PSU vibration dampening.

Angilion

Angilion

Angilion

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5 Dec 2003
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Just to the left of my PC
I've just bought a new PSU. It's not quiet enough. The fan has 3 speeds, as far as I can determine by ear;

Slow speed - inaudible. No problems there, but it only seems to occur for the first ~30s after the PC is switched on.

Fast speed - ludicrously loud. Audible outside the room, round a corner, down a flight of stairs and round another corner. Happened once when I was running Prime to test overclocked stability on my new CPU and my motherboard BIOS was insisting that I didn't have a CPU fan plugged in (I do, but not in the power header the BIOS monitors). Hasn't happened since.

Medium speed is the issue. The main noise is tolerable. Not good, but tolerable. There's a second component to the noise, though, which is a more annoying sound. I think it's vibration transmitted to the case from the PSU. If I touch the top of the case, above the PSU, the sound changes in tone and reduces in volume and I can feel a slight vibration. I'm thinking that vibration in the chassis might account for the rest of the annoying component of noise.

So...damping. I've looked at this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-029-AK&groupid=701&catid=1428&subcat=1431

but that's for the rear of the PSU. The fan is on the bottom of the PSU. I'd like something to put on the chassis where the PSU rests on it. Thin, of course, so the PSU can still be screwed in. My cooler has thin rubbery strips stuck on it where the fan goes, for just that reason - that's the sort of thing I'm thinking of.

I've been offered an RMA because the PSU isn't as described (not the shop's fault - the manufacturer changed the specs) but right now I'm seeing the noise as a challenge :) It's louder than the OCZ StealthXstream I bought it to replace. Well, some of the time. The OCZ's fan was worn and when it got rattling it was much louder. But I think this new PSU (Superflower Amazon) isn't louder per se. I think it's vibration in the case. I probably should just RMA it...but that's too easy.

How about door frame insulation? That's thin and compressible, but I think it would dampen vibrations quite well.
 
how about a bicycle inner tube slashed up? a normal eraser/rubber cut down the middle with a Stanley blade?


there's probably a million and one things you could use.


are you sure the vibration isn't a HDD?
 
arknor said:
how about a bicycle inner tube slashed up? a normal eraser/rubber cut down the middle with a Stanley blade?

there's probably a million and one things you could use.
Click to expand...

Lots of things I could use, yes, but I'd appreciate ideas about which would be better. Inner tube sounds good - it would be easy to cut a couple of strips from one to put on the metal bars in the case that the PSU rests on and it's certainly thin enough. But will it do anything much? Maybe I'll find out by experimentation tomorrow.

are you sure the vibration isn't a HDD?
Click to expand...

Almost sure, for three reasons;

1) The HDD is the same as it was before I fitted the new PSU and wasn't moved. Not conclusive - I moved the PC while fitting the new PSU and CPU, so the HDD might have been disturbed.

2) I can hear the HDD when it's being used. It's a different noise.

3) I can feel the vibration in the case at the back, above the PSU and not in the front, where the HDD is.
 
try putting your hand on the side panels and seeing if it stops the vibration? on some of my old cases I just needed to stick a tiny slither of cardboard wedged in the side between the panel and the case.

sometimes vibrations appear after months and it can be hard locating them.
 
In case anyone else is interested, I've had a fair bit of success on the cheap with this combination:

Small felt pads intended to protect hard floors from the feet of furniture:

http://www.wilko.com/hardware/wilko-felt-floor-protector-32pk-20mm/invt/0344747

covered with bicycle inner tube patches to make sure no fibres come off:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_205781_langId_-1_categoryId_273923

I stuck a few on the chassis where the PSU and panels touch it. I can now feel minimal vibration in the centre of the side panels and there isn't any discernable noise.
 
Angilion said:
I've just bought a new PSU. It's not quiet enough. The fan has 3 speeds, as far as I can determine by ear;

Slow speed - inaudible. No problems there, but it only seems to occur for the first ~30s after the PC is switched on.

Fast speed - ludicrously loud. Audible outside the room, round a corner, down a flight of stairs and round another corner.

Medium speed is the issue. The main noise is tolerable. Not good, but tolerable.

I've been offered an RMA because the PSU isn't as described (not the shop's fault - the manufacturer changed the specs) but right now I'm seeing the noise as a challenge :) It's louder than the OCZ StealthXstream .
Click to expand...

If its that Bad time to RMA, could be the fans faulty and on its way out.

Why should you waste your time and money even think the worst fan goes PSU might go Bang, again time to RMA.
 
OLDPHART said:
If its that Bad time to RMA, could be the fans faulty and on its way out.

Why should you waste your time and money even think the worst fan goes PSU might go Bang, again time to RMA.
Click to expand...

I did RMA it in the end because the manufacturer had changed the PSU, so it wasn't what I bought. Shame, because the original PSU was so quiet that a review I read which went into detail with a decent sound meter registered nothing at 1m until about 60% load. Nothing at all - it didn't register over the 28dbA ambient noise in their test room. I tried to buy a Be Quiet Pure Power, but they were out of stock. So I fixed my old OCZ StealthXstream instead. Turned out that the fan was OK when I took it out, cleaned it and refitted it. I can hear it, but it'll do. Maybe I'll buy a Silent Wings fan and splice it in. Or maybe I'll buy a Be Quiet when they're in stock. I've had that OCZ for years - I'd rather have a new PSU and keep it as a spare.

pastymuncher said:
What make and model is this psu? Any decent modern psu shouldn't be like that.
Click to expand...

Superflower Amazon 550W. The new one, not the old one. 120mm fan, not the excellent 140mm fan they used to use for it.

Maybe I'm just fussy about noise. Maybe other people wouldn't mind. It was definitely louder on normal load than my old OCZ StealthXStream, though. But the key thing was that it wasn't as described because Superflower changed the specs significantly without changing the name.
 
You can't expect a budget sub £50 psu to be top quality and quiet. It will use cheaper internals, including the fan, to keep the price down. If you want quiet then spend more for a quality psu with hybrid fan.
 
pastymuncher said:
You can't expect a budget sub £50 psu to be top quality and quiet. It will use cheaper internals, including the fan, to keep the price down. If you want quiet then spend more for a quality psu with hybrid fan.
Click to expand...

Perhaps you should do what I did - read reviews, including some which opened up the PSU to examine the internals in detail and which measured the noise level using good quality instruments.

You can expect a PSU to be the same as the reviews and adverts say it is.

You can expect a PSU manufacturer to give some indication that they've changed the fan type, fan size, PSU size and who knows what else, even if it's just labelling it as "Rev. 2" or something like that.
 
I do read reviews, i also pay a bit extra if i want a quality product. The Amazon range is the bargain basement end of Superflowers range so you shouldn't expect perfection. You are living in a world of false hope if you believe that. Corsair changed their whole range to inferior units and cheaper OEMs once they were established. OCZ and Kingston have both changed specs and chips on ssd's after they have been reviewed leaving the end user with a lower performing product. They were only caught out after people complained to the reviewers. It happens all the time. Psu wise, you get what you pay for.
 
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