PSU noise problems.

KidCanary · 29 Aug 2011 at 11:57

I've been having some issues with noise from the PSU fan - When I'm most games, even something like Minecraft, the PSU fan spins up and gets very loud.

The PSU is a Corsair 550w VX.
The rest of the system is:
Q6600 (At the stock 2.4Ghz)
GTX460 768MB
3GB DDR2 RAM
2x 500GB Samsung HDs
DVDR/W Drive
Asus P5K motherboard
There's also a PCI- PCMCIA adaptor card in there.

I've used various PSU calculators and it seems like the 550 ought to be fine - So I'm not sure if the PSU is being 'overworked'.

The other possibility is that the cooling in the case isn't good enough. I'm using an NZXT Hush, which has a fan on the front and one on the back. The PSU is located at the top. It has a fan on the bottom, which I'm guessing is bringing in the heat coming from the GPU and CPU, which might explain why the PSU fan works so much at load.

In Core Temp, my CPU seems to idling now at around 40c (The temps are 40/40/36/39) - Which seems a little high to me. I'm using an Freezer 7 Pro, which I'm fairly sure is mounted correctly.

Any thoughts?

daveash · 29 Aug 2011 at 12:03

Any way that the PSU can be 'flipped' to bring in air from outside the case? I'm unfamiliar with the Hush.

arc@css · 29 Aug 2011 at 12:11

Is the PSU dusty? Mine was making more and more noise as time went on, turned out it needed a clean. Be a little careful if you do this, use a fine brush and you'll be fine.

I would say for a stock Q6600 your temps are safe, but higher than I would expect. Mine are slightly cooler than that, however mine is overclocked to 3.4 ghz.

KidCanary · 29 Aug 2011 at 13:15

daveash said:
Any way that the PSU can be 'flipped' to bring in air from outside the case? I'm unfamiliar with the Hush.

Nope. The top of the case is solid, so if I were to flip it then the fan would be completely blocked, which I'm guessing wouldn't be too good for the PSU.

arc@css said:
Is the PSU dusty? Mine was making more and more noise as time went on, turned out it needed a clean. Be a little careful if you do this, use a fine brush and you'll be fine.

I would say for a stock Q6600 your temps are safe, but higher than I would expect. Mine are slightly cooler than that, however mine is overclocked to 3.4 ghz.

I had a look a few months ago (this problem has been happening for a while), and it didn't seem too dusty. I'll check again later though.

I agree that the temps are probably safe - The main reason I mentioned them is to me the fact that they're fairly high for a stock speed with that cooler, is another indicator that the case airflow is the problem rather than the PSU being overworked.

docsonic · 29 Aug 2011 at 14:41

In the top is the only fan in the unit: a large, black 12cm Adda branded fan that is temperature controlled – this depends on the power use in the system. It remains at a very low speed until about 400W, where it starts to rise quite rapidly.

It could well be related to the amount of warm air the intake is sucking in. My old PC has a Corsair CX600 in it & the fan is noticably loud when under load - this case has very poor airflow.

I shouldn't have thought your PSU is being overworked, it provides 492W on the +12V rail.

Although it could also be a faulty fan controller?
http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64916

KidCanary · 30 Aug 2011 at 12:13

Thanks for the reply.

I hadn't thought about the fan controller. It's certainly something to consider.
Not sure what to do about it. I imagine it'd be rather expensive to RMA it to Corsair, so I don't want to send it off until I'm more certain that it's the problem.