justlnluck
Senior member
In the past, I have had great experience with Seasonic PSUs. My first one was a 300W Seasonic Tornado. My second one was a 500W S12. I still own both of these PSUs and both are extremely silent.
Well you can imagine my shock and disappointment when I purchased a 500W M12 from Newegg last week for $154 only to find that it makes an electrical buzzing noise.
This is the most expensive power supply that I've ever purchased and it also happens to be the noisiest. Before purchasing Seasonics, I've had generic PSUs and Antec PSUs. Sure, I could hear their fans running, but I never had to deal with an electrical buzz.
The buzz is irritating because it isn't constant. It seems to depend on computer usage. For example, if I transfer a collection of photos from an SD card, I can hear it go "Buzz.....buzz....buzz....buzz... One buzz for each photo. Or if I rotate a picture, it goes quiet during the rotation process and comes right back after finishing.
I have hooked the PSU up outside of my case to verify the buzzing is indeed coming directly from the PSU and not motherboard or CPU. If I swap back to my old S12....perfect silence. Only the low hum of the fan is audible on the S12.
I am afraid that Seasonic is slipping on the quality of their PSUs. Is this a design decision that is causing the buzz or is it a defect? What are my chances of getting a quiet unit if I exchange this one? Anyone have experience with the M12 series? I thought I could trust Seasonic for high quality, quiet PSUs. That is why I paid a premium and didn't just buy a generic.
Well you can imagine my shock and disappointment when I purchased a 500W M12 from Newegg last week for $154 only to find that it makes an electrical buzzing noise.
This is the most expensive power supply that I've ever purchased and it also happens to be the noisiest. Before purchasing Seasonics, I've had generic PSUs and Antec PSUs. Sure, I could hear their fans running, but I never had to deal with an electrical buzz.
The buzz is irritating because it isn't constant. It seems to depend on computer usage. For example, if I transfer a collection of photos from an SD card, I can hear it go "Buzz.....buzz....buzz....buzz... One buzz for each photo. Or if I rotate a picture, it goes quiet during the rotation process and comes right back after finishing.
I have hooked the PSU up outside of my case to verify the buzzing is indeed coming directly from the PSU and not motherboard or CPU. If I swap back to my old S12....perfect silence. Only the low hum of the fan is audible on the S12.
I am afraid that Seasonic is slipping on the quality of their PSUs. Is this a design decision that is causing the buzz or is it a defect? What are my chances of getting a quiet unit if I exchange this one? Anyone have experience with the M12 series? I thought I could trust Seasonic for high quality, quiet PSUs. That is why I paid a premium and didn't just buy a generic.
