont?. Thanks!.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Thank-you for this post!

 

I was about to set up an RMA for the PSU but wanted to check out the Forums first. There was sounds, almost like static coming from the psu, and it, for lack of a better word, "chirped" intermittently. It was on these chirps that the computer would lock and I would have to hard boot

 

I found this post, I disabled C3/C6 State support which prevented the crashes, but still had the noises. Then I disabled C1E and that got rid of the noise.

CPU EIST didn't seem to make a difference.

 

I have no idea why this worked, but thanks again.

 

Question: should I disable EIST anyway?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thanks for all this info, I'm gonna test the PSU out of motherboard, and I will tell you something, but it's strange, in my case the fan always is running wild and the noise is annoying... but it's a new psu... with my old psu don't happens that, it suposed that a new psu will be compatible with all components, dont?. Thanks!.

SIR_HYDE not sure how you're going to "test the PSU out of motherboard" as the motherboard tells the PSU when to turn on/off. Without the M/B your PSU will not turn on. (at least it will be quiet) [correct me if i'm wrong] ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
SIR_HYDE not sure how you're going to "test the PSU out of motherboard" as the motherboard tells the PSU when to turn on/off. Without the M/B your PSU will not turn on. (at least it will be quiet) [correct me if i'm wrong] ;)

If you put a jumper wire or paper clip from the green wire plug to any black wire plug in the 20/24 pin power connector your power supply will turn on. Make sure you don't have anything plugged into the mobo first of course. Or you can FOLLOW THIS LINK for a little more instruction.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
If you are hearing a buzz or electrical type sound, then it’s likely due to a capacitor somewhere in your system that is vibrating at a frequency which is clashing with the rest of the components in the system. Usually this capacitor is either on the PSU, motherboard, or graphics card and you should be able to try a few things to narrow down the issue.

 

If your PSU starts to sound like a crazy mouse each time it is exposed to a certain external frequency, then how on earth can it pass the EMC tests??? How can such a board possibly conform to laws and standards such as the European EMC directive?

 

You cannot come blaming the BIOS or some graphics driver for this. If capacitors on your PCB start ringing, it is because of poor DC/DC design in the PSU and nothing else!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it is an inductor making the noise:

 

Noise is usually due to a mechanical resonance in the component that is excited by the electrical conditions of the circuit, a phenomenon known as magnetostriction, and does not indicate a defect in the part. It is very dependent on the application conditions and not always possible to eliminate by changes to the inductor alone. Changing the switching frequency is often the best way eliminate the noise.

 

Applying a dampening material (electronic-grade encapsulant, potting compound, etc.) may decrease the sound level produced or the increased mass of a larger inductor may dampen or shift the resonance to a different frequency.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it is an inductor making the noise:

 

Noise is usually due to a mechanical resonance in the component that is excited by the electrical conditions of the circuit, a phenomenon known as magnetostriction, and does not indicate a defect in the part. It is very dependent on the application conditions and not always possible to eliminate by changes to the inductor alone. Changing the switching frequency is often the best way eliminate the noise.

 

Applying a dampening material (electronic-grade encapsulant, potting compound, etc.) may decrease the sound level produced or the increased mass of a larger inductor may dampen or shift the resonance to a different frequency.

 

 

Yes but when doing a proper EMC test at a 3rd party notified body, they don't give a darn whether the phenomenon appearing affects the output voltage or not. If they can conjure an unintended side-effect caused by an external frequency, the device won't pass the test.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Disabling C1E and EIST , fixed the Intermittent Coil wine i got from my HX850, now the Psu is silent as it was under load. would like the Down clocking though :(: when surfing. Would the AX1200 solve this issue?

 

also system is Gigabyte X58A-Ud7 (rev 1.0) i7 920 D0 (F8G BIOS), GTX480, Cosrair 6gb c7, 4 Hdd's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
  • 1 month later...
Yes but when doing a proper EMC test at a 3rd party notified body, they don't give a darn whether the phenomenon appearing affects the output voltage or not. If they can conjure an unintended side-effect caused by an external frequency, the device won't pass the test.

 

Could this be what MSI did with their geforce gtx 275?

 

- MSI has solved the issue by researching and sourcing different chokes as part of its customised PCB power design for its Lightening series of graphics cards. With a ten power phase design (up from six) on this GTX 275, the yellow chokes are not environmentally sealed copper coiled over ferrite cores - the whole thing is ferrite with the coil firmly sealed inside.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2009/05/29/msi-solves-the-nvidia-gtx-squealing-problem/

(i know we shouldn't discuss other products than corsair, but I found this very relevant)

 

 

I have had two Mist 650W psus (rev 3.5 and rev 4.0) squeal with a gtx 285 and gtx 470 (separate testing, not sli) and I'm looking for a new PSU that won't squeal from cpu/gpu load. I haven't read anything about this squeal/whine/buzz electrical noise in any psu reviews so I'm guessing it is rare?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Just an heads up, since I don't see it mentioned anywhere. Deactivating fan control management options might remove the problem as well. I deactivated Q-fan on my ASUS M2N98TD EVO motherboard (and i'm now controlling the fans manually via speedfan, which is much more precise and gives more control), and the noise went away. I didn't even have to deactivate C1E.

 

Edit: nevermind. The sound is back :/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • 1 month later...

I got an AX1200 when it first came out and it was making the usual noise they all seem to make

( i say this because from the time it was released i saw multiple threads on the issue so i'd imagine its nothing new but im suprised their is no fix )

 

, i got it replaced with another brand new one and that one also made the noise so i said whatever and it went away now almost a year later the noise is back and its driving me insane, i haven't upgraded/installed/changed anything, it just came out of the blue and it wont go away, doesn't matter if the computer is under load or not

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is my problem:

 

I recently bought a corsair AX-1200 80+ GOLD from neths.it (an italian online shop).

 

At first I didn't notice it, but after a while I started noticing a ringing.

I tought it came from the new GPUs I bough so I did some testing and even without the GPUs and with all case fans disconnected I still could hear it.

 

The problem was I could find the source of the buzz, then I put a small microphone everywhere until I could find the source.

 

It was the PSU!

I so recorded the microphone putting it on the air exhaust of the PSU, then I filtered the "fan 'wind-noise' " and the result is this:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1587166/Corsair_AX_1200_Coil_whine.wav

 

http://www.freesound.org/people/Zibri/sounds/133445/

 

 

This sound is amplified obviously, it's not so loud but since I work with my PC almost 10 hours a day, it's getting into my nerves.

 

I know I can RMA this PSU but then I will be without my PC which I use for work.

 

Is there a way, you can send me the new one and then I send you back this one?

 

I also read around that many people have even a louder "whine". Compared to them this is nothing.

 

Please tell me there is a solution.

I can't work without my PC.

 

Thanks in advance,

Zibri

 

Note: C1E is always disabled on my PC.

 

@abriael:

 

speedfan just shows the fans doesn't allow to set them (if you believe so please link the program you call speedfan)

 

Q-FAN deals only with CPU and CASE fans, not the PSU fans.

 

UPDATE:

After further inspection, the sound comes from the PSU FAN and not the components. Proof is that if I manually stop the fan the sound stops too.

Now, I wonder if Corsair can just send me a new FAN because I really can't have my pc down for such a long time and changing a fan is a few minutes work.

As I suspected, because the recorded sound had a pitch of 2135 Hz and afaik the PSU fan rotates at about 2100 RPM.

 

Quick and dirty temporary solution:

I mounted the PSU with the fan inside my case (which is sound insulated), the sound is almost gone now but is still barely audible.

When the case gets hotter the psu fan speeds up and the sound goes away.

So, IMHO this fan has a faulty ball bearing.

I wish Corsair should just send me a fan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...