Question My PSU makes this weird noise

[Autonomous]

Hi, I'm new here and I wanted to ask about a possible fault in my PSU.

I used an air blower to clean it last month (I now know that was a mistake).
Since then, it's been making this weird noise. At first it was just after booting and then it would be mostly silent until I shut down and restart. Now, it got more frequent and annoying.

It didn't sound alarming at first because is sounded kinda soft and I figured that the air blower messed with the fan (like it did with another fan in my case).
I recorded it with my phone today and after increasing the volume I realized it's a static electricity noise and got really worried.

This is a clip recorded in idle operation: https://clyp.it/pp3rjap5#
It gets like this more and more often during the day. Sitting at my desk, it sounded soft, like the fan was lightly brushing against something.

This is a clip recorded during boot (I didn't hear this noise sitting at my desk): https://clyp.it/rgyz1su1

Both clips were recorded behind the case right next to the ventilation vents.

The PSU is a 6-year-old Thermaltake LT-450NL2NL.

What should I do?

 

[daveybrat]

It sounds like coil whine to me. I hear it a lot on older power supplies that are failing. If it were mine i'd definitely replace it.

 

[EXCellR8]

6 years is a pretty decent run and it never hurts to upgrade. I'd also opt to replace it; 500w units are very affordable.

As a side note using compressed air to clean a power supply is fine, unless the pressure is much too high.

 

[OsmaniMalik]

I am hearing this same sound https://clyp.it/pp3rjap5# on my new Corsair VS550 - 550 Watt Power Supply which I bought few weeks ago. Is it any thing to worry about it or its normal sound of power supply?

 

[LTC8K6]

When using compressed air to clean a heat sink or power supply or other device with a cooling fan, you can easily overspeed the fan with the compressed air stream. It's best to find some way to hold the fan still while using compressed air near it.

 

[LTC8K6]

I am hearing this same sound https://clyp.it/pp3rjap5# on my new Corsair VS550 - 550 Watt Power Supply which I bought few weeks ago. Is it any thing to worry about it or its normal sound of power supply?

Coil whine doesn't necessarily mean anything is wrong.
Your VS550 has a three year warranty.
If you are worried, contact Corsair.

 

[OsmaniMalik]

Coil whine doesn't necessarily mean anything is wrong.
Your VS550 has a three year warranty.
If you are worried, contact Corsair.

I am worried is it safe to continue using PSU with this sound and will it damage my GPU or motherboard.

 

[LTC8K6]

I am worried is it safe to continue using PSU with this sound and will it damage my GPU or motherboard.

Return it then? At least ask Corsair about the noise.

Coil whine is fairly common, particularly with video cards.

 

[OsmaniMalik]

Return it then? At least ask Corsair about the noise.

Coil whine is fairly common, particularly with video cards.

Thanks I opened the support ticket on Corsair Corsair Support to ask about this from Corsair. Waiting for their answer.

 

[OsmaniMalik]

@LTC8K6

I contacted Corsair and they said there should be no sound from PSU, and they asked that return that PSU to us.
Today in morning I checked each component of PC to figure out from which components that noise is coming out, I plugged out many components including hard drive. And I noticed that the nose were coming from CPU fan:

First I noticed that its from PSU, but my mistake.

 

[kurosaki]

m PSU, and they asked that return that PSU to us.
Today in morning I checked each component of PC to figure out from which components that noise is coming out, I plugged out many components including hard drive. And I noticed that the nose were coming from CPU fan:

OMG