Seasonic 520FL2 Fanless Platinum whining!

frankmcg · 19 Oct 2017 at 12:07

So I bought one of the above a couple of years back after my old PSU gave up the ghost. Deliberately picked what I thought was top end for my needs - only running 1 GTX980 on a 2500k so don't need a 750W+ monster!

Annoyingly over the last few months its been getting louder and louder, which I guess is a form of coil whine, albeit coming from the PSU itself rather than eg the GFX card.

Any suggestions on what I replace it with? I guess it's still under warranty but it's going to cost £££ to send it off plus I don't have a spare PSU to use in the meantime (who does?!) and nothing having a PC for weeks isn't really an option :-)

Feeling a bit burnt having splashed out on a platinum model before, so maybe better going for a slightly cheaper gold model with one of those fans that only kicks in after a certain level? At idle my PC is 180W measured at the wall and silence is the most important factor for me.

Disco_P · 20 Oct 2017 at 11:37

I don't know if you want to avoid seasonic due to your current unit misbehaving but if you still have an open mind then the Seasonic Focus Plus Gold units are fantastic. Well priced, fully modular, short, black cabling, incredible regulation, miniscule ripple, semi fanless, good internals and a 10 year warranty. Only downside is that they are 'only' 80+ gold but that doesn't bother me.

The 650W unit is currently discounted to the 550W price so I'd get that.

frankmcg · 21 Oct 2017 at 16:58

Thanks for that. I'm wondering though whether a Prime Gold might be a better match since space in my case isn't an issue and it seems the Focus Plus range are a bit noisier with the smaller fan?

Disco_P · 21 Oct 2017 at 18:05

I can't find anything that would suggest the focus gold is loud and doubt it would be worth dropping an extra £40 for the chance that it might be and that the prime isn't.

frankmcg · 21 Oct 2017 at 19:33

Alright, ordered! Looking forward to getting rid of this whine!

Thanks :-)

neologan · 21 Oct 2017 at 21:03

let me know how you find the noise as i'm looking at the Focus at the moment and noise is paramount for me.

frankmcg · 25 Oct 2017 at 12:06

Just fitted last night and all good mate. It's fanless up to about 50% usage (300W) by which time my GFX card fans etc have kicked in and I can't hear it anyway! Just hope it doesn't develop a whine like the other one did but won't know that for a few months I guess.

In the meantime I think I'll RMA the old one once I figure out how to do that as would be nice to have a backup!

Disco_P · 25 Oct 2017 at 12:41

Backup PSUs are always useful. You could also sell the rma replacement as it is likely you'll get a new sealed unit.