Power Supply Squeal survey

[DarkUltra]

Hi!

I am after a new PSU since the two Mist 650W (rev 4.0 and 3.5) squeal when I have high FPS in games or certain loads on the GPU. A survey would show which PSUs are the safest to bet on.

Please post

Motherboard
CPU
Graphics Card
PSU

and which components you can hear squeal under load. Load like ATI Tool, Crysis menu, in-game etc.

I go first:

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS4 rev 1.0
Core 2 Quad Q6700 @3.4ghz
GeForce GTX 285
GeForce GTX 470
Mist 650W Rev 4.0 - Squeals loudly in ATI Tool, Crysis menus, Quake 3
Mist 650W Rev 3.5 - Squeals but hardly able to hear it

 

[daRkKon]

that squeal is probably just a fan going inside of your psu if you narrowed it down to it. could very well be the ball bearing or sleeve type

 

[zod96]

I hate noise my system is dead silent. And after many reviews on PSU I went with seasonic x gold series 750 watt psu. Its dead silent and the fan only comes on at about 30% load. And even then I can't hear it....

 

[DarkUltra]

that squeal is probably just a fan going inside of your psu if you narrowed it down to it. could very well be the ball bearing or sleeve type

Hi! I'm quite sure it is not the fan, I can stop it with a plastic pin and no change in squealing. It is very distinct, and changes pitch with the FPS I get. ATI tool it varies up and down, and other games it is one pitch for 1000fps, and another for 1800fps (menus in quake 3 and crysis)

Please post more reports

 

[DarkUltra]

I hate noise my system is dead silent. And after many reviews on PSU I went with seasonic x gold series 750 watt psu. Its dead silent and the fan only comes on at about 30% load. And even then I can't hear it....

How about ATI Tool? I'm after a distinct, and annoying squeal. There have been reports of Seasonic X750 squealing. Your XFX 6950 may have a good power regulator then

Seasonic X750 PSU makes highpitch whine under load
http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/617460.aspx

the gtx 200 and 400 (at least my evga 470) can make some psu squeal
- readouts from an oscilloscope, displaying the interference shooting back up the PCIe power connectors into the PSU.
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2009/05/29/msi-solves-the-nvidia-gtx-squealing-problem/1

 

[zod96]

I play BC2 and COD those are pretty intense games and put alot of load on the PSU. I notice no squeal at all coming from the PSU while gaming...

 

[Modelworks]

Get some silicone sealant , small tube is all you need and put a bead on each of the coils in the supply, don't cover the entire coil with it (keeps coils from getting air that may aid in cooling them), and it will stop. Send high frequency power through a coil of wire wrapped around something and it will vibrate making the noise. The more current the louder it gets.

 

[Jeff7]

I had something like this awhile back with a new Seasonic power supply. Here's an audiograph of the recorded sound. The sound was in the 15kHz range. I don't exactly remember what I did about it though.
Darn whiny coils.

 

[Modelworks]

I had something like this awhile back with a new Seasonic power supply. Here's an audiograph of the recorded sound. The sound was in the 15kHz range. I don't exactly remember what I did about it though.
Darn whiny coils.

hehe

Sometimes you can turn off the pc and give the supply a few slaps of the hand and that will cause the coils to move just enough to stop the sound ....... for a little while.

 

[DarkUltra]

zod96
Can you test ATI Tool too? thank you

Modelworks
Oh no i'd rather keep my PSU warranty in order.

Jeff7
how interesting what program did you use to create it?

Please write more reports.

 

[Uhtrinity]

I always thought that kind of squeal was due to cheap,weak or failing capacitors, never heard of the coils audibly vibrating. I had a cheap 600 Watt PS that would do that with my old ATI X1950XT under full load.

 

[Rubycon]

Have AX1200, will squeal. :biggrin:

 

[Jeff7]

...
Jeff7
how interesting what program did you use to create it?

Please write more reports.

That audiograph thingy was made using Goldwave.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Have AX1200, will squeal. :biggrin:

Corsair will replace that squealer under warranty.

 

[Meghan54]

Please write more reports.

Why do you need more reports? It's not like the squeal is a mystery noise or is rocket science in its cause.....PS squeal is almost always from the coil(s).....just RMA the thing and be done with it.

 

[Rubycon]

Corsair will replace that squealer under warranty.

Ha! I wish. My broker was ignored requests due to short supplies. [sic] This was last August. Apparently they don't believe it's a defect. If new ones don't squeal then it's BS.

 

[Tsavo]

My Corsair TX650 squealed like a stuck pig in some video games when I put in a GTX 460. It was quite loud and very annoying. Thankfully, flashing the BIOS fixed it.

 

[drizek]

My Corsair TX650 squealed like a stuck pig in some video games when I put in a GTX 460. It was quite loud and very annoying. Thankfully, flashing the BIOS fixed it.

Please elaborate.

My Antec TP-550 New sounds like it is getting murdered by my GTX 460 when running F@H. Isn't this basically the same as the Corsair TX? They're both Seasonics, right?

Antec replaced it without any fuss, but the new one squeals too.

 

[Tsavo]

Please elaborate.

My Antec TP-550 New sounds like it is getting murdered by my GTX 460 when running F@H.

Flashing my mainboard BIOS fixed the issue, which is a good thing because I was about to beat both my PSU and GPU into the pavement with a hammer.

My TX is a Seasonic. The New TX 650's are CWT junk. No clue about your Antec unit since Antec is just another way to spell garbage.

 

[drizek]

I'll try that. Can't hurt, I guess.

 

[CoolRunnings]

My TX is a Seasonic. The New TX 650's are CWT junk. No clue about your Antec unit since Antec is just another way to spell garbage.

How do you tell if it's CWT or Seasonic without voiding the warranty?

 

[Tsavo]

How do you tell if it's CWT or Seasonic without voiding the warranty?

http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page447.htm

As a start.

Interesting that the 650TX-C (CWT) isn't listed on Newegg, and there's a new 650TX-V2 listed which is reported at being a Seasonic unit.

I wonder if Newegg got the part number wrong or stopped selling it, or if Corsair dropped the C designation from the CWT unit or just stopped making it.

 

[Aristotelian]

I hate noise my system is dead silent. And after many reviews on PSU I went with seasonic x gold series 750 watt psu. Its dead silent and the fan only comes on at about 30% load. And even then I can't hear it....

How did you "silence" a 6870?

 

[titan131]

My TX is a Seasonic. The New TX 650's are CWT junk.

heh, I thought the HX750, HX850 and HX1000 were made by CWT. Are they not good PSUs?

 

[DarkUltra]

I might go for a Corsair AX850W, seems to be quieter than the TX850W and HX850W


- however it was inaudible in this test and throughout testing for the most part. If anything, there was just a slight bit of noise at full load that was noticeable once the unit had been shut off.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/10/07/corsair_ax850_850w_power_supply_review/6
(ax859w)

- once the unit entered the Torture Test it clearly became audible as the unit seemed to start whining just like a high speed spooling sound occurs with turbines. This sound only served to increase when the unit moved into the full power test. However, in all loads below 80% this sound was absent and the unit was unremarkable in our test background.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/05/27/corsair_hx850w_power_supply/6
(hx850w, Could this be coil/capacitor whine? Or was it just a bad fan?)

There are several threads at corsair forums about their psu and electrical noise issues
http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?p=501242
http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=85166