Is this coil whine? Corsair HX650w

Treebiter · 16 Dec 2022 at 10:55

My PC has recently begun making a high pitched, pulsing whine that fades in and out intermittently. I’m pretty certain that it’s coming from the power supply, as I’ve unplugged the GPU (RTX 3060 TI) and the sound persists. It doesn’t seem to be load-related as it’s as likely to make the sound while idle.

Is it normal for power supplies to make this sort of noise? Is it coil whine or something more sinister? The unit is probably 10 years old by this point, if not older.

I think I’m going to have to splash out on a replacement either way as it’s massively irritating.

Thanks

mickyflinn · 16 Dec 2022 at 11:01

Yes psu can make noise (coil whine) do you have another gpu to try to put it under load to see if its gpu or psu ?

Treebiter · 16 Dec 2022 at 11:36

No, only the one GPU. But I unplugged the 8 pin cable from it and the noise persisted. Also, less scientific, I put my head in the case (safely-ish) and I’m 90% sure the noise is coming from the PSU.

mickyflinn · 16 Dec 2022 at 11:58

Treebiter said:
No, only the one GPU. But I unplugged the 8 pin cable from it and the noise persisted. Also, less scientific, I put my head in the case (safely-ish) and I’m 90% sure the noise is coming from the PSU.

So what's your budget and do you want the same watts ?

Treebiter · 16 Dec 2022 at 12:11

mickyflinn said:
So what's your budget and do you want the same watts ?

£150 tops. Obviously the lower cost the better, but I’m realistic as I like to buy quality parts that will last.

650W seems to be doing the trick currently (ignoring the noise), but I don’t know if I’d be better off getting a 750 instead. Currently running an 8700k CPU and an RTX 3060Ti. Might shove some more ram in at some point (16gb currently), but don’t have any other upgrades planned in the near future.

mickyflinn · 16 Dec 2022 at 12:50

Treebiter said:
£150 tops. Obviously the lower cost the better, but I’m realistic as I like to buy quality parts that will last.

650W seems to be doing the trick currently (ignoring the noise), but I don’t know if I’d be better off getting a 750 instead. Currently running an 8700k CPU and an RTX 3060Ti. Might shove some more ram in at some point (16gb currently), but don’t have any other upgrades planned in the near future.

As long as you get gold rated with 10 year warranty you should be good, if you corsair again change all the cables to the new ones just in case.

Take a look at the
Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 750 Watt Full Modular 80+ Gold PSU/Power Supply and check review.

Treebiter · 16 Dec 2022 at 12:54

mickyflinn said:
As long as you get gold rated with 10 year warranty you should be good, if you corsair again change all the cables to the new ones just in case.

Take a look at the
Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 750 Watt Full Modular 80+ Gold PSU/Power Supply and check review.

Thanks. Much appreciated

Tetras · 17 Dec 2022 at 00:42

Treebiter said:
My PC has recently begun making a high pitched, pulsing whine that fades in and out intermittently. I’m pretty certain that it’s coming from the power supply, as I’ve unplugged the GPU (RTX 3060 TI) and the sound persists. It doesn’t seem to be load-related as it’s as likely to make the sound while idle.

Most likely culprits are PSU, motherboard VRM area and graphics card (in my experience, in reverse order).

Usually they either whine when new, or they don't whine. Did you change anything recently? Reset the CMOS? Change power plans? Disable overclocks?

I assume you haven't met with USB devices or sound either?

CuriousTomCat · 22 Dec 2022 at 08:28

Don't buy a 650. You have no idea what GPU you might be using in 5 to 10 years. I went for a 750.