Best way to silence PSU

Phenomenologica

Phenomenologica

Phenomenologica

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Having switched a few fans around in my case it is far quieter than it was. But there's still a rather obnoxious humming and I've determined it's coming from the PSU fan. Now the way I see it there are a couple of possible ways to fix this:

1. Remove the PSU, attempt to put some material in to deaden the vibrations before they reach the case, and put PSU back in. But this seems rather like treating the symptoms not the cause.

2. Open up said PSU and replace the fan. Whilst solving the problem at the source, everyone seems averse to doing this. I'm assuming that's due to fear of power being stored in a capacitor somewhere and giving you a very nasty jolt if you inadvertently touch it. Also, I imagine it will void my warranty.

Has anyone tried either method before? If it helps it's an OCZ StealthXtreme 2 600W.
 
Is it new, or could the psu be full of dust? Can it still be returned if you're not happy with it?
 
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It's new and gets cleaned regularly, it's definitely a mechanical vibration from the fan not the fan running at a higher speed than it should. Also, I was expecting general advice to avoid number two, but thought it would be best to ask in case anyone had had success with it.

There is one option I am considering. Some relatives of mine run a model shop, and one of the products they stock is a foam sheet material designed to deaden vibration noise under model railways. I'm contemplating asking for a couple of sheets of it at cost price and attempting to use it to quieten the case down. If I did I'd probably cover the insides of the case in an attempt to block the sound a bit, and use the offcuts as spacers for the PSU to quieten it directly. The stuff is 5mm thick and seems to work pretty well, and at cost it's much cheaper than the custom made stuff for computers. Thoughts on if this will work?
 
OCZ are quiet when Ive used them. A vibrating fan shouldnt happen . Have you tested it out of the case, usually its the case contacts that produce noise on things like HDD
 
I've done no2 my one caused a occasional nasty sound. What I did was to unplug the psu then press the power button again. You will se a quick led light up on your case. Means its discharged now although not 100% sure so I just be extra careful to not touch anything. Worked like a treat.
If you are lazy not willing to rma it or out of warranty then no2 is fine. Be prepared to reuse the old fan powercable since hey often use the smaller 2pin one and not the standard motherboard one.,
 
bringtherain said:
i have same psu and no noise!
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silversurfer said:
OCZ are quiet when Ive used them. A vibrating fan shouldnt happen . Have you tested it out of the case, usually its the case contacts that produce noise on things like HDD
Click to expand...

I imagine it's the vibrations reverberating through the case hence considering adding some dampening pads. It's not that it's obscenely loud, but my room is very quiet and I have pretty sensitive hearing, so even a fairly quiet buzzing noise is irritating.

I've done no2 my one caused a occasional nasty sound. What I did was to unplug the psu then press the power button again. You will se a quick led light up on your case. Means its discharged now although not 100% sure so I just be extra careful to not touch anything. Worked like a treat.
If you are lazy not willing to rma it or out of warranty then no2 is fine. Be prepared to reuse the old fan powercable since hey often use the smaller 2pin one and not the standard motherboard one.,
Click to expand...

Encouraging to hear someone has had success with it for future reference, but I think I've decided I'm not willing to give up the warranty on such a new PSU!
 
Do not replace the fan in a PSU unless you replace it with the same model. The thermal design in PSU's is pretty important and changing the fan can alter the cooling properties in the PSU leading to instability and shorter life span. + the warranty issue on

The actual process of replacing the fan isn't hard if you have a little common sence but I would never recommend replacement of fans until:

a) you've tried to contact the manufacture about it
b) you've tried to use foam / rubber to reduce the noise. (I've used those rubber fan mounts in a PSU before which worked well)
 
Buy yourself a Anti-Vibration PSU Gasket, about a fiver or less, stops vibrations being transmitted through to the case.

Been using silicone masket for sealing some window frames, had an idea to put a bead around a case fan before fixng to the case. :D

Tonester007 BeQuiet psu's are superb, can't fault them, been using them for a few years now, since my Hiper caught fire
 
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I replaced the fan in my OCZ Stealthxtreme a while back, it made a huge difference.


As long as you are careful, just as with any electricals, then its fine. You'll have to cut and re-attached the fan power wires if the internals are the same as mine.

Just be careful - maybe have a search on guides/pics to doing it so you know what you are looking at when you take the cover off.... there are plenty of people on here that have disassembled their power supplies for all number of reasons.
 
I really dont understand what the fuss is all about. I've replaced the fan on 3 PSUs and never had an issue either thermally or from shocks and I've always gone with a lower speed fan for reduced noise.

The first was a Q-Tec dual 80mm fan model, the second a 600W OCZ StealthXStream model (6 months old) and the latest a FSP Aurum 700W (2 weeks old).

Tutorial on how to do it http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18261286

FSP/OCZ use fast fans of greater than 2000rpm to cool their PSUs and that's too much to consider Stealth in my opinion. My thought on this is that they are designed to run faster to include some potential for shifting air from the case as well as dealing with their own heat. A PSU fitted at the top of the case acting as the sole exhaust should not do a fan swap, yet a PSU fitted at the bottom vent drawing air from the foot of the case will be much quieter.
 
Things to point out, there is literally no point piping up with "I have that PSU, its quiet" without quantifying it.

A 650W Seasonic at 20% load is the quietest PSU out there bar none, its got impeccable design so no electronic buzz and the fan is off up to just over 20% load. However, use that same psu with a 600W load, and its really pretty damn loud.

Same goes for a Coolermaster 1200W, 200W, fan on but you won't hear it, 650W, still silent, 1150W screaming loud.

As for replacing the fan, unless its a faulty fan its a very bad idea, a non faulty fan shouldn't make much noise other than actual airflow noise, a PSU is design via components to run at a certain temperature and to require a certain amount of cooling at any given load. You could take a much quieter fan and put it in that Seasonic 650W psu with a 600W load and make it silent, you'd also however blow up the PSU because with the normal fan its running at 50C and with a silent fan its running at 120C then blows up.


So first thing to do, what kind of noise is it, turn the computer on, get down behind your computer and stick your ear next to it, listen to the noise. Start up 3dmark which will give you a few seconds to get back down and listen to what noise changes their are. Is 90% of the noise while under load just the fan speed increasing? If so you want a bigger or better PSU to keep the noise down.

I went the wrong way, got a very expensive Bequiet PSU< its quiet, sure, but its needlessly expensive and too low power if I want to do xfire again in the future. A 1200W coolermaster at £120 is going to be quieter at any given power level than a £150 850W Corsair, but also have a massive amount of headroom for future expansion if you want it. At 600-700W loads the Coolermaster would be MASSIVELY quieter than the Corsair and thats a reasonable level of power to use if you were looking at a high end SLI/xfire computer.

If the noise is vibration, deal with that, if its fan ticking, RMA the psu, really without knowing what the sound is, its impossible to suggest what to do. But likewise you can ignore the "mines quiet so yours is broken" crowd unless they quantify their posts, pretty much every PSU out there will be quiet and also horrifically loud, it depends on the load and temperatures, without them the noise level means nothing.


Case design plays a large part aswell, generally best case design will have a heavy PSU at the bottom/back of the case, able to grab air from under the case and exhaust it at the back, heavy weight at the bottom will help kill case vibration more, and getting outside air rather than hot cpu/gpu air will also knock down the PSU temps, which will decrease the amount of cooling it requires and keep it quieter.
 
Tealc said:
I really dont understand what the fuss is all about. I've replaced the fan on 3 PSUs and never had an issue either thermally or from shocks and I've always gone with a lower speed fan for reduced noise.

The first was a Q-Tec dual 80mm fan model, the second a 600W OCZ StealthXStream model (6 months old) and the latest a FSP Aurum 700W (2 weeks old).

Tutorial on how to do it http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18261286

FSP/OCZ use fast fans of greater than 2000rpm to cool their PSUs and that's too much to consider Stealth in my opinion. My thought on this is that they are designed to run faster to include some potential for shifting air from the case as well as dealing with their own heat. A PSU fitted at the top of the case acting as the sole exhaust should not do a fan swap, yet a PSU fitted at the bottom vent drawing air from the foot of the case will be much quieter.
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The question again becomes, what power are you actually using from your PSU's. If you've put a silent fan in a 600W psu that you never draw 300W from, it might be fine for life, if you try to draw 550W from it, will it heat up and explode due to lack of cooling?

Cooling varies, noise varies, usage of a PSU varies, most people do and SHOULD massively overspec their psu's. But when you throw around advice on how a silent fan is fine for cooling a PSU, you HAVE TO QUANTIFY that with how you are using your PSU and how its still safe for you.

If your 600W psu is doing fine, but barely draws 300W under load you can not with any certainty say it wouldn't blow at full power draw.
 
drunkenmaster said:
The question again becomes, what power are you actually using from your PSU's. If you've put a silent fan in a 600W psu that you never draw 300W from, it might be fine for life, if you try to draw 550W from it, will it heat up and explode due to lack of cooling?

Cooling varies, noise varies, usage of a PSU varies, most people do and SHOULD massively overspec their psu's. But when you throw around advice on how a silent fan is fine for cooling a PSU, you HAVE TO QUANTIFY that with how you are using your PSU and how its still safe for you.

If your 600W psu is doing fine, but barely draws 300W under load you can not with any certainty say it wouldn't blow at full power draw.
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Well considering the 1500rpm fan I have fitted doesn't spin up beyond 1100rpm at 350W load from 900rpm at idle 130W I would conclude that the original fan was just too aggressive.

Now considering the OP is also using a FSP manufactured unit which also has an aggressive fan controller the advice to fit a lower speed fan is good if the OP is using modern case cooling methodology.

I do agree to a certain extent that my unit may not be good up to it's full 700W power now that I've reduced it's cooling but on reflection I think the chances of me using 700W at any time in the future is very limited, and besides if I were to draw that much power I would get a top end power supply, not a mid range unit.
 
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