PSU electrical noise with ATI 5870

knightpt

knightpt

knightpt

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Joined
28 Sep 2009
Posts
26
Hey all.

I have my PSU (OCZ Gamextream 850W) for a long time now since my C2D / ATI 4870 days and i never had a problem, but now with my new system when i'm playing a game in full load it started to make some VERY loud and anoying electrical buzz/noise.

I'm actualy very concerned that something might be wrong, even though the system is fully stable in both Prime95/ games/ benching. When in idle the PSU is silent, when the graphic card is on load the electrical noise starts and varies in intensity as the graphic card is on more or less load.

While in full load CPU (like prime95) there is no noise, so its only on graphical intensive loads.

My system:

Intel i7 920 @ 4,0ghz
Asus p6t Deluxe v2
Sapphire ATI 5870
OCZ Gamextream 850W
(+12v = 18+18+18+18 A)

WHile taking notice on the voltages, the +12v line is always above the 12.0 so i guess that says that it has enough power for the graphic card?


I'm tempted to change my PSU just in case, but i wanted to make sure it would fix that problem first. Is it possible the PSU has faulty components now that its realy put to some stress with this more powerfull system? or the PSU can't keep up with the system requirements and its on full stress to keep up ? or the graphic card is faulty? dunno what to think ;)
 
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Welcome to world of coil whine.

It's rather common for power regulation circuitry of high end graphics cards to do that...
Or then it might draw power in just right sized gulps/at right frequency to cause interference with some coil in PSU.
 
i have a modxstream 700w psu and a ati 4870x2 and i get a eletrical noise come from the gfx card, apparently its normal, computer runs fine and everything so just turn up sound or put headphones on :)
 
EsaT said:
Welcome to world of coil whine.

It's rather common for power regulation circuitry of high end graphics cards to do that...
Or then it might draw power in just right sized gulps/at right frequency to cause interference with some coil in PSU.
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Eh eh, i'm not whining, just concerned about my £700 investment :D


If all its ok and its no danger of something dying out on me than the noise is secondary.

What i realy wanted to know if there is some component (card or PSU or board, etc) that is stressing out and its deteriorating faster than the usual due to this electrical disturbances :) and if so, if i can replace something to avoid further head-aches :)
 
I had something similar to this with a believe it or not OCZ psu, a modxstream 780 watt to be precise.
It was fine with an 8800GT, changed to a 280GTX and it whined and buzzed it's little bag off. Swapped it out for my older seasonic 700 watt and the noise disapeared.
I won't touch another OCZ psu for this reason as I'm not convinced with their quality, it seems a few people have had similar issues with the OCZ's.
 
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coupe69 said:
I had something similar to this with a believe it or not OCZ psu, a modxstream 780 watt to be precise.
It was fine with an 8800GT, changed to a 280GTX and it whined and buzzed it's little bag off. Swapped it out for my older seasonic 700 watt and the noise disapeared.
I won't touch another OCZ psu for this reason as I'm not convinced with their quality, it seems a few people have had similar issues with the OCZ's.
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Oh god, lol. Now i know i have to test this with another PSU, I'm just too curious to pass this up :rolleyes:


Is there any way by software i can test the PSU load? was curious.
 
Would you be able to post if u get rid of the noise ? im a bit curios to see if swapping out the psu for another it would get rid of the noise.
 
knightpt said:
Oh god, lol. Now i know i have to test this with another PSU, I'm just too curious to pass this up :rolleyes:


Is there any way by software i can test the PSU load? was curious.
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I believe theres a stress test in occt for psu testing, never used it though so dont know what it does, theres some warning about it really being hard on it though
 
knightpt said:
Is there any way by software i can test the PSU load? was curious.
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Testing power supplies was described in "PC shutdown issue, PSU -12v at -9.5V?" and in "What happens with not enough Watts?" Prime95 does not provide any useful stress testing. Multimeter must be used, if for no other reason, to calibrate an onboard volt meter. Software, can only read hardware. Only hardware can provide the numbers.

When we manufactured inductors and transformers for supplies, the assembly was dipped into a varnish (or equivalent) so that wires were firmly bonded to adjacent wires. Sometimes the varnish did not get into pockets. At the right frequency, that wire might vibrate. That may be your sound. It is not harmful. But eventually (rarely) the vibrating wire may short to its neighbor causing a minor voltage variation (compensated for by the regulator).
 
Try this it worked for my mate.

RJC said:
There are 2 options in the BIOS you need to disable for speedstep, can't remember the second one, change the voltage to manual rather than auto (I will check in a minute) Disable the Intel Turbo feature. Is the ram voltage set to 1.64v and check if your running latest BIOS.

If that fail try mem-testing your memory.

Edit: CIE & EIST to disable speedstep.
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