Is My Psu Fan dying? Fan Running at high Speed 8 year old PSU!

[noworkforfree]

I have an old thermaltake 550watt SLI Ready Psu. It's 8 years old. Here's the product right here for more visual: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... . I'm correctly running an Fx-8350 along with a 6870 right now. I even opened it up to lubricate the fans, but to no luck. I thought the issue would die down, but the fan is running at high speed & making a crackling sound. Is it time for a new one?

It speeds up when I was playing Wolfenstein: New Order.

Gear:

AMD Fx-8350
AMD Radeon XFX Double D 6870
Asus m5a97
Samsung Evo SSD 250gbs
Thermaltake 550watt SLI-Ready Psu.

 

[sheh]

You can replace the fan.

 

[bryanl]

High speed is not a sign of fan failure but of fan controller failure.

 

[Blain]

High speed is not a sign of fan failure but of fan controller failure.

@ 8 years old, it may also be a sign of filth buildup inside the PS.

I have an old thermaltake 550watt SLI Ready Psu. It's 8 years old.
I thought the issue would die down, but the fan is running at high speed & making a crackling sound. Is it time for a new one?

After 8 years of... brown outs, black outs, power surges, filth, bad caps, etc.
yes, it's time for a fresh PS

 

[sheh]

8 years doesn't necessarily mean the PSU is bad.

I just had an Enermax PSU fail after 10 years, or maybe 12. Though that computer saw only light use this last year.

 

[piasabird]

A power supply can become coated with dust on the inside. Just like a CPU the power supply has heat sinks to dissipate heat. Components just wear out over time also. Is your power supply all coated with dust inside? Power supplies are switching power supplies also. After turning on and off and obsorbing power fluctuations for years on end things just wear out. If you live in an area where there are lots of brown outs and power outages that can cause extra wear and tare on electrical components. Using a good surge protecting power strip might help to protect your electrical components. Using a UPS might be even better.

A crackling sound is definitely an indication of something very wrong. Just from that you might consider replacing it. Is there a chance you have some wiring problems inside the case? Maybe some plug or connector is not seated well or a fan inside the case keeps hitting wires.

 

[spat55]

Well it would be under alot of load with that setup plus how old it is would like to be upgraded more than likely...

 

[mindless1]

It's supposed to speed up under the heat from the increased load. If you mean you think it runs too fast then it's time to clean the dust out of both the PSU and the case air intakes, but of course it could also be due to a higher ambient room temperature.

Try to figure out what the crackling sound is. Could it be play in the fan bearings causing it to hit the fan grill or blades hitting a wire or there's a air diverter plastic sheet in there flapping around and just needs secured?