PS On It's Last Legs? (Squealing)

[Leyawiin]

Hey guys. I recently bought a GTX 580 and immediately I notice that in 3D apps the power supply would squeal and buzz (used the paper towel tube trick to narrow it down). Plus it put out a ridiculous amount of heat. I popped my old GTX 460 1GB back in and in those same apps it made no noise and cooled down. Its a three year old PC Power and Cooling 750W (pre-OCZ takeover model!). It should have enough juice to handle a single GTX 580 easily. I'm guessing its nearing the end of its life, but is there any danger to continued use? Don't want to fry my components.

 

[lehtv]

That's the Seasonic manufactured Silencer? You're right it should easily handle your system. It shouldn't be anywhere near the end of its life either if you bought it new 3 years ago, given the 5 year warranty. If you're sure the PSU is making the squealing and buzzing, send it in for RMA

 

[Leyawiin]

http://www.pcpower.com/power-supply/silencer-750-quad-crossfire.html

Its this one. If there's no danger of it taking other components with it I'll keep using it. If there is I'll need to buy another unit to even do an RMA (can't be without my PC for 3+ weeks!).

I used the paper towel tube to isolate the noise - its definitely the power supply - and again, it won't do it when the GTX 460 (even OC'd) is in there.

 

[lehtv]

A PSU shouldn't make a noticeable buzzing or squaling sound. You should contact PCP&C and ask if that's reason enough to send it for RMA and if it is, you should do it. Personally I wouldn't be comfortable with a unit that makes sound like that, even if others said that "it's probably fine".

Buying another unit is no problem while doing RMA, you can always sell the RMA'd item or the new one you just bought, or keep it as a backup if you ever run into problems where the PSU may be the culprit.

 

[Rvenger]

Buzzing and squeeling seems to be a common Seasonic trait actually. From what I noticed is that Seasonic is very conservative when they use caulking or hot glue on their components such as the coils and caps. When the caulking gets hard and brittle (from age) , it turns to a nasty yellow color and breaks away from the components and that is likely the buzzing/squeeling you are hearing. For me, I can't stand it.

 

[Doougin]

depending on what kind of fans it has in it it could be a dried out bearing when its spinning at full rpms. tho if it is fixing it urself would void the warrenty so just rma it.