New PSU - fan noise - Superflower Leadex III ARGB

mdoh

mdoh

mdoh

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Hi all,

hope you can advise. A month or so ago i bought a new PSU and case, i went from a seasonic 620w PSU which i never heard the fan once even though it was on constant and bought the Leadex Superflower III

▷ Super Flower Leadex III ARGB 850W 80 PLUS Gol… | OcUK (overclockers.co.uk)

This has a silent mode which obviously I cant hear as the fan doesnt spin but every now and then the fan comes on and it is very loud, as in louder than everything else in my case and quite annoying for a quiet build, when I read the reviews for this PSU I read it was silent.

Does anyone else have this PSU and can confirm this is normal behavior or should i return this to overclockers or RMA?

Thanks

Mike
 
no one else have one of these? From what ive read even in Eco mode when the fans start up they should be below 800rpm which should be silent but that's not what I'm experiencing.
 
I’m waiting on mine arriving, hopefully in the next day or two so will let you know how mine is at least. What’s it powering? Does the noise only happen under load?
 
The noise happens when the fans come on as its in eco mode. (definitely fan sound)

Reading the box the fan should spin up at a lower RPM due to temp but as soon as the fan come on they are very loud even at "low RPMs". So when the fans start it should be at 800rpm and inaudible

Graph 1 is eco mode, graph 2 is normal. If I turn off eco mode and it runs at below 45 degrees, I can still hear the fan clearly and its offputting.

cff0bd35-s.jpg


It wasn't drawing much when I installed it a few weeks ago as I only have an i7-9700k, 32GB RAM, 2 3.5" HDD and 1 SSD and had a 1060 6GB EVGA, i have since put in a MSI 3080 Suprim X in which has raised the temp of the case a bit (waiting on other parts to fix that) but the fan is blowing more often and the PSU fan is louder than all my other case fans (5) plus the graphics card fans (3) combined!

One good thing is there is no coil whine whatsoever but I cant keep the PSU like this.

PS. It also looks great.
 
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Is it FDB or BB?

My Asus Strix PSU fan sounds borked, so it's going back. Like you its heard above the whole system and is annoying. All reviews have said it is quiet/silent.
 
Hi Mike,

I bought this PSU for my first new build in around 8 years and am having exactly the same issues as you.

When running in non-eco mode, the PSU fan is really noisy (far louder than the 9 other fans in my case). When in Eco mode, the PSU fan doesn't spin at all so is silent, then every few minutes comes on to cool down even when I'm just web browsing and is louder than non-eco mode. There needs to be a way to make the Eco mode have the fan spinning but slowly and quietly which I'm sure would would solve the problem.

I don't mind it ramping up when I'm gaming as I have headphones on and all the other fans increase in noise but when I'm working the rest of my PC is practically silent except for the interruption from this every few minutes!

Does anyone else have any suggestions? If not, I'd steer clear of this PSU (and probably the 650 and 850 watt versions too) if you want a quiet build when not gaming. I too have only just managed to get my PC built up but am going to request a return I think having just seen you having the same issue as me.

Ellis
 
Thanks for the really quick responses! Please see this link for a sound recording from my phone with descriptions below.
I also measured the audio volume from the back of the case on my S10 using the Sound Meter app. I realise this will be far from 100% accurate but it gives a good indication of the 3 different volumes with the 3 fan states.

0-10 seconds is it running with Eco Mode On when it spins up to cool the PSU down - measured at 39dB
10 seconds to 15 seconds is with the fan having turned itself off - measured at 28dB
15 to 27 seconds is where I turned Eco Mode Off so the fan spins at its constant speed - measured at 34dB

The case I have is the Fractal Meshify C Mini Dark Tempered Glass with the PSU mounted with the PSU fan on the bottom blowing air upwards and straight out the back of the PSU. There is ample clearance under the case from its feet and I've also tried with and without the removable bottom dust filter in case it was impeding airflow and increasing noise but it makes no perceptible difference.

Do you think I have a dud? Today is 30 days since I received delivery (9th December) so I'm wondering if I should raise a return and then perhaps look to get a replacement or maybe the Corsair CX750F RGB instead?

Any help much appreciated!

Thanks,

Ellis
 
The psu fan sucks air in, not blow air out so it could be a case of your gpu and psu fighting each other for air. Are you sure that it's actually the psu and not the heavily factory overclocked triple fan 3080 causing the noise? That gpu is very power hungry as well so will be making the psu work hard, much harder than your old Seasonic, which will make it run hotter and ramp the fan up. If the psu and gpu are fighting each other for air then both will be ramping their fans up. That gpu also dumps it's heat in the case which the psu is then using to try to cool itself. As the air is warmer the fan will have to spin faster to keep the unit cool. Personally I hate RGB and think it is particularly pointless on psu's especially with a growing number of cases having their own compartments or shrouds for psu's. A psu should work quieter when it's fan is pointing down so it's drawing cool air through the vents in the bottom of the case. Try turning the psu around so it is drawing air through the bottom of the case and see if things quieten down. I know it means you can't see the RGB lighting but manufacturers blinging up such a vital component as a psu with lighting is ridiculous to me. The Superflower is a superior psu to the Corsair CX.
 
Hi Pastymuncher,

Thanks for the suggestions but I wasn't sure if you were referring to my or Mike's original post. I have it mounted exactly as you suggest as it would make no sense mounting it the other way for exactly the reasons you mentioned, "...with the PSU fan on the bottom blowing air upwards and straight out the back of the PSU".

Also, my system only has a 5800X (not overclocked) and a stock GTX 1060 6GB while I await a decent price on a GTX 3080 or more likely wait for the GTX 3080TI. The rest of my PC is only running a 2TB Patriot Viper NVME so nothing else drawing power yet mine is behaving just like Mike's so think it's an inherent issue with the SuperFlowers (mine is the 750 Watt version).

I have to agree that I didn't see the point of RGB either and actually only purchased the Superflower as OCUK has a special on it, all other PSUs were out of stock and the reviews looked good. I have to say I'm a bit of a convert for RGB now though and even purchased LED case fans but appreciate it's definitely not for everyone. Also in the Meshify C Mini Dark most of the RGB is lost from a PSU unless you look at the back of the case so wouldn't really recommend it to complete the look as no one ever has their PC facing them backwards on! Quick pic linked (backwards on for full RGB effect :-D)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/sdSzMbJJxcvbep8s8
Tys1FnH46CFcU2aQA


The annoying thing is that the SuperFlower is way louder than my 5 year old modular Corsair 650 Watt PSU in my overclocked 2500K that this is replacing so think I'll have to raise a return now and see if I can get something less noisy or hope that this is a dud like Mike's might have been.

Thanks for the help and suggestions!

Ellis
 
Sorry, I didn't realise you weren't the op. I had a Superflower Leadex Gold III 750w and found it to be completely silent so I can't see why your Superflower is so noisy, especially noisy enough to be heard over all of those fans. Eco mode will turn the fan off under low loads but it could be coming back on at a higher speed than if the fan was running all of the time. I had mine set to run all the time as my psu is in it's own compartment in the bottom of my desk and only has a filtered intake vent for ventilation. With two posters having the same problem with the same psu I am wondering if they have changed the fan on the latest batches.
 
I've been buying Seasonic PSU since 2009 starting with the X650 that was the first with hybrid fan, I have around 7 Seasonic's, there in HTPC's, workstations, home servers, there either older X series, newer gold prime, platinum prime and a titanium prime. All those Seasonics have been silent, if the fans have ever spun up the noise was still under other computer fans.
 
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