PSU recently becoming noisy - advice on a new quieter one please...

Associate
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25 Mar 2005
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Torquay, Devon, UK
Hi

I have a Corsair 750 watt in my pc and have had it now for three years and all has been well until recently.
It has become a bit more loud than previously when under load and have found it takes longer to quieten down after exiting a game.

I removed the psu from the case recently and blew it out with a pc blower thingy; since then it seems like it has got a little more louder. The psu still works fine and has not caused a crash or anything.

My specs.
i9 9900k
240nn Corsair aio
16gb Corsair 3200
Asus b360-g
Asus 3080
2 x ssd, 2 x nvme, 1 x h/drive
nzxt h500i (not great for cooling but with cpu @4.7 on auto volts it is 45-48 idle with gpu idle at 38)

I know it is a bit warmer these days so some of extra noise may partly be due to that.

Am wondering if a 1000 watt plus Corsair or Bequiet may be a good purchase though am a little worried that the noise will be the same with them.

Would appreciate peoples experience, advice and recommendations.

Many thanks.
 
Man of Honour
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11,393
If you look on the website, or in reviews, they'll usually tell you when it ramps up. Most PSUs are quiet(ish) under 50% load, but the CPU cooler or graphics card fans are usually noisier than the PSU by that point.
 
Soldato
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Aberdeen
You may have damaged the fan with the blower. You might open up the PSU - carefully - and look at replacing it. This will also allow you to clean the PSU more thoroughly.
 
Associate
OP
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Have just placed an order with Overclockers for a white Corsair 850 watt RMX psu.

The present Corsair 750 watt (think a TM) psu was in a build I bought second-hand in 2019. Hopefully the new one will be a lot quieter than this one.

Anyone with any experience of the the 850watt RMX model? I have read good reviews.
 
Soldato
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12 Apr 2007
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11,786
I have a newish rm750 and it makes no noise that I can tell.
By the time the PSU fan ramps up, the CPU and GPU fans will already be going full throttle anyway.

Are you sure it's the PSU fan? Or a general airflow issue? Bear in mind ambient temperatures are quite high in the UK at the moment.
 
Associate
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I checked a few times as to where the loudest noise is coming from and it's always the psu. The time it takes to quieten down after exiting a game is the most noticeable thing. Being in a nzxt h500i is not the most cool place for a psu but this noise problem from the psu has been increasing over the last few months. This started before the temperature rises but it has definitely made it more noticeable.

Although it's an expense I don't really need and the changing of psu is a bit of a chore I think for peace of mind having a new psu is worth it.
 
Associate
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Just a little update. Received the new Corsair 850watt RMX psu this morning and noticed improvement in noise instantly as it does not spin its cooling fan until under load. During gameplay I can hear the fan spinning but on exiting the cooldown period for the fan is quite a bit shorter than the previous psu.

Although I will keep the 750watt I was using I do kind of have feeling it may have been on way out.
 
Soldato
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Although I will keep the 750watt I was using I do kind of have feeling it may have been on way out.
No matter what marketing excretes, in properly designed devices fan control is temperature controlled.
So depending on amount of dust in your room/how clean you keep it and dust filters of the case, PSU might have had some dust inside hindering cooling.

Also you should prevent fans from spinning when using blowers/compressed air or vacuums to clean them.
Fan might overspeed damaging bearing, or get stressed in a way it wasn't designed to tolerate.
 
Associate
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As previously posted it was getting noisier and then I cleaned it ensuring I kept the fan still as I did so. It does get a bit dusty in here as my flat is overlooking town and think I get a lot of traffic dust etc coming in.
 
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