Be Quiet 650w buzzing noise!

Soldato
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My new be quiet dark power pro 650w psu makes a constant buzzing/squealing noise, especially when the processor is overclocked.

Ive emailed Be Quiet and they said that they wont do anything because apparently my spec is too power demanding for a 650w psu.

My spec is:
- Intel core i7 920
- Gigabyte ud5
- Patriot viper 6GB
- Nvidia 285 GTX
- DVD drive
- 2 Samsung F1's

Surely a 650w psu should be able to cope with this - the 285 GTX draws 200w at most, leaving 450w for the rest of it........ Am I correct that this should be fine?
 
Daft question, are you sure it's the PSU, my Gigabyte UD5 board makes a noise around the capacitors ect by the cpu socket, only way to stop was to put the voltages on manual, Can't check at the moment as my memory is being RMA.
 
I'm 100% sure the psu makes the majority of the noise - but got a feeling the motherboard may add to that.

Be Quiet should sort this shouldnt they?
 
..Be Quiet should sort this shouldnt they?

I would have thought so...I have one of these, and when reading up on it before I bought it the support of BeQuiet! was reported to be very good!

Why not try sending it back to the retailer, if it is less that a year old.
 
BeQuiet haven't been around in the UK long enough too see much feedback on their support level tbf.

Buy yeah, no way is that PC too much for the Bequiet 650w. Wouldn't be good new for all the beQuiet fans here if it wasn't. :D
 
But would the 285 GTX cause the power supply to buzz? Would there not have to be a poor quality coil in the psu for it to do that? (I.E. not just the gpu's effect).

I'm 100% sure its the psu making an immense squeal because i can put my ear to it and it's definately coming from it! :p
 
Right, getting confused and frustrated by Be Quiet support now....

What am I supposed to do? I know this psu can power this stuff but Be Quiet are being rather unhelpful. :mad:

Below is the latest from them:

Dear Tom, As I know Nvidia has revised its statement.The stated value refers to a Test system with a Singlerail PSU. Please use our PSU calculator. Mit freundlichen Grüßen / With kind regardsMarco NiemannAfter Sales Service
---------------------------------

Dear Marco, The psu should not be making this high pitched buzzing noise regardless of how close to the maximum power draw it is. As per Nvidias own recommendation http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_gtx_285_us.html a 550w psu would be suitable for this graphics card. The loud screeching that I am experiencing with this psu contradicts the "be quiet" name attached to it!! I have also tried using the pc with a nvidia 8300gs card instead but the noise is still present at times. If you could please review this matter I hope you will understand that this is not how the product should be and so an exchange should be possible?
--------------------------------

Thank you for taking time to contact the be-quiet customer care.>> Due to your Graphic card 285 GTX you should use a PSU above 850W. Otherwise> your System will work instable, especially in case of 3D apps.> It is not a fault of the PSU.>> Please look up on our be quiet website, there you'll find a PSU calculator to> find the right PSU for your System.>> PSU Calculator tool: http://www.be-quiet.net/calculator.php?websiteLang=en>> We're awfully sorry, that we couldn't give you an more positive solution in> this case.>>> Mit freundlichen Grüßen / With kind regards> Marco Niemann> After Sales Service
 
That calculator of their seems a bit funny, seems more aimed at fleecing money out of people than any actual basis in requirements.

Put in an 8800GS - 105W TDP and it suggests a 400W PSU
Change to 8800GT - 105W TDP and it suggests a 400W PSU
Change to GTX285 - 183W TDP and it swaps to 850W PSU

So an 80W increase in card TDP requires a 450W boost in PSU power? Sounds a bit suspect to me.

I see more correlation in card cost to PSU cost than power requirements. Seems more like they think 'hmmm GTX285 is expensive, they can afford more on a PSU, suggest this to them'

Edit - the rest of the system I put in was Q9550, 2xRAM, 2xHDD, 1xDVD etc.
 
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Trying to persuade you to upgrade to an 850W unit because the PSU you bought from them is faulty is pretty terrible customer service. That rig should run fine on a 650W.

Not sure what you can do apart from sell it and buy a Corsair or something :p
 
lol that PSU cal is fun, My E8400 and 8800GTX system is recommended a 650w PSU. From the wall the absolute max I can draw is 360w :D

Seems like BeQuiet PSUs need to be double the rating you actually use. ^^;

But, I hope people take note of this poor customer service, given the price of them you'd expect better.
 
I had a look at the source code for that page.

If you choose a budget graphics card, the amount of power it adds to the total is reasonable:

Code:
VGA_values_2[52]["name"] = "[B]GeForce 8800 GT[/B]";
VGA_values_2[52]["watt"] = "[B]102.00[/B]";

VGA_values_2[233]["name"] = "[B]Radeon HD 4850 GDDR3[/B]";
VGA_values_2[233]["watt"] = "[B]100.00[/B]";
102w for an 8800GT and 100w for a 4850 - fair enough. But look what happens when you add an expensive graphics card:

Code:
VGA_values_2[320]["name"] = "[B]Radeon HD 4870 X2[/B]";
VGA_values_2[320]["watt"] = "[B]772.00[/B]";

VGA_values_2[89]["name"] = "[B]GeForce GTX295[/B]";
VGA_values_2[89]["watt"] = "[B]750.00[/B]";
... so apparently a 4870X2 draws 772w and a GTX295 draws 750w! This results in you always being recommended a 1200w PSU for these cards, when a quality 600w would do the job.

I don't know about you, but this smells pretty rotten to me. They're dishonestly blagging as much cash as possible from people who can afford to pay it.
 
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The more I think about this, the more ridiculous this seems. Anyone got any suggestions how I can argue my case with Be Quiet? I feel like contacting Nvidia and getting proof straight from themselves but it's all a lot of bother! :o
 
Put it to them that their calculator flat-out lies.

Looking at the source code, it is claiming that your GTX285 draws 500w:

Code:
VGA_values_2[88]["name"] = "GeForce GTX285";
VGA_values_2[88]["watt"] = "500.00";
Ask them where they got that number from when nVidia's own specifications give a maximum of 204w for that card. Do they know better than the people who make the damn thing, or are they just trying to make a quick buck?

If your PSU is faulty, they can't palm you off with that site because the figures it uses are simply invalid.
 
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Also, if you go to the Corsair front page, there's a power supply calculator. If you put in i7, GTX285, two hard drives, it recommends a 550-650w unit. Looks like they're a lot more confident in their gear than Be Quiet...
 
That's really not on.

Trying to sell off the back of what is likely complete rubbish is one thing - refusing customers help on the basis of it is just apalling.

CustomPC recommend these 650W PSUs for i7/GTX275, might be worth firing off an email to them about what you've found. I wonder if they'd continue to recommend PSUs from a company who refuse service because they claim a 650W is not enough for such a system?
 
So, after more testing - the screeching only seems to be really noticeable when the 285 gtx is plugged in...

So I'm guessing some sort of feedback from the coils in the 285 gtx are causing the be quiet psu to screech in sympathy :(

Be Quiet have yet to reply to my last email - which basically re-iterates that they're being stupid and that the 285 doesn't draw 700w....

Obviously now that I have pin-pointed the fact that the graphics card is effecting the psu in some way, i'm leaning towards trying to get the 285 swapped out for something like a 4890.... would this be less likely to squeal like a stuck pig? :confused: I'm not sure if the psu is faulty, as such, but it just does not get along with the 285 gtx! :o
 
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