PSU Wattage. Help?

Andy MacT

Andy MacT

Andy MacT

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I built my PC around a year ago and have had absolutely no issues until recently. My computer has started making a high-ish pitched buzzing noise whenever I play one specific game: Final Fantasy 15. I've tried messing about with the settings to try and alleviate the problem, but so far no success. Someone had suggested that it might be because my PSU isn't powerful enough (currently using 450 watt Corsair VS450) and I should upgrade to ~600 watt? I'll list my PC components below, and if someone could take a look for me to confirm if this is the case I'd be very appreciative. Suggestions of other potential causes / solutions also very much welcome!


- ASUS PRIME H310M-A R2.0 mATX Motherboard
- Gainward Phoenix GTX1070 Graphics Card
- Intel Core i5 8400 Coffee Lake Processor
- 2 x 8GB DDR4 RAM (16GB combined)
- 480GB Sandisk SSD
- Corsair VS450 450W ATX PSU
 
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Andy MacT said:
I built my PC around a year ago and have had absolutely no issues until recently. My computer has started making a high-ish pitched buzzing noise whenever I play one specific game: Final Fantasy 15. I've tried messing about with the settings to try and alleviate the problem, but so far no success. Someone had suggested that it might be because my PSU isn't powerful enough (currently using 450 watt Corsair VS450) and I should upgrade to ~600 watt? I'll list my PC components below, and if someone could take a look for me to confirm if this is the case I'd be very appreciative. Suggestions of other potential causes / solutions also very much welcome!


- ASUS PRIME H310M-A R2.0 mATX Motherboard
- Gainward Phoenix GTX1070 Graphics Card
- Intel Core i5 8400 Coffee Lake Processor
- 2 x 8GB DDR4 RAM (16GB combined)
- 480GB Sandisk SSD
- Corsair VS450 450W ATX PSU
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It's most likely coil whine that your hearing and usually from either the GPU or psu.

The psu should be enough for the 1070 + CPU and the rest of the system but won't leave you much to spare with power spikes etc so may well be worth investing in a better unit.

I'd probably go for a 750w gold psu as that should have you covered if you wanted to go for more powerful parts in the future. Look for something with a 10 year warranty as that usually means your getting good build quality.
 
Your power supply is below the recommended minimum for the GTX 1070.
The recommended minimum is 500 watts.
How old is the power supply?
AS above try and isolate where the sound is coming from.
 
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £123.49 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​

This is a good power supply and allows for future upgrades. There are cheaper, but it is sitting in my PC quiet as a mouse an NO coil whine from it.

My GPU has coil whine, but I crank up the speaks and ignore it. With lack of GPU's, I will just wait it out.
 
450W is technically capable of driving that, as I'd say you're probably looking at around 400~ Watt peak load, assuming you don't have 10 HDD's you haven't mentioned.
Won't provide you much efficiency but should be -just- capable.

Usually fans are the most likely component to soft fail, especially when making an annoying noise.
Could be the fan in the PSU, GPU, CPU cooler or a case fan. I'd try testing the fans to see if any of them are the culprit of the noise.
 
It could be the high fps you get in that one game. Cheap PSU's are known to whine (sometimes whistle like some kettles) a lot when the GPU is pumping out a lot of frames even when the power draw is not close to max. I've had a 600W (550W on +12v rail) that did it with a GTX 770. Have you tried setting a frame cap? Regardless, you should probably get a new PSU. That one provides only 408W on the +12v rail. Also bear in mind it's no good just buying any "600W" PSU. There are some out there that provide even less power on the rail the CPU and GPU use and are garbage.
 
VonScar said:
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £123.49 (includes shipping: £10.50)
​

This is a good power supply and allows for future upgrades. There are cheaper, but it is sitting in my PC quiet as a mouse an NO coil whine from it.

My GPU has coil whine, but I crank up the speaks and ignore it. With lack of GPU's, I will just wait it out.
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You can get a Cooler Master MWE Gold v2 650W Modular PSU for half that elsewhere. He doesn't need 750W or to spend that amount.
 
Thanks for all the responses. I'm quite impressed with how quickly everyone has replied!

Right, please bear with me here. I'm self professed "total n00b", so some of these answers have given rise to more questions and I'm confused about some of the research I've done myself. I'll bullet point some stuff below.

1) when I look up websites that help you calculate your power usage, they are giving me a figure of around ~330 watts, but other websites (and some of you good folk) are telling me that for a rig using a GTX 1070 I should be looking at 500 watts minimum? Is there a reason for this disparity?

2) one reply mentioned something about a different wattage on the 12v rail. I'm completely lost with that one. Can someone break that down for me?

3) someone asked how old the current PSU is = 2 years old, bought brand new.

I'm going to physically pull the PC out tomorrow and have a good listen to try and hone in on precisely where the noise is coming from. I've attached a quick recording meantime to see if that can help identify the problem.

Thanks everyone!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=115140490670126
 
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The wattage calculators are a bit of an average and show the theoretical load of all your components. You always want a margin of safety so generally I'd say a 650W Gold efficiency PSU will be fine unless you're going 3080/6800XT or higher in the future.

The noise sounds like it might be a fan?
 
MissChief said:
You can get a Cooler Master MWE Gold v2 650W Modular PSU for half that elsewhere. He doesn't need 750W or to spend that amount.
Click to expand...

Perhaps he would want an upgrade in the future???? Plus feel free to link said power supply.

And there has been consensus in the past it is best to have a decent gap in usage vs range of a PSU to maintain an efficient operation.

Plus, I am not the only person to suggest a 750 watt Gold...and my unit had a 10 year warranty.

Joxeon said:
It's most likely coil whine that your hearing and usually from either the GPU or psu.

The PSU should be enough for the 1070 + CPU and the rest of the system but won't leave you much to spare with power spikes etc so may well be worth investing in a better unit.

I'd probably go for a 750w gold PSU as that should have you covered if you wanted to go for more powerful parts in the future. Look for something with a 10 year warranty as that usually means your getting good build quality.
Click to expand...
 
There are some simple things to try before spending on a bigger PSU. 450W doesn’t leave much headroom for your setup but I ran an 8700 and 1070 on an EVGA 550W for over a year with no problems.

If it’s coil whine it may well be linked to a very high frame rate in that particular game. Try turning on vsync and see if you still have the same problem.

It’s also worth tracking down where the noise is coming from. Take the side off the case and use a loo roll tube or similar to try and isolate which component is noisy. If it’s the graphics card a new psu may not solve your problem.
 
VonScar said:
Perhaps he would want an upgrade in the future???? Plus feel free to link said power supply.

And there has been consensus in the past it is best to have a decent gap in usage vs range of a PSU to maintain an efficient operation.

Plus, I am not the only person to suggest a 750 watt Gold...and my unit had a 10 year warranty.
Click to expand...
I decided on a 750w which at the time of purchase a couple of years ago I was rocking a 1070ti with a R5 3600 so was certainly overkill but I've since upgraded to a 5800X and rtx3080 so it worked out perfectly and saved me needing to upgrade again.
 
Joxeon said:
I decided on a 750w which at the time of purchase a couple of years ago I was rocking a 1070ti with a R5 3600 so was certainly overkill but I've since upgraded to a 5800X and rtx3080 so it worked out perfectly and saved me needing to upgrade again.
Click to expand...

Thanks, me to.
 
If game has abnormally high fps, which can happen especially in menus, that can trigger coil whine.
Places with high current going through are likely behing it.
Meaning PSU and VRMs of CPU and GPU.


450W would be enough for that PC.
Despite of brand image those lower Corsairs just aren't high quality PSUs and potentially use rather cheap parts.
 
VonScar said:
Perhaps he would want an upgrade in the future???? Plus feel free to link said power supply.

And there has been consensus in the past it is best to have a decent gap in usage vs range of a PSU to maintain an efficient operation.

Plus, I am not the only person to suggest a 750 watt Gold...and my unit had a 10 year warranty.
Click to expand...
I can't link it as its on a competitor site.
 
While the psu is of low quality even it's 408w is more than enough to power that pc. I have a 1070 along with a 9600k clocked at 5Ghz and don't even hit 300w at the wall while gaming. Using cheap internal components though could mean that the psu suffers from coil whine when put under a real load. From the OP's post it comes across to me that the noise has only started since he started playing FF15 so maybe the game is putting a higher load on the pc and why it hasn't happened before. A quality replacement psu with a higher wattage could "fix" this issue. The psu is one component that should never be skimped on.
 
Andy MacT said:
2) one reply mentioned something about a different wattage on the 12v rail. I'm completely lost with that one. Can someone break that down for me?
Click to expand...

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The power that the +12v rail provides is what will determine if a PSU can run a particular GPU (and CPU+GPU combo). The rest of the claims ("you need 600W PSU!" etc) you find even on the GPU manufacturer webpages, are "for dummies" nonsense and can lead to mistakes being made when purchasing (garbage).
 
Just in case anyone was on the edge of their seat wondering how this all turned out: I found a Corsair RM850 for a decent price, so decided to just grab it. I figured it would mean I'm future-proofed for GPU upgrades down the line. Since installing the new unit the problem has disappeared. Cheers for all the advice and recommendations, everyone.
 
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